[sbrogden]

The front forks on my wife's '86 VT500C compress fine when you sit on the bike and lean on the handlebars. But while riding down the road, the front wheel does not ride up and down as the forks slide - they don't seem to move a bit. Yet when I stop, I can compress them with no problem.

Any ideas what would cause this?

 

[PainterD]

It sounds to me like the forks need to be rebuilt. The guides are worn inside I presume and it's binding when under a load. The guides are just brass bushings that your forks slide inside (up and down) and get worn over time. It's routine maintenace to replace them, usually when replacing the seals when they start leaking. You can get a Clymer manual and do it yourself or take it to a good machanic. If your mechanically inclined, it's pretty simple to do. You'll need new seals, bushings and fork oil to do the rebuild.

 

[rat]

They're easy to do... it'll take you an afternoon if it's the first time you've done 'em.

Do them one at a time, and be neat and organized.

It's dead simple.

 

[sbrogden]

Thanks for the advice and encouragement. We recently finished replacing a head gasket and the CDI box on this bike (it was a basket case when we bought it). I replace fork seals on a Yamaha 20 years ago and will probably start on this one this Saturday.