This poll is my instigation , Graham posted it up for me as members cannot.
Just wanted to have a go at clearing up this apparent doubt over the integrity of Girdraulic forks. With the voting as it stands it seems they have an overwhelming vindication. Personally I never had any doubt whatsoever , the negative stories I've heard and seen over the years I've put down to bad maintenance , assembly , neglect , damage or wear.
I suppose the only issue remaining is to determine how often they should be inspected for wear and what wear constitutes as unacceptable.
I ride all types of roads (and not always in adherence to the German speed limits), and for the last 16 months i´m forced to ride badly maintained B roads (with lots of corners/inclines/dips,so i don´t mind) and i´ve never had even an inclination of a wobble since i´ve owned the bike. (If the tyre doesn´t run 100% true which appears quite often with the "new" roadrunners, only then when you let go of the bars. Please, don´t ask, must have something to do with the voices)
Mines a D shadow with fairly soft springs, and fairly new koni damper.
I believe the reason i´ve not had a problem (i only started using the steering damper after reading this forum
) is down to the sprung/unsprung weight of the machine in question.
Sprung weight= lots of stainless, and i´m not getting any thinner (the forks/springs don´t really spend much time fully unloaded so the bike doesn´t "ride over the forks". Unsprung weight= rims and spokes are stainless as well as all fittings (so taking a lot more energy to get everything moving)
Maybe if the guys who have had near misses or spills could say if they had undertaken any weight saving measures i.e alloy rims etc when this occured?
This would really help to make sense of the "wobblers" amongst us.
As the poll stands at the moment,it seems pretty hit and miss, and i´m waiting for it to happen at any moment, and this is almost certainly not helping the cause
Worn forks could maybe contribute to amplifying a wobble, but i don´t think this is the real instigator(unless really worn, like 1/4" play left and right worn!!). A mixture of extended forks (shortened wheelbase along with steepened steering angle? (are both links the same length?) in conjunction with a reduced resistance to external energy inputs/absorbtion (unsprung weight)
An exception to this is maybe russel on his D (because he likes things firm and fruity). I believe he also had an experience of the "wobbly kind", and this really got me thinking. (when "himself at the source of all things well fitting and shiney" can have a problem (and that on the ultimate of all vincent machines - A SERIES "D") then it´s only a matter of time before it gets me to?