Suspension and clutch questions

[copracr]

Hi guys,
I was noticing this year that my bike seems to nosedive and squat a lot more than it did last year. The nosediving is really bad under hard braking. I was wondering if I needed to try replacing the oil in the shocks or if I needed to check the air at the top of the forks OR if I just need new shocks altogether. I'm not entirely sure how my shocks/springs work since i've never had them apart.

Also, my clutch doesn't seem to want to fully disengage. It always bucked when i popped it into first from neutral but since i got it out this year it's clunking every time i up or down shift. I tried the adjustment described in the maintenance section but I didn't get any change. I read a couple of threads and think that my next action should be to pull the cover and inspect the mechanism and mic the clutches.
1.Does this sound right?
2.Does anyone have a pic of a OE diagram so i can check that it's assembled correctly?
On a side note, the adjusting nut is almost out of room to back off so i'm wondering if the clutches are burnt.
Its an 80 SG Special
Thanks for the guidance once again.

[motoman]

Your gonna have to pull those forks and either do it yourself or have them re-built correctly, which means taken apart, cleaned an re-assembled and may as well have new OEM forks seals installed to with new oil if don't want to have to repeat same thing in near future. As for the air-over set-up, 5-10psi will be fine....after the re-build. As for clutch issue, start with adjusting correctly down at the pivot arm following the tech info to a T. Then re-adjust lever free play. Make sure all is correct before condemming clutch components.

[copracr]

As for clutch issue, start with adjusting correctly down at the pivot arm following the tech info to a T. Then re-adjust lever free play. Make sure all is correct before condemming clutch components.

I'm fairly sure its adjusted correctly, but I had almost no slack in the cable after adjusting the pivot arm ( i didn't turn the adjuster by the handle more than 2 turns)

As for the shocks, that sucks. I wanted to start riding it not tearing it down.

BTW, the bike has 34K on it

[trbig]

Try some air in the shocks first then. They may have leaked off over the winter. If I had a set that would hold air for even a couple weeks and didn't leak oil... I would hold off on the rebuild and ride, but that may be just me. I keep 17 lbs in my front shocks, but I like a bit of a stiffer ride. That might help keep the nose from diving too badly though.


Tod

[CatatonicBug]

Do you have a manual? The diagram for the parts is in there. If, after all the other things that have been suggested, you still have to take the clutch basket out, use the manual and follow the instructions for removal/inspection/installation.

[Crazcnuk]

Changing the oil in the shocks, and the seals, is easy but does require taking them apart. It's better if you can, anyway, as you can clean them.

There is only 1 special tool needed, a bolt welded to a peice of rod to hold the upper tube while you undo the lower bolt (I've done it with a broom handle, but the tool works better). Other than that there are 3 pieces in each fork.

If you have an aftermarket manual it should show you this 'tool'.

[motoman]

Trbig's option for the front forks cost nothing to try first. Not knowing or seeing bike, my suggestion was worst case scenario. I normally run 9-11psi in my front forks and they seem to hold that indefinitely unless I check them, then I have to air back to that level. Even quickly gauging them will lose 2-5psi, so I CAREFULLY start above that then keep gauging them till both the same at what I wanna have them at. With the Venturer fully loaded down and slabbing it at interstate speeds, will up them to 15-19psi along with more spring pre-load and dampening pre-load on rear so as to keep both front and rear of bike working at same rate. Kind of a "seat of thepants" feel thing. Careful on the fronts airing as you can blow out the seal....can make for a messy day and no riding!

[cywelchjr]

I run about 16 psi in my forks, but I'm a big guy and have a vetter fairing on there. But with the 16 psi it doesn't dive too bad, but if I run it with nothing or even about 5 psi it dives pretty bad on me.

[copracr]

I think i got the clutch figured. I adjusted just until there was no more free play in the pivot arm. Then I took the slack out of the handle. Besides the N->1 shift it seems to work fine now. The N->1 shift has a pretty good "kachunk" when i engage it and the bike hops forward a bit. What has me worried though is the pivoting arm is almost touching the case when i pull the clutch in and the handle adjustment is most of the way out. Is this bad?

BTW, I'll fool with the shocks next/thanks catatonicbug for the manual on your website.

[petejw]

jat
if your idle is set a little high,
that can cause it to clunk into gear.


when im filling the air forks,
using a compressor, i hold the air nozzle open
and adj the air regulator so the air output is the same
as the amount of air i want to stick into the forks,
works well this way and theres no problem of over inflating.

[CatatonicBug]

These bikes shift like Russian tractors. That "kachunk" is fairly normal. Make sure that you downshift as you slow down, getting into 1st before you are fully stopped. That will reduce the "kachunk".

As for the forks, I fill mine with my small compressor, and it quickly fills to over 45 lbs. I just touch the valve, and the pressure drops VERY quickly. I just use the pressure guage to drop the pressure to where I want it. I filled mine to 7 lbs last summer, and until this last weekend, I hadn't touched it. It was still 7 lbs. I raised it to 15 lbs to see how it might change the handling, and I noticed a small improvement.

[bikerphil]

The Special forks don't need a special tool to hold the damping rod. At least I've never needed to use one. If your forks aren't leaking, you could probably just change the fork oil, fill to proper level with new 15W, and maybe even add a 1/2" spacer to increase the spring preload. Best bet though is to disassemble them, clean them out, replace the seals, and refill with 10W or 15W. There aren't that many parts in there. Good luck!

[cywelchjr]

As for the forks, I fill mine with my small compressor, and it quickly fills to over 45 lbs. I just touch the valve, and the pressure drops VERY quickly. I just use the pressure guage to drop the pressure to where I want it. I filled mine to 7 lbs last summer, and until this last weekend, I hadn't touched it. It was still 7 lbs. I raised it to 15 lbs to see how it might change the handling, and I noticed a small improvement.

I'd be careful with that small compressor. The max pressure is supposed to be 32psi IIRC and going to 45psi just might blow the seals. I use a hand pump with a gauge on it and am very careful to stay below the max pressure when doing it. I too try to go high and come back down, for some reason it's easier to get to the same pressure on both sides that way. IIRC the differential between the two side is supposed to be something like .2 psi on something like that.

[Ken Talbot]

As for the forks, I fill mine with my small compressor, and it quickly fills to over 45 lbs..

If you're filling the forks directly from a compressor, you should turn the compressor off and bleed it down to "just a bit more" than the pressure you want. Hit one side with the filler, then hit the other. Do this a couple of times, and you'll have both sides plus the compressor tank all sitting at the same equalized pressure. No danger this way of over filling the forksand blowing out seals, etc. Plus, you will know that both fork legs are at the same pressure, withing a very small fraction of a PSI.