Last Thursday a few turns from my house - an older gentlemen on a sportster decided to pull out perpendicular to me as I took off at an intersection leaving me a split second to brake. As soon as he saw me he panicked (naturally as anyone would). Instead of following through with his left hand turn he stopped dead in front of me. I T-boned him wedging my front tire in between his front tire and his frame - we both kept our bikes upright and there seemed to be no immediate damage to our bikes so we moved on. (Lucky I realize!) as I rode away I noticed my handlebars were slightly to the right when I was traveling straight. I stopped and inspected to notice my forks were bent slightly.

I'm not the most mechanically inclined but my friend and mechanic who has helped me out in the past has the savage right now - so I'm not quite sure what needs to be replaced, what can be left, and how big of a job this really is.

I found the complete forks (upper and lower with all the guts) about an hour away from me in great shape. I'm going to pick them up this weekend and hope to get started right away. I'll also take the oppurtunity to look at what the seller of the forks has to offer and possibly change the handlebars and find a better clutch and brake lever at the same time.

I'll post a pic of the forks below - any input or diagrams on replacing the forks - brake lever - or clutch lever would be greatly appreciated - also any input on maybe if it's just the fork tubes that need to go , or the entire forks themselves ( also though buying the complete forks likely both will be changed)

Thanks a lot guys!

That left tube looks slightly bent to me.

I have the needed tools, and it would take me less than an hour to get the job done.

Jack the front of the bike up a bit high, take the brake caliper off, take the front wheel off, take the cap off the fork tubes (I think there is room to do that with the drag bars in place.....and there will be some spring pressure when the threaded cap comes loose), loosen the pinch bolt on the turn signal mount and the lower fork clamp......then slide the tube out.  If you need more clearance you can slide the upper tube down in the lower fork leg.....and you most likely will need to do a bit of fiddling with the turn signal clamp (wedging a flat blade screwdriver in the clamp to spread it a bit may help to get the tube to slide in the clamp).

Replacement is the opposite of the removal.....do only one side at a time and it will help to keep the fork yokes aligned.

And.....before you install the new forks yo might as well change the fluid.  Turn the fork tube upside down and pump as much of the old oil out as you can.  Then add the fork oil (15W is fine....if you live in a rural area and can get real fork fluid, Automatic Transmission Oil Type F will work in a pinch) - use 441 ml /14.9 oz. of fluid for each fork leg.

The picture didn't show up till now for me.
It's bent.
I thought the dude was moving on impact.. nope.

Kenny G wrote on 06/21/16 at 05:32:41:


The Suzuki shop I used to work at straightened fork tubes frequently.  The fork tube was taken out and placed in a press, and then massaged back into being straight.  The tube was rolled on a flat surface and/or on v-blocks and checked for straightness - a good motorcycle or machine shop most likely could do the work.

The OP is getting used forks....so it is not be necessary for him to get them straightened - but this may be helpful for anyone else who bends their forks.

Dave,

Back in the day when straightening forks, parts were sometimes hard to come by. Waiting on parts from England or Germany could take a whole riding season.

My friend Marion Cameron, and a several machine shops, kept a lot of bikes running that would have ended up on the junk heap otherwise.

There was no eBay or go to Ron Ayers and have parts in a week.

The good thing was we could afford all that was available, now you have to be wealthy to repair a motorcycle.....LOL

Kenny G

You can send them to Bruce Triplett here in NC and he can likely straighten them out.  He can also modify your damper rods while he's in there.

http://www.brucessuspension.net
Bruce's Suspension Service
350 Skysail Road
Salisbury, NC 28146
(704) 637-3675
brucetriplett@bellsouth.net