Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Fork Me, Fork You

I'd booked the R1 in to have the front suspension serviced, re-valved and re-sprung on Monday when I was off on my RDO as my track day is only 3 weeks away now and I wanted to have the suspension in top working order before I hit the track.

I dropped the bike in at Teknik in Penrith as they did a fantastic job fixing up the rear shock. They offered their workshop scooter for me to get around on but I had to decline and decided to walk and look at the nearby bike shop and do some other shopping.

I got a phone call from Nick just before lunch. Yeah it was some bad news. The front fork sliders were forked. They had some major pitting and he didn't want to put it back together the way it was as it would leak oil everywhere. F*ck it. Just what I wanted to hear. Options were to buy new fork tube sliders from Yamaha for a bomb or send them to Melbourne to be re-chromed with a 2 week turn around. Double F*ck. That would be awful close to when I need to head down for my track day. And there's no guarantee that it would be back in time. Shit shit shit shit. Pardon the photo quality it was taken on my crappy old phone.





I have to give a big shout out to Nick and the boys from Teknik Motorsports. These guys are fucking fantastic. They went out of their way to get my bike back up and going again on the same day. Nick found a set of R1 forks at a wreckers nearby in St Marys and one of his guys went and picked them up. Yep they were in good condition too. They had the new(second hand) sliders put in, in no time at all and it was all back together and ready to go. Thanks guys that was great work. You really went above and beyond. Do you know how hard it is to find a set of 15 year old R1 forks?

I got the guys to set up the bike static sag and rider sag whilst I was there so at least that part is now correctly set. I had the rear shock set a bit too hard. The factory setting means nothing now its been re-sprung.



The new second hand fork tubes now newly installed I noticed there were no stone chips on them. My original ones were peppered with stone chips. Looks a lot better now.

If your looking to get your suspension upgraded give Nick a call on 02 4732 2626.




9 comments:

  1. sounds like your getting that sorted out then for the track day
    seems that the guy goes uot of his way to fix things right which is hard to find now

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    1. EDIT
      will have to maybe phone him as my bike isnt listed and the forks are crap /soft and does need some work

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  2. Yeah, the track day has spurred me on to get it fixed. Would hate to crash it because the suspension couldn't cope and I knew about it. Your right it is hard to find people that do these sort of things. I know where I work they don't do this. Small businesses want their customers to come back. I'm glad they showed me rather than just throw it back together and hope for the best.

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  3. I am waiting for you to get back from your track day in one piece before I bring my bike down. Once that happens I might get him to look at my suspension too.

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  4. So...if two mechanics were having a contest to see who could remove the forks the fastest, would that be a FORK OFF? Thank you, thank you, I'm here all week. Seriously, you call tell me to fork off, it's okay. :-)

    Glad the guys got you sorted and you're set for your track day.

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    1. Forken Hell!
      I wouldn't tell you to fork off Brandy. Ready to go. Just need some tyres.

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  5. Great to come across a business that goes the extra distance for the customer. I dealt with a suspension place in Melb a few years ago who didn't give a damn once I'd committed to the job and they had the bike (VFR800). Seemed like the grand I spent wasn't a 'worthy' enough project to get it finished when promised - delayed me 2 days.

    On a more positive note, I hope that it really feels the business now. I'm hoping to get to one of your track days. Do you know if spectators can just roll up or do you have to have an invitation or such like?

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    1. Hi Jules
      Yeah they did a good job. I'm pretty happy with it.
      I am sure you can just ride in and spectate. I've done it here at Eastern Creek and would think Phillip Island would be the same.

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