Hello all

First post and it's gonna be a simple question, hopefully with a cheap answer. Both my forks have huge chunks chewed out of the chrome. I've splashed on 2 new stanchions, but before I take them apart I want to be ready to put them back together. Trialling season is rolling on..

Never been inside forks before, should be able to manage tho with all the info out there. Just need to know what weight oil ( a svelte 12stone on an Ossa 280i), and what parts should be replaced. Keen on giving them a proper service while I'm in the guts of them.

Thanks in advance for the abundant knowledge I hope will be thrown my direction.. 🙂

 

As a footnote, has anyone posed the ultimate question : HOW DO YOU CONVINCE YOUR DEAREST OF THE COMPLETE AND ABSOLUTE NECESSITY OF THE EXISTANCE (AND EXPENSE) OF YOUR BIKE? 

Speaking as someone who's been busted for buying a crf450 on the sly🙈🤭.. and for the entire trialling community, a conundrum worth addressing.

 

 I once put a Beta under the Christmas tree and swore to her I had nothing to do with it. It was all Santa`s fault. That was in 1989. Then last year I took her to the Yamaha shop to put a deposit on her new Waverunner, we immediately stopped and I put a deposit on my 75th Anniversary Edition Montesa 301. Fair is fair.

🤣 that damn Santa, up to his tricks again.. it could happen to me now I hav the proof that it happened to u.

Far safer u being on land than herself being out at sea. Very selfless of u..

With forks, I just chicken out and pay someone else to do it - I paid about 70 euros to get my Sherco ones done last year, seals and oil included.  Far cheaper than me accidentally covering the garage in a nasty water-oil mix and then getting everything coated in sawdust, forgetting a washer or something, and then putting all the bits at the back of the garage for 6 months out of shame before paying someone to do it anyway ...

 

As for the second inquiry, my other half loves motorbikes as much as I do - she often suggests buying bikes while I'm happy with what I've got - so get your partner to take their test is my recommendation

Hmmm, turbofurball. I'm suspicious, have u had a vision of my shed and how I work? Right down to the sawdust. Creepy..

I don't have the sense to farm the job out😬🙄, I have no shame tho, so I should b good..

People have had a limited amount of advice on the international spouse Vs bike match, not a murmer offered about the fork spares question!🤔 

Maybe changing the question to who's the best crowd to phone for advice and good stock of spares? Less query based distractions. 

The chrome tubes should be straight forward replacements as the guts have all the parts on them. I have no idea on quantity the Zokes on a Ossa use. The rest of it should be similar to a Gasser with the same type. Should be a video out there somewhere. Not hard if you have an air gun, otherwise try loosening the lower bolt in the fork with it compressed before you take anything apart. Minimum is all you need is new fork seals and dust seals. 

Those 40mm Marzocchi forks are a cartridge type, the cartridge is filled with oil and the air bled out. Best to leave the original oil in there, there is not that much and chances are that the oil in there is still in good order. Bleeding those cartridges takes a long time, unless very lucky. You can use 7.5W fork oil, look on the net for how to set up the oil quantity, The Hell Team have a good video covering this. "W" stands for winter, not weight. Bye, Peter B.

Peterb and lineaway,,

Thanks for the advice. Lineaway, u make it sound like it's fairly straightforward, an injection of confidence..

Then peterb, u give me a get out of jail free card with leaving the innards intact and just changing the tubes. This sounds really tempting, but it goes against my grain to disassemble them and not check all the innards - possibly never stripped down again..

So, I'm gonna combine your contributions, whack my tube into each yolk hole, then in the depths of winter strip them down and have a good look inside.

So yous have pretty much solved my quandary. 

Turbofurball,, 'christmas is coming, the goose is getting flat..'

Cheers folks..