New bike .... sort of

Pbro63

Pbro63

Joined
Nov 6, 2020
Messages
52
Location
Temple City, CA
Bike
NT700v, MG v85tt, KTM 690
Well no amount of farkles could prepare me for this. My last post about a possible need for a steering damper for the nt700 elicited replies that got to the heart of the matter. Sometimes we overlook the obvious and oversee the superfluous. Replaced the rusted and pitted fork tubes that led to one fork depleted of oil and spooned on a pair of Dunlop Roadsmart 3's. The result was transformative. The bike is now everything I thought it could be. Rolling into turns confidently.

Rented a bay at Moto Republic in Glendale. $25 an hour (max. $75 per day) and they had every tool imaginable to change the fork seals and fork tubes. Totally awesome.
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The finished result,, Eye candy.
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: )
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Pbro63 said:
Well no amount of farkles could prepare me for this. My last post about a possible need for a steering damper for the nt700 elicited replies that got to the heart of the matter. Sometimes we overlook the obvious and oversee the superfluous. Replaced the rusted and pitted fork tubes that led to one fork depleted of oil and spooned on a pair of Dunlop Roadsmart 3's. The result was transformative. The bike is now everything I thought it could be. Rolling into turns confidently.

Rented a bay at Moto Republic in glendale. $75 an hour and they had every tool imaginabGlendale. to change the fork seals and fork tubes. Totally awesome.
View attachment 18861
View attachment 18860

The finished result,, Eye candy.
View attachment 18859

: )
View attachment 18862
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DirtFlier said:
What a great "for rent" shop! :)
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Agreed, correction the cost was $25 per hour (not 75), maximum $75 per day. Very reasonable. The Honda dealer wanted $225 to do the work. It wasn't so much saving the $$ but rather the experience of doing it oneself in the company of other enthusiasts and experienced mechanics who could lend their knowledge.
 
How can they do that?
I get kicked out if I even set one foot in a dealership shop. Their insurance won't allow it (so they say). Same goes for walking onto a construction site. If you're not part of the operation - you're not allow to be there.
 
junglejim said:
How can they do that?
I get kicked out if I even set one foot in a dealership shop. Their insurance won't allow it (so they say). Same goes for walking onto a construction site. If you're not part of the operation - you're not allow to be there.
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Well they are a independent bike shop, not beholden to any bike company like Honda et al. I had to sign a release saying I'm responsible for my safety and that "I know what I'm doing" Literally it said that, made me laugh out loud.

Additionally each workstation had an iMac with internet access, priceless. I was able to watch YouTube videos of the job I was trying to do as a reference. I also looked up schematics of the fork online.20220112_150915.jpg

Great business model I'd say.
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They also have their own separate area where their mechanics do repairs.
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Did you replace the fork tubes with OEM stock ones? I was looking at your pick of the new tubes and the top caps look different than I remember. Was wondering what/if internal mods were done.

Glad you got it smoothed out.

Arknt
 
ARKNT said:
Did you replace the fork tubes with OEM stock ones? I was looking at your pick of the new tubes and the top caps look different than I remember. Was wondering what/if internal mods were done.

Glad you got it smoothed out.

Arknt
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Stock tubes, I drilled an extra pair of holes in the internal damping rods to help improve the harshness of the shocks, hard to tell if that improved. The black aftermarket fork caps incorporate spring preload adjustment.
 
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Pbro63 said:
Well they are a independent bike shop, not beholden to any bike company like Honda et al. I had to sign a release saying I'm responsible for my safety and that "I know what I'm doing" Literally it said that, made me laugh out loud.

Additionally each workstation had an iMac with internet access, priceless. I was able to watch YouTube videos of the job I was trying to do as a reference. I also looked up schematics of the fork online.
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Almost too good to be true. I suppose your laws in CA are different, but wherever I"ve been even private businesses must have insurance and as far as I now no insurance comp
 
Besides the nice facilities, having someone close by you can ask "Is this correct?" greatly helps newbies. :)
 
My guess would be preload adjusters. Honda fitted similar caps to one of their bikes (CB1100?) and I bought the caps and have fitted them onto my NC700X.

For it to be a damper adjustment would mean a completely different and very costly internal cartridge damper was fitted.
 
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ST1100Y said:
Glaring at those fork emulators...
Just preload adjusters or damper settings too?
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Just preload adjusters. Drilling extra holes in the damper rod seems to have little effect. I bought some emulators but they were the wrong size .
 
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