Front fork issue

[handtius]

Another day, another issue.

 

Thanks everyone for the help with the stalling and the handlebar tips....now onto something new! yippy fricken skippy. Looks like the past owner pulled a fast one on me. So, bike runs with a new battery, no problem. it's going fine. I bring it to my friends Duc dealer, he gives it a once over, tells me what he thinks. I mention that the past owner said something about needing fork oil, he said we'll take a look. The suspension was very tight and I've never had a bie with the fork adjustments before so i didn't want to mess with them without some insight first. So he looses them up, says they seem alright. Tells me to bring it back when I want to do the bars, fix the gauge and put on the new rear tire. So, I'm off...I get about a mile down the road and what I think is bird shit hits me in the face. My friend is with me and he's laughing hysterically. I wipe it off and I look down to start my bike back up, and I see this whitish liquid coming from the fork adjustment screw hole. I bring it back the shop and he says we'll need to take a look later. for now, just tighten it down and it's ridable. So that's where I am right now. Anyone have any idea what's happening here? I want to try and figure why I'm looking at, cost wise, to get this fixed. The Duc guy recommended I send the front suspension out to http://www.racetech.com/ or http://www.gpsuspension.com. he says they do custom suspension based on your weight. Don't know what that will run me, but I'm going to check it out.

 

anyway, thanks again for all your help people. Maybe if any of you are ever in new york, i'll buy you a beer.

[Tom M]

I don't know what's wrong with your forks but it might be just a bad oring. Here's one of many threads on servicing the forks: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7960 . They aren't bad forks once you get them set up correctly for your weight and riding style.

 

Racetech has fork springs available for the V11 for around $130 if the stockers aren't right for you, or you could spend $1000 + to have them install their springs and damping cartridge kit. They don't list the V11 in their applications guide but they do have springs available. I'm running a set in mine.

[GuzziMoto]

Having your fork tuned by a pro is nice, but it sounds like you have a simple issue that needs to be fixed. Could RaceTech or another suspension shop fix it for you? Probably. And while they are at it you could have the forks done with springs and dampening matched for your weight and riding.

When I have had it done it ran about $300.

PPS is on the east coast and has done good work for me.

Or you could fix them yourself.

[handtius]

Having your fork tuned by a pro is nice, but it sounds like you have a simple issue that needs to be fixed. Could RaceTech or another suspension shop fix it for you? Probably. And while they are at it you could have the forks done with springs and dampening matched for your weight and riding.

When I have had it done it ran about $300.

PPS is on the east coast and has done good work for me.

Or you could fix them yourself.

 

 

wish I had a garage....Can't do it in NYC...not yet anyway. Don't know enough yet, to tear em apart.

 

I'm going to check out PPS though...Thanks for that. I rather not spend a 1000 to fix them, so I think I'll go the standard route for now. I'm not getting crazy yet.

[handtius]

So it turns out I need a new front end. I've heard that monster and buell front ends fit. Anyone have any ideas about this? any recommendations. Don't want to completely break the bank.

[richard100t]

What do you mean when you say you need a new front end? Are the forks bent? Has it been in an accident or did someone so badly foul up the bike working on it that its now junk? I've seen where people have swapped forks from other bikes to a v11 but it usually involves changing the front wheel, brakes, triple clamps, and probably the clip ons too.

If you have the ability to remove the forks and send them to a reputable dealer or a trusted forum member in here you should try to do that. Its hard to believe that the fork internals are beyond servicing to the point that you have to replace the whole front end. There just arent that many parts in there.

[The Monkey]

So it turns out I need a new front end. I've heard that monster and buell front ends fit. Anyone have any ideas about this? any recommendations. Don't want to completely break the bank.

 

From your original post it sounds like water got into the internals, making your fork oil white. The potential pitting that would result in the various parts may have had your mechanic throw up his hands and sing "replacement" . I think your bike came with either the 1st or 2nd generation Marzocchi. Lots of people upgraded to the Ohlins front end. This tells me that there should be an abundance of Marzocchi forks about, or, despite the damage a wreck will have on a set of forks the internals are usually still good and a wrecker/shop may be another cheap source of parts. Check with the major shops in the US- Harpers, Moto Int., there was one in Texas as well maybe someone can chime in re supply. Good luck!

[handtius]

What do you mean when you say you need a new front end? Are the forks bent? Has it been in an accident or did someone so badly foul up the bike working on it that its now junk? I've seen where people have swapped forks from other bikes to a v11 but it usually involves changing the front wheel, brakes, triple clamps, and probably the clip ons too.

If you have the ability to remove the forks and send them to a reputable dealer or a trusted forum member in here you should try to do that. Its hard to believe that the fork internals are beyond servicing to the point that you have to replace the whole front end. There just arent that many parts in there.

