Some Minor Issues to Sort

[Martin6]

Thanks Bryan, I've given them a try. 👍

[Bryanj]

Glad you managed to navigate that site, not the best in the world

[Martin6]

Yep, if there's a logic to how they present the products, it escaped me. Good to support a range of suppliers. I hope the sprockets are good and tough 

They had some other stuff I was tempted with, but I'm holding off cosmetic upgrades this year. That's a too long list! I want to try to get it reliable before I go down that rabbit hole.

Martin

[flatfour]

I had this problem with a 750 K6 that I owned some years ago and, as ted has said in my case it was caused by the fitment of a wider (O ring) chain that a previous owner had fitted. A replacement chain and sprockets cured matters, however not before numerous attempts at wheel balancing etc.

The effect when riding with the wider chain was certainly odd, as though something was speeding up and slowing down in waves, felt through the whole bike.

[Martin6]

Mine feels more like the front wheel is trampingat speeds of 40 to 60mph. Not a violent feeling, jbut noticeable. So, may not be the chain and sprockets. But good to refresh those anyway. I'll be doing the fork oil as well and see if it all helps.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Final thoughts if it's definitely a front wheel area issue flags up the following ideas.
Is the wheel rim  & tyre completely  round - try some visual checks with the front end jacked up - rotate wheel check against best means you have of looking for ovality.

Fork oil change you already have in mind.

I've no experience of effects of wheel bearing wear aside from noise - the front brake will make wear difficult to check.

Probably stating the obvious so just trying to give you my thoughts.

[Martin6]

Took it for a run in the sunshine.  New chain and sprockets are fine. I also re-checked the rear wheel, which looks true enough and I re-seated the new back tyre and confirmed wheel balance. There's still a wrong feeling, which I'm convinced now can only be from the front end. It's possible too heavy a firk oil. That's the feeling. I'll have a look at that on Wednesday.  I have some ATF I can use. I'll check the front wheel is true as well.

[Nurse Julie]

Is there any change a fork, or forks, may be bent Martin?

[Martin6]

Julie, I've wondered, but I don't think so. They seem to move smoothly, without any sticking when I pump them.

I decided to change the fork oil this evening:
The left fork had 200ml of oil and it was a little thicker than the 5W30 fork oil I've bought. It had some dark residue in the oil. The right had 160ml of ATF, which was clean. According to the >K4 supplement in the Honda manual, the correct amount for a K6 would be 155-165ml. 5w30, or ATF. So I put 160ml in both. Difficult to be sure, but I feel it is now slightly easier to pump the forks. At 200ml, perhaps the left fork was hydro-locking on poorer surfaces? On the other hand, 40ml isn’t much, so probably not.

I have a longer ride planned tomorrow, to go and see a friend's dismantled Suzuki GT185. 30 miles each way. A good chance to see if the oil change has made any difference.

[Bryanj]

40mm on 160mm is 25% so its a big increase

[K2-K6]

Interesting to hear outcome with forks, hopefully positive.

As Bryan noted, its quite a big shift in air volume as it changes much more in ratio through the travel when you start with less space above the oil. Effectively it's making a more concentrated ramp up in spring rate from the resulting air chamber being decreased in size.

One of the reasons I favour a dedicated fork oil like Motul is because it can be more optimum in regard to stiction which is prominent in sliding bearings. ATF is a good balance, but very tighly controlled for it's finite friction properties to ensure consistency in the auto transmission  clutch packs, has good anti foam properties too. Dedicated fork oils don't need that friction consideration and generally outperform in that regard. It does make even an old fork perform the best I've found when used.

[Martin6]

Sadly, no improvement today. Definitely feels like the suspension, as it is not rhythmic, more a disruptive patter, on uneven surfaces. Guess I'll have to remove the forks and check them.

Also, the throttle has started hanging open again. I think that's the damage to the slide/bore on carb no.4. This bike is fighting me. 

[Oddjob]

Any chance the tyre isn't fully on the rim all the way around.

[Martin6]

Good prompt. I'll check the wheel and tyre first.

How are you all lifting the front end off the ground? I don't have a bike lift. At the moment, I'm putting a block of wood on a car hydraulic jack, bike on centre stand and lifting with the jack under the sump. Is the sump strong enough? It feels a bit hairy and I'm unable to strap the bike to anything. On my Norton I can easily weigh the back of the bike down, which lifts the front just clear of the ground. The C of G on the Honda doesn't allow that.

[Laverdaroo]

If you’re struggling throw a ratchet strap over the back with  the centre stand whilst its on a block of wood and screw either end of the strap to the floor with a couple of big washers so they don’t pull through.  You can lock the back down as far as you like.

Bit of a cowboy ‘get out of jail free’ card but it works


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