Chokin up on the forks.

[ClarkGriswald]

Aye I pretty much did that a few times as I had the whole thing apart. Got half a mind to try and make a pole like they use on nascar cars.. a straight edge ridgid enough to hold itself straight that has parts that can contact the front/rear wheels and tell me they are both aligned. Then look at what the rest of it looks like hehe. Maybe I'm gettin a weird optical illusion from the bent bars and not sure if the mirrors are supposed to have the same bend in em but mine dont hehe.. my left footpeg is bent down (the cast part of it) so theres another indicator of carnage (along with some scars on the timing/alternator covers hehe. Ill figure it out at some point im sure. There was about a 1/16 of an inch difference in my fork spring lengths I dont suppose that would effect it much eh?? especially with the caps on and in the middle position? (yes they are unfrozen now).

[DiverRay]

The spring length WILL make a difference! I have a pair of the "progressive" springs in "daily ride". Made some difference, but not as much as the TKat brace.
I would start with new springs, and then the fork brace. That's just me, but it's ony the money my kids want for their edumication......

[Ken Talbot]

Originally posted by ClarkGriswald
a straight edge ridgid enough to hold itself straight that has parts that can contact the front/rear wheels and tell me they are both aligned.

A piece of string will do this for you too. Tie it onto one of the 'spokes' on the rear wheel, run it so it comes out around the tire, then forward under the bike to the front. Get down on the ground and eyeball it from the front, looking for where the string just contacts the front side of the rear tire. Ideally, the string should clear the 'straight-ahead' front tire by half the difference in width of the two tires.

Take some pictures so we can all see!

[snowdog51]

forks

next time you have the fork off drill the compression holes bigger and add two more rebound holes you won't beleive what a improvement it makes
bill

[ClarkGriswald]

I rode about 100 miles today, I feel like Ive been on a sailboat.. I know my steering head needs attention but It could be the swingarm too, something is amiss.. I wouldnt doubt that hidden beneath the feel of ancient crusty grease the steering maybe notchy, just cant tell right now.. Went up to Life Cycle today, they are really good friends of mine and Im amazed at how their business grew.. Used to just be a small single building, now theyve added on a showroom, and are a dealership for KTM, Triumph and Ducati.. Man those are some interesting looking bikes.. Another good old friend works there for em. Hes riding this rocket III (triumph) holy cow.. I think he said it was a 2400 or more cant remember.. I have never seen such a big rear tire on anything, Huge.

I cant imagine what I would do with all that power hahhaha. Anyway that was my excuse to go for a ride today. My bike looked like an old decaying log in the woods next to all those shiny new bikes haha..

Oh yeah. the orig oil in my forks was way heavy. it looked like 30 weight synthetic engine oil or something. or perhaps rear shock oil.. But it was not the normal burnt/black runney fork sauce..

I replaced it with 10w. Much better, before it was way to stiff.

[ClarkGriswald]

Tore it back down again today, cleaned and repacked the steering head bearings and put her all back together and rode about 30 miles.. MUCH better.. I think if I get a straight pair of bars on here and a seat that mounts straight on the bike and 2 mirrors the same I may be ok.

[wa407mpp]

The only reason you need a fork brace is because Yamaha only put an axle clamp on one fork leg. over time when the axle hole in the right leg wears it allows the fork to flex but it's not enough to actually see and it can only be felt in hard cornering. If you can see your fork flexing you have a major problem that needs to be fixed before you ride it, even if that means a complete tear down and rebuild of the forks, steering head, and wheel, but first you want to line the bike out and make sure nothing is bent and everything is straight front to back, other wise you might be wasting you time and money trying to fix something that can't be fixed. A lot of these bikes were owned by idiots who wrecked them and did poor work of fixing the damage.