 

 

hey richard,

 

Thanks for commenting. I brought my bike to works engineering (worksengineering.com) in brooklyn. The Guzzi guy there, eric, took a look at my bike and saw that the fork adjustment screws were both broken. Before that, when I adjusting the forks, fork oil was leaking out through the adjustment screw on the left fork. He said that it is not easy to replace the adjustment screws and not cheap. He said it may be easier and cheaper to replace the fork tubes. Plus, I have been planning on getting rid of the clip-ons and putting handlebars on it, so getting a different triple tree might be an option instead of machining my current one. Do you have an idea what it would cost to get my current forks fixed from the info I've provided?

[Kiwi_Roy]

It's very easy to remove the fork caps with the adjustment screws, just jack up the bike to take weight off the front wheel, loosen the pinch bolt in the top clamp and unscrew the cap, Use an open end wrench or 6 sided socket as a ring spanner will mark the aluminum hex nut. Someone may be able to refurbish them for you.

I know little about forks but I would be very surprised if they need replacing. Perhaps over time rain leaked in around the adjusting screws.

I think you can drain the oil by taking the wheel out then reaching up from below with an allen wrench unscrewing the bolt that holds the forks together. I would try that anyway, one at a time just in case they decided to drop right out. You would need to stop the leg turning while you wrench on the bolt, perhaps a length of wood bolted on there the calipers attach.

I had my forks out about a week ago, please refer to my thread "Front Fork Oil" there's some good response to my questions there.

Buzzard seems like a fork guru, try sending him a PM, he seems very willing to help out.

[Buzzard]

It would be interesting to see what someone did to your forks. Internal parts can be expensive, and hard to find. You have to decide on a plan of action. I would think that there would be someone in your area that is competent to deal with these forks. Other than that, some pictures on this site would help all of us here to give an educated opinion. Knowing exactly which parts you are in need of would aid folks who have those parts to offer them for sale. I would think that some of the better Guzzi dealers would have some of the parts, up to, and including, complete forks, if contacted. I would certainly want to know for certain that I needed new forks before replacing them.

 

The adjusters on top move a peg underneath the cap, this peg has a long hollow rod that fits over it, and the other end of the rod moves the actual valving in the internals of the fork. When turning the adjuster, the rod moves down or up about 6mm, usually moving a tapered valve needle. There isn't much more than a small o-ring that keeps the oil fom getting past the adjuster screw. Most generally, oil shouldn't be up there when the bike is upright. That is, when the oil level is correct.

 

If I were you, I would definitely get the forks to a shop that works on these forks, has worked on these forks, a Guzzi or Ducati shop, that sounds confident that they know what is in these forks. Or send them to a suspension shop that does revalving, and knows Marzocchi, and let them have at it. I bet some on this site can recommend such a shop.

[richard100t]

Greg Field is probably the guy in this forum you would need to contact for parts. Of course you'll need to know what parts to order first! Lol Or you can just take the forks out and send them to RaceTech. RacerX is another forum member that sells fork springs so he could probably fix your forks to better than new as well.

Well, those are three very good options for you. RaceTech is probably the most expensive option, but I've heard good things about their work. If you just want to ship them out and have them sent back ready to go, its a good place to send them.

[Tom M]

It sounds like all of your issues are caused by fouled up fork caps. Try and find someone who's parting out a crashed V11 and buy the fork caps if the forks themselves got bent. Keep an eye on ebay where Speeds Cycles in Maryland(?) seems to part out crashed V11s quite often. Calls or emails to the major Guzzi dealer like Moto International and MPH might turn up a set too.

[gstallons]

What do your fork caps look like? I bought some fork parts from Paul M to share parts w/someone. I sent him a messge I had them & he never returned my call.

[handtius]

hey everyone,

 

thanks for all the helpful ideas. I'll try to get some pictures up here tomorrow. I live in NYC, so working on the bike myself is kind of impossible. Don't have the space to keep all the tools needed. Plus, I'm new to bikes, so I don't know enough to dig into them myself with confidence.

[gstallons]

hey everyone,

 

thanks for all the helpful ideas. I'll try to get some pictures up here tomorrow. I live in NYC, so working on the bike myself is kind of impossible. Don't have the space to keep all the tools needed. Plus, I'm new to bikes, so I don't know enough to dig into them myself with confidence.

 

 

So? You haven't lived until you see your bike fall over right before your eyes ,then give a harangue so filthy Chris Rock would call the cops on you.

don't ask how I know. p.s. when you remove the second fork cap the front suspension IMMEDIATELY colapses. This action takes place best on dirt bikes with long travel suspension.