Fork Rebuild

[GL3]

Doing a fork rebuild on my 2005 Trike. Want to upgrade the OEM springs. Who is the best? Traxxion or Progressive springs?

[Viking]

If you were on two wheels, and were a vertically challenged person, as I am (5'8" - 31 inch inseam) then I would suggest Progressive, however, on a trike, your ability to hold the bike up is not compromised by being a bit short. I would go with the Traxxion product as it is actually a bit superior to the others.

[Big Blue UK]

Why do you want to upgrade the springs, are you bottoming the forks. MO the design is piss, one damper, anti dive on one side, linked braking. On a trike conversion, the set up is rubbish.

Get rid of anti dive.
Get rid of linked braking.
Use rear brakes only.
Then decide if you want stiffer front forks, or a service.
Just got mine back on after a service.

[Big Blue UK]

[Big Blue UK]

ooops.........

[GL3]

Yes, I appreciate the design is less than ideal, so I am doing a couple of things over the winter non-riding period. Just bought the trike last summer, knew the forks needed attention.

1. New seals & bushings; just cleaned the fork tubes and sliders today................a lot of trash in there

2. OEM springs pretty much at the use limit per Honda specs

3. Because the oil was like sludge and the springs weak, damping and spring travel were minimal

4. New fluid should restore some true damping and new Traxxion mid-rate springs should increase travel [less sag] and return some actual shock action to the forks

5. Already have a raked 4 degree Traxxion triple tree on the bike, will add a Kuryakyn fork brace to improve low speed wheel wobble

That's this year's plan.

[Big Blue UK]

Sounds good matey peeps. I have 4 degree rake also, but the forks were not extended when I bought it, got some extended caps from Chuck at CTC. I would go for springs rather than cartridges, but that is just me, not saying anything is better than the other, but more in a cartridge to go wrong I feel. If you go for Traxxion or Progressive, it raises the front ride height anyway, I think Traxxion lower the front forks 10-15mm when they fit their cartridges.
My forks were not leaking, but a service was way overdue. The oil was really cruddy in the damper fork, and the bushings were not too bad. What weight oil have you used. Did you fill up and suck out to correct level, or measure.
I pondered on 15W, but did not really fancy heavier damping, so I used 10W, found it just right, so pleased with my choice, I found the damping to be smoother at the top and bottom of the travel. But I am only 12st and ride solo 90% of the time. my pillion does not weigh much.

Disabling the anti dive and linked braking makes a huge difference, and not using the front brake makes a difference to tyre wear and longevity, I am on my 4th front tyre in 5 years, but I have tried a Cobra Trike tyre for the first time, and am hoping for a considerable decrease in tyre wear.

[GL3]

Traxxion recommended the 10w oil for use with their springs. Haven't put the forks back together yet, but will overfill with fluid and then use a syringe & tube at the right height to pull out the excess fluid. Still about 3 weeks or so until we can start riding around here. Still got about 20 inches of snow on the ground!

[Big Blue UK]

20 inches...Bloody ell

[Viking]

Got better than 60" here.... sitting in my back yard. That is 150 cms for those metric knowledgeable folk. Had a nice day today and 24 inches of snow slid off my south facing roof. Still have 48 inches on the north slope. It has been a long hard deep winter.

[GL3]

Is that the part of Canada where the moose out number the people?

[Big Blue UK]

60" that is bleedin ridiculous Viking. Is that not too deep for a snow mobile thing. I am picturing moving snow so the windows can be seen out of. So when does all that lot disappear, July.

[Viking]

The part of Canada where the moose outnumber the people, is Newfoundland, and they have hardly any snow there.

The snow will be gone by end April or beginning of May, but the last two winters have begun mid November and gone on till end March before beginning to recede. I have had trips planned in early May, last three or four years that I ended up doing with my truck instead of motorcycle. If you go 250 miles further south, it is all different. They complain about an inch of snow and temperatures at all below freezing in Toronto. To us, that is a warm spring day. And if you go 250 miles north of us, it is that much worse. Global Warming causes horrendous winter weather, apparently, because before the panic about Global Warming, our winters were not as bad. Two winters back, it felt like we did not even really have winter. I rode right up till December and the streets were clean and ready mid April. Then it all went to the dogs, for the past two winters. It is the price we pay to live in this beautiful country, with almost no people.....

Snowmobile thingies up here do not break their own trails unless on the lakes. They have machine packed trails that are like frikkin highways that they travel 80 to 100 kph on and kill themselves when they hit trees on curves. Then there are the lakes that are 30 miles (40+ kms) long that they can race each other from one end to the other. At my age, there is no longer any pleasure in it. I should start spending the winters in Arizona, but they cancel the insurance on peoples homes here if they are out of them for 30 days in winter.

[Asphaltmaniac]

The part of Canada where the moose outnumber the people, is Newfoundland, and they have hardly any snow there.

The snow will be gone by end April or beginning of May, but the last two winters have begun mid November and gone on till end March before beginning to recede. I have had trips planned in early May, last three or four years that I ended up doing with my truck instead of motorcycle. If you go 250 miles further south, it is all different. They complain about an inch of snow and temperatures at all below freezing in Toronto. To us, that is a warm spring day. And if you go 250 miles north of us, it is that much worse. Global Warming causes horrendous winter weather, apparently, because before the panic about Global Warming, our winters were not as bad. Two winters back, it felt like we did not even really have winter. I rode right up till December and the streets were clean and ready mid April. Then it all went to the dogs, for the past two winters. It is the price we pay to live in this beautiful country, with almost no people.....

Snowmobile thingies up here do not break their own trails unless on the lakes. They have machine packed trails that are like frikkin highways that they travel 80 to 100 kph on and kill themselves when they hit trees on curves. Then there are the lakes that are 30 miles (40+ kms) long that they can race each other from one end to the other. At my age, there is no longer any pleasure in it. I should start spending the winters in Arizona, but they cancel the insurance on peoples homes here if they are out of them for 30 days in winter.

You need a house sitter maybe?

[Viking]

You need a house sitter maybe?

Not big on trust

[Asphaltmaniac]

You need a house sitter maybe?

Not big on trust

I hear that!