Roadholder forks overextend?

Hi Jim

It looks like you haven't got the damper rod screwed into the fork top nut before screwing the top nut into the stanchion, it's this that limits the travel on the (short) Roadholder, not the top & bottom bushes coming together to form a bump stop as would be logical & was the intended design. (It's basically a development/copy of the Matchless Teledraulic fork) The damper rod is too short & contacts the damper tube cap long before the fork runs out of travel, hence they tend to clatter over very bumpy roads.

It's a fairly easy job to rectify this by using an extended top bush which will then trap oil between it & the bottom bush on full drop, creating a hydraulic bump stop as is the case with the Matchless units. RGM sell a Covenant fork conversion kit for this very purpose if you don't have facilities to modify your own.

Regards, Tim

Are you sure your stanchions are correct length? There are at least three (maybe four) lengths - listed elsewhere recently in correspondence.

Mine do that, but they work OK, and I've never worried about it, are you sure the shrouds haven't been shortened to stop them 'clashing'. If the dampers are assembled with the springs and attached to the slider correctly then its OK functionally, it will only happen on the centrestand anyway. If you had G15 dampers in your forks they could extend a bit further I suppose.

Someone will know the assembled length for the spring/damper unit....

Good Luck!

Ok Jim, the fact that all was as it should be &all you've changed is bushhes & seals suggests something has not gone together correctly so probably best to strip them down again & go through the reassembly to see if anything obvious stands out, do you have a manual or something with the assembly pictured?If the damper tube is bolted to the slider from below & the damper rod is held into the tube with the damper tube cap & the rod is then srewed into the stanchion top nut, the only thing I can think of is that you have not got the damper valves on the rod under the damper cap, which would allow a bit more travel, although I wouldn't have thought it would have made that much difference.

One question, with the front wheel off of the ground,is the slider still under spring pressure when at full drop or does it just drop under it's own weight?

Regards, Tim

Previously wrote:

Are the stanchions pulled up fully in their tapers in the top yoke?

There is spring pressure at their full drop. I double checked everything; damper tube is properly bolted in from below and the damper rod is properly screwed in to the top nuts. Almost has to be something I've gotten wrong in re-assembling them. So that's the weekend task, then. (I've got manuals and parts diagrams, so fingers crossed.)

Hi Jim

No, the oil won't make any difference to the amounttravel, just slow it dow a bit. It is beginig tosound like something's amiss in the assembly, it'll be interesting to hear what you find at the weekend, please let us know.

Best of luck,

Regards, Tim

My forks look exactly the same........in my case it is because I have a Commando damper unit inside each leg. These are 9" long instead of the 7" Dommie unitsto givelonger travel for the damper to operate in......but consequently leave horrible looking gaps between the respective shrouds.

The other downside of fitting these items is that the front wheel now touches the ground when my bike is on its main stand.

Is this the possible reason for your gaps or are your oil seal retainers too short?

Jim,

I had a look at my99 today & measured the length of the fork at full extension, they measure28â from the top face of the top yoke to the centre of the wheel spindle. Theseal holder measures 2 ?â from the mating face to top (ie the bit you can seewhen screwed into the slider) & the shroud measures 5 ?â from bottom to top (where it meets the headlampbracket/bottom yoke). From memory, they drop about another 2" without the damper rods/top nuts attached. When on the centre stand, on a level solid floor, bothwheels are in contact with the ground, if the forks extended any further, asPhilâs obviously do now, the stand would not touch the ground ! The bike is a58 wideline, so much like yours, Iâm guessing Philâs is a slimline ? Comparing the two at branch meets etc, theslimlines seem to lift the wheel off the ground, whereas most of thewidelines are like mine, both wheels planted firmly on the floor &threatening to fall over I tend to always use the side stand for this reason.

Maybe some of thismay be helpful to you to verify you have the correct parts etc, sounds like youhave, as it was ok before the rebuild, but good to double check.

Hope you get itsorted,

Regards, Tim