If you are a fair weather rider like me and have set up the suspension so it rides well and want a better ride, Try spraying silicone spray onto a cloth and putting onto the forks. It does make a difference, Dont get it on the brake discs though
I have been wondering about this just 2 days ago when I found my NS fork seals were shot. I wonder if say, GT85 would keep them a bit more supple and prevent deterioration. The possible downside, in my view, is that the spray would attract dust etc onto the forks and thereby possibly increase the prospect of seal wear. Any thoughts by others?
When installing the seals, rubber greese are put in between the void of oil seal(2 lips face oil and 1 lip face outwards) and they pretty much stay there till the end of life, but you got dust seals as well on top which suppose to put it all out. I am no engineer, just some experience of rebuilding them, my guess is if oilly stuff thinner than fork oil is spary on it will work its way up, which can carry dust at the same time and expose them to the oil seal. Not to mention there's a tiny bit of play between stanctions and bushings which allow more movement. I use GT85/ACF50 to clean the sanctions but I always wipe off after. I could be wrong, it's just my opinion in this.
The vid shows a motor crosser, they get loads of sand and muck on the forks which especially if wet travels past the seal. I polish the forks with the silicone so it does not get sticky but will be slippy and does remove a lot of sticktion
I know and I used to rebuild my fork on my Supermoto every year if not more. The downside is it also allow tiny particles to be more slippery, like how water act as a lubricant for sand and mud before it turns into sanding paste, it gives greater the chance that it can slip under dust seals but wouldn't matter if you use a seal buddy to scrap them back out. It's a theory but might not happen in the real world. Anyways I change my fork oil soon as the small bump sensitivity is gone in the forks anyway and I suscept there is more resistance from the wear particles in the oil through compression valving by the color of oil it came out, as I don't change seals unless it leaks. Quick question, do you remove dust seal and clean off whatever is trapped between dust seal and oil seal when you do it?
I do not normally remove the dust seal to do this, As I said the forks remain dry so dust will not stick, I have also fitted SKF low friction seals and Titanium nitrided them
does the low friction seals and coating make much difference? I am actually looking at cartage next for mine and might do them SKF seals had kashima coating before and diamond like coating on mountain bike but didn't find them to be that much smoother on hard riding and hitting big stuff
I would not say they have made much of a noticeable difference ( trouble is every year the roads get worse ), I did not think wow they are so much better, but i have spent a lot of time setting up the suspension. the roads I like are quite bumpy, I dont like the bumps just the roads
it is hard to get a good review on fork mods. a lot of people dont adjust them so if they send them to ktec etc, you never know if it is more them setting the forks to rider weight and riding style or are valving kits a lot better
I've done the sag on the blade etc like how I did on track bike, and found the baseline all around setting for my weight/style. I just find that the stock valving is lacking fine adjustment when it comes to trail braking transition to powering out of the corner, some might say its to do with flexy frame/swingarm on the stock bike but I do find the flex helpful on slower speed bumpy corners when the bike is leaned over. I have tried a few things with stock forks but once you soften the compression/add rebound it felt better after the bike is in less lean exiting but lose the consistency on trail brake. It might have something to do with I am on the lighter end of the scale. Anyways, think I just asking too much for the stock forks, might have to find somewhere smoother to ride or stick to track days comparing to my ex-track bike doesn't really help, just can't win on these sort of things without a few grand to spare
shame that most of them on my fun route is just ripples or cracks on corner exit and really don't think they will do that to the german quality
I used to ride around A507 and most of the country roads around Royston way but recently move back down South and haven't take the bike out as much
