Front Fork Pogo'ing has Reduced Itself

[Patmac6075]

This post is to report the pogo'ing effect my front suspension was experiencing since the complete rebuild has diminished. I have chosen my words carefully....and say diminished, not gone away completely.

To recap, over the winter I did a complete front suspension and brake system rebuild (the whole shoot'n match...complete disassembly, cleaning, sliders, seals, Progressive springs, and 10wt Fork oil. Same thing with front and rear brake systems, if it could be replaced, it was) as well as replacing both the front and rear tires (E3's). After the rebuild I had a noticeable pogo effect at low speeds (25mph and lower), it was very annoying and I would guess oncomming traffic might have thought I was driving over a rumble strip or a very washboardie road. As speed increased, the pogo went away...anything above 35/40mph, and my bike was solid as a rock...all the way up to 100mph (as fast as I'm willing to ride). Since the rebuild, the handling and feel of the bike has been superbe. My only issue was this nasty slow speed pogo'ing!

Well, fast forward about 1200 miles...was out riding the old milk roads in rural Wisconsin this past weekend, and as I made my way through each little town (where I needed to reduce speeds), I made a conscious note to myself that the pogo effect seem greatly diminished...still slightly there, but probably nothing you'd notice if you weren't aware of the previous problem?! Somehow, the issue seems to have worked itself out...I had blamed the pogo effect on the 10wt fork oil and thought I should change to something heavier like 12.5 or even 15wt....but now at this point I'm going to stick with the 10wt and see if the issue goes away completely?

[Flyinfool]

Maybe you had a trapped air bubble that has worked its way out.

[GaryZ]

Maybe you had a trapped air bubble that has worked its way out.

 

I am thinking the same thing . . .

[garyS-NJ]

Can you say best place to buy the progressive springs and do you have any links on how to do the swap? (& link saying how to change fork oil).

 

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk

[Patmac6075]

Got mine on eBay...like $75-$80...I did a complete front end rebuild (I think Freebird did a write up in the 1st gen tech section). If you just do the springs you just need to uncap the forks (read the tech write up...it's all there), fish the old springs out and drop new ones in. Same thing with the oil, just drain out the old and fill with new (again, it's all there in Freebirds write up)

[Patmac6075]

Here is an update to my pogoing issue:

 

Over the winter I noticed a very small oil stain right beneath my left fork. I felt around the bottom of the fork an sure enough...I was leaking fork oil, over the next couple of weeks the stain kept getting larger and larger. I've been wanting to change my fork oil from 10w to 12.5w, so off I went to O'Reilly and bought a bottle of 10w and one of 15w Lucas synthetic fork oil, mixed the two together....drained the old stuff and refilled with 360ml into each fork (same as I had with the 10w).

After 3 good rides (over 150mi each) in 50's, 60's, and 70 degree temps... I think the 12.5w is just too stiff! I do not have a pogoing issue, but the ride is just a little too harsh for my tastes.

Now after reading up on the issue I've found there really is no standard for rating fork oil...each manufacturer just kind of says...this is a 10w, this is a 15w, etc... The 10w I used was made by Maxima, and the 12.5 was a Lucas synthetic. It is very possible that had I used a 10w from Lucas or mixed 12.5 of Maxima I may have had the results I wanted...sooooo, for the time being (maybe over the winter) I'll stick with slightly too harsh non-pogoing Lucas 12.5w and I'll change to a Lucas synthetic 10w at a later date! I'll keep updating as new info comes.

 

just an FYI, I did change the o-rings in the anti-dives on the left side...hopefully that will cure the leak as the fork seals are not leaking (knock on wood!)

[cimmer]

I am not sure what your 84 Venture has for front forks, but if you can add air pressure to them then you might want to try it without any pressure. I have an 89 with the onboard compressor for the front forks and rear shock and since I have installed the progressive springs in the front forks, I dont add any air pressure to them so it would get too firm on me.

Just a thought.

Good luck..

Rick F.

[Patmac6075]

Thanks Rick, to be sure, since I added the progressives and did the rebuild, I don't put any air in the front...I do set the rear at about 42psi.

[cimmer]

Yes.. no air pressure in the front and air pressure in the rear depending on how much load you have on the bike is how I have mine.

Rick F.

[bongobobny]

Actually, just a couple of pounds of air pressure is a good thing to prevent the fork oil from foaming...