Z250SL fork strength testing and replacement

And so, back in February 2020, after 11.5 years and something like 135,000 miles of riding, I had my first RTA involving a member of the public. Behold!

Who's fault was it? I shouldn't have been filtering down the middle (well, I do so at my own risk) but the van does a sudden U-turn without checking his mirrors. The driver is apologetic but quickly becomes more distant after we decide not to go through insurance because I can get some forks quite cheaply, Mr Paul Wilson of Sapcote you are a nasty and selfish piece of work. Anyway, the aftermath:

Mr Wilson suggests he used to be into bikes innit and his mate can get me some cheap like. This never happens (surprise), nor is any money forthcoming to cover the cost of replacing the forks myself despite it being agreed as I helped him keep his job and keep his insurance payments lower by not going through insurance (more surprise). Luckily there were a good pair of forks on ebay available for £75, so here we go. This was a fairly straight forward swap so no in-depth instructions this time..

We begin!

The state of these forks at 3.5 years old and 21865 miles is beyond belief. Things started off badly when the mudguard wouldn't come off, I hate these stupid allen button head bolts. Also notice the drip from the radiator, that'll be my next blog post..!

I'll sort that out later..

A bit wibbly wobbly without a rear paddock stand, I should get one. Or, y'know, stick to the promise I made to myself to never buy a bike that doesn't have a centre stand ever again.

These rubbers that hold the headlight clamps/ears in place are a bear to slide up off the stanchion. I found it best to lever the rubber away from the chrome and squirt some light oil/maintenance spray down there, this helped them slide much more easily. Still very difficult and time consuming though.

Forks out..

Kinked where it bent at the lower yoke. These couldn't be straightened even if you wanted to. Disturbing given the slow speed of the incident..

Aha, fresh meat!

Aaaand in.

Now, what about that stupid bolt? Hmm can't really attack it from the inside, the rest of the mudguard is in the way..

So I'll attack it from the outside!

I stopped at this point because the pressure I was applying was starting to crack the mudguard. Now, maybe one of those easy out left hand thread thingers will work..

Of course it didn't, they never do. So I stuck the leg in the vice and drilled it proper. I was quite pleased with how this went, since I did it by hand!

There was even enough thread left in the bracket for another bolt to fit and tighten up. Job done!

Run her up and go for a little test to see if the forks are boinging like they should, oh no what now..

It was virtually trickling out. Back to ebay..!