A while back, I had my fork seals replaced, and the oil in the fork, changed from the factory oil (5 years old), to a heavier weight fork oil. Since then it seemed to me that my fork was handling funny, and thought that maybe it was because the springs were going bad. The tires I bought and installed the summer of 2006 are getting worn, the back has a wide flat spot, the front is wearing uneven, the tread causing the front end to have a weird wobbly feeling when it’s cornering. It doesn’t feel like it’s loosing grip, but it is really annoying.
So, last week on Thursday, after work, I returned to Aurora Suzuki, and Brandon when of the mechanics, agreed to go ride it around a bit, after hearing my concerns, give me an opinion on what was wrong. He went out and rode the bike, and came back. I asked him how it felt, and he said that the shock actually felt really good, and that he was concerned that the tires were the factor that was probably the cause of the characteristics I had described. So, he said that it probably make a huge differences in riding and handling to replace them both. I’m glad that he was honest about the forks, and didn’t try sell me something the bike nor I needed.
Now, I have to think about when I will get new tires, what kind, and from who I want to purchase them from. Additional things i want to consider. Hand guards (possibly from a KLR650), some sort of cruise control mechanism/solution (since the O-ring trick doesn’t work with the new grips I installed a while back), sliders for the frame, external helmet locks, progressive fork springs, cartridge emulators, and heated grips? Too many things, not enough money!
