86 200X forks seem "crummy"

[Trikeaholic]

real soft, put in new seals and changed oil, its always been like that. feels tilted forward kinda. I dont like it. Anyone know where/how to get heavier springs?? even under its own weight, it sags, has at least an inch or better to come up, if you pull it. what gives??

How many lbs of air do you have in them ? I run 5 to 7 lbs in mine and they work great.

[Kilborg]

Do not put air in your forks. They are not designed for air. You WILL blow seals. It might seem to be an improvement, but they are oil shocks. 200x forks are fairly soft on all the years, so i wouldnt worry about it.

Progressive makes good springs, though i am unsure if they have a set for the late model 200x's.

[TimSr]

Over the years the springs compress, and dont go out as far as they used to. You may not need heavier springs, but just new ones. One thing you can do to get more life from old springs is to preload them. This is done by putting spacers in the tubes at the top of the springs. I put some about 1 1/2" long in the TriZ. It was a little hard to get the caps screwed back in, but I wanted lots of preload, as I was jumping a lot. Worked great! Got rid of the sag you get when the springs get old.

[dirtbasher]

what kind of oil did you use in your forks??? the guy i got my rear shock rebuilt from told me to replaice the oil with 10w30 synthetic and stp oil treatment. what you do is say you take out 6 ouncs of oil you mix 4 ounces of 10w30 and 2 ounces of stp then mix it up and refill.
i tried it and it works real good.

[TimSr]

Geez, you never use motor oil on forks so I hope your talking fork oil. Motor oil foams up badly. Ive never heard of the STP in forks , so Im not sure what its supposed to do for it. Go to the local dealer and get some regular fork oil. Its not expensive and its got additives to keep your seals conditioned. It's available in different weights, but keep in mind it affects rebound a lot more than it does compression. I have a TriZ, not an X, but the 5W30, which is one of the heaviest, works best in mine when Im MXing. I cant remember what brand I used. If Im not MXing I prefer something much lighter.

uhhh you can use transmission fluid

[Trikeaholic]

I used ATF, just like the manual said. We did seals in the 350x and 200x and the 350 rides really nice, the 200, not so nice. Tim, what about these spacers, what did u use?

[dirtbasher]

the stp thickens the oil up, this guy rebuilds shocks for a living and he races his bikes on the tt track and thats what he uses, