1990 gsxr750 fork options

[Graeme]

My bike is high miles, and I knew it needed for seals when I bought it. But have now realised the stanchions are worn through the chrome

This is a problem I knew might exist, but was hoping it didn't. I need to decide what my best option is here.

Option 1, rebuild these. The uppers are tatty too, I was going to turn the non clamping area in the lathe and cerakote them. New seals/bushes etc are about £45, stanchions are about £250 a pair. Could get these rechromed, but avout the same cost i believe. I've not worked on upside down forks though, will anything else be worn inside? Do the bushes run in the internal bore of the uppers? If so, what are the chances they are worn too? 

Option 2, get some used forks. Might be better.

Option 3, different forks. Will anything newer fit my yokes? If so, can I reuse my wheel, calipers, discs? I assume not, but worth an ask.

Option 4, complete front end swap. What's the same length and easy? With bearing swaps, or swapping my stem into. I'm not using cable drive Speedo, so that doesn't matter. Needs to be 3 spoke wheel. Preferably not loads of money!

I guess finding another pair of stock forks might be my best option but upgrades are always good. Rear end is a mix of triumph, ducati and gsxr1000 k4.

[TLRS]

Aah the forks puzzle. Loads of options, which is best for you is difficult to answer.

If you need long forks for instance, options are limited. Same with yokes, if something bolts in.. great. Often it doesn’t.

[Graeme]

9 minutes ago, TLRS said:

Aah the forks puzzle. Loads of options, which is best for you is difficult to answer.

If you need long forks for instance, options are limited. Same with yokes, if something bolts in.. great. Often it doesn’t.

Yeah, loads of options, and discussed many times.

But, I don't know if I want to swap the front end or not. It's at least £300 do fix mine though.

Ideally, a newer pair of forks that would fit my yokes, take my callipers, but need a new front wheel would be good.

Later front ends, but the time I've got the forks, yokes, wheel, callipers, mudguard, I'll be £750+ and I don't really want to spend that.

I know anything can be made to fit, I'm more wondering what my best option is within a reasonable budget

[TLRS]

30 minutes ago, Graeme said:

Yeah, loads of options, and discussed many times.

But, I don't know if I want to swap the front end or not. It's at least £300 do fix mine though.

Ideally, a newer pair of forks that would fit my yokes, take my callipers, but need a new front wheel would be good.

Later front ends, but the time I've got the forks, yokes, wheel, callipers, mudguard, I'll be £750+ and I don't really want to spend that.

I know anything can be made to fit, I'm more wondering what my best option is within a reasonable budget

Yeah getting fixed what you got might be the most straight forward. Especially if you've got everything else and it's in good nick.

[Graeme]

2 minutes ago, TLRS said:

Yeah getting fixed what you got might be the most straight forward. Especially if you've got everything else and it's in good nick.

Yokes, wheel, brakes and mudguard are all good.

I'll strip then down, see if stanchions, bushes and seals is all they need.

I don't know if anything else in them wears out. 

 

 

 

Leaning towards rechromed rather than stanchions. Anyone know if the slinky glide stanchions  from wemoto are any good?

Edited March 18 by Graeme

[Swiss Toni]

If you go the 're-ground/hard chromed' route, they'll be far superior to aftermarket stanchions. Depends if the bike's a keeper?

[Dezza]

What Toni said. Philpots of Luton always used to offer a strip, re-chrome and re-build service for USD forks but I have no idea if they still do, or even if they still exist. They offered other options too for USD, such as send them the stanchions with the bottoms still attached and they do the rest, so you don't have to go though the hassle of removal and re-fitting. They re-chromed a couple of stanchions for me a few years back and the service was great  (they even included in the price courier pick-up and return delivery).

[DAZ]

Brooks suspension in Bradford offer a rebuild and refurbishment service but it's not cheap , £200 plus parts, and any cosmetic refinishing , not used them myself but all reports are good, trust pilot reviews look good too 

[graveltrapexplorer]

I've used brooks and yes it's near £300 all done but can not fault the service or result . they did my old 04 blade forks .

[Graeme]

I believe most of the rebuild places use the same grinders/hard chromers in Nottingham. I'll take them directly to them. They specialise in this process. I looked at all their websites and I think that's cheapest at £220 to do the stripped stanchions. They did a lathe spindle for me years ago.

Brooks and philpots are both £400 Just to do the stanchions!

Yes, the bike is a keeper, so worth doing properly. I'll strip them today and check them for any more wear.

[Wee Man]

7 hours ago, Dezza said:

What Toni said. Philpots of Luton always used to offer a strip, re-chrome and re-build service for USD forks but I have no idea if they still do, or even if they still exist. They offered other options too for USD, such as send them the stanchions with the bottoms still attached and they do the rest, so you don't have to go though the hassle of removal and re-fitting. They re-chromed a couple of stanchions for me a few years back and the service was great  (they even included in the price courier pick-up and return delivery).

Philpots are still on the go. They had a stall next to OSS at Stafford. I has Laura's 400 forks rechromed by them. Cracking job the did. 

 

[nickmac]

Hi,

I am in exactly the same boat as you with my 1990 1100. 

I keep looking for front end options but they don't come cheap by the time you have done everything you need to do. It's a toss up for what you gain and lose. You'd lose your bars, speedo and speedo drive etc, especially if you have a fairing you want to keep there is a fair chunk of work. You could gain much better brakes and forks and lose a load of weight with the wheel. A lot depends how you ride and what you want to do with it in the end of the day.

I'm thinking rechroming is the way to go for me and looking at getting some better internals maybe. Good luck.

[Graeme]

3 hours ago, nickmac said:

Hi,

I am in exactly the same boat as you with my 1990 1100. 

I keep looking for front end options but they don't come cheap by the time you have done everything you need to do. It's a toss up for what you gain and lose. You'd lose your bars, speedo and speedo drive etc, especially if you have a fairing you want to keep there is a fair chunk of work. You could gain much better brakes and forks and lose a load of weight with the wheel. A lot depends how you ride and what you want to do with it in the end of the day.

I'm thinking rechroming is the way to go for me and looking at getting some better internals maybe. Good luck.

Im going rechroming too i think. Ive no issues with the brakes. Lighter front wheel would be nice but i might be able to sort that seperately after.

[Upshotknothole]

W forks swap right over. I'm running 95 750W forks on my 91 with 91 triples. Get yourself a factory service manual for your bike. It'll show you how to work on your forks. They're not really any harder than conventional forks, just need a few extra tools. Also 750 lowers are the same from 90-93 if you can find a good used set. In 94 they went from 41mm to 43mm, which is another reason to swap over to 94/95 if you can find a set. Unless you really know what you're looking at, all of those front ends look pretty much the same.

One last thing, if you're keeping these forks and getting them rechromed, also get them properly sprung. No sense spending all that time and money making them look good when they still have the same old tired and underwhelming internals.

[Graeme]

3 hours ago, Upshotknothole said:

W forks swap right over. I'm running 95 750W forks on my 91 with 91 triples. Get yourself a factory service manual for your bike. It'll show you how to work on your forks. They're not really any harder than conventional forks, just need a few extra tools. Also 750 lowers are the same from 90-93 if you can find a good used set. In 94 they went from 41mm to 43mm, which is another reason to swap over to 94/95 if you can find a set. Unless you really know what you're looking at, all of those front ends look pretty much the same.

One last thing, if you're keeping these forks and getting them rechromed, also get them properly sprung. No sense spending all that time and money making them look good when they still have the same old tired and underwhelming internals.

I'll be honest, I don't really understand the internals. I just pulled them out in one unit and will probably just clean them off and stick them back in. I'll come back to fork internals later if I feel the need.

Thanks for the tip on the W forks. I'll keep my eyes peeled. Time is a bit of a factor though, want to get this on the road. Rechroming isn't going to be quick either though, but hopefully I'll get the ball rolling on that this week.

[Upshotknothole]

Just out of curiosity, you did open the tops to get the internals out before removing the lowers from the stanchions, right? Because you're going to have to tear the top ends apart to add new fork oil.

[Graeme]

23 minutes ago, Upshotknothole said:

Just out of curiosity, you did open the tops to get the internals out before removing the lowers from the stanchions, right? Because you're going to have to tear the top ends apart to add new fork oil.

I, err, did not. I'm suspecting that was a wrong move.

The manual was useless so I just opened them up.

I took the top adjuster out, then undid the bottom Allen bolt, then took the top cap out and pulled the whole internals out.

Edited March 19 by Graeme

[Upshotknothole]

Yeah, you went in the hardest way. The factory manual has step by step instructions for pulling apart the USD forks, you need a couple of tools that you can get cheap so you don't need a fork compressor. I've seen people use a spare swing arm and a couple ratchet straps with good luck in the build section on here. I'm also about to rebuild a set of 95 750W USD forks for one of my projects, I'll post lots of photos if you want to follow along in the build section.

Something similar to this will help you get those forks reassembled, and check the message I sent ya.

Edited March 19 by Upshotknothole
spelling

[Graeme]

27 minutes ago, Upshotknothole said:

Yeah, you went in the hardest way. The factory manual has step by step instructions for pulling apart the USD forks, you need a coupe of tools that you can get cheap so you don't need a fork compressor. I've seen people use a spare swing arm and a couple ratchet straps with good luck in the build section on here. I'm also about to rebuild a set of 95 750W USD forks for one of my projects, I'll post lots of photos if you want to follow along in the build section.

Something similar to this will help you get those forks reassembled, and check the message I sent ya.

I'm sure I'll find a way, if not I'll make the tools. Got a reasonably well equipped workshop so something I already have may get them done.

 

Cleaned the uppers up in the lathe today too so I now know I can get them cosmetically worth rebuilding too.