Fork me

Or perhaps

“One good fork deserves another!” MINCX gets a fork spring upgrade. The more I learn about stock (how the motorcycle leaves the showroom) and the more o learn about wrenching, the better my bikes become, the better the riding gets.

The upgrades came from RACETECH, and they would have been happy to do it for me. Nah, I can save on shipping and labor, and learn more about my bikes, tune in further, deepen my relationship with them. (WHAT?!?!)

I’ve always felt the front shocks were a little soft on MINCX, not as pronounced as btwxd, but, well, stock…. Some research and exploration, learning, and it became obvious that this was neither an expensive nor difficult project. I did have to bust out the pipe cutter from the plumbing kit as the replacement springs were not an exact match and needed a custom spacer. (Initially I was mortified, but I took a few breaths and proceeded.)

Note in the second photo the color of the liquid in the measuring cup. Ewh!!!! It goes in clear, translucent, and over time picks up stuff. After over a decade, it gets nasty and can decrease performance as well as compromise seals. The upper fork tubes were really gunky too, so got those spiffed up.

I’m reassembling, sliding the second fork back into place, will torque things down, pop on the new front tire and then dial in the rear, aligning and setting chain tension. Tomorrow I gently break in the new tires. A trip to Eastport for some mustard for the road trip!!!

Breaking in motorcycle tires is a different scenario than a car for a number of reasons. Basically they need to heat up, acclimate the rubber. It’s as if the bike is on a wet rainy road until the tires have been broken in, a hundred miles or so, until the gloss is gone. While the same is true for a car, it’s such a different ball game it’s likely not even mentioned to new tire owners.

Better wrap this up and get on with the other forking, forking up dandies, they are edging closer to danger mode, I’m now chasing blossoms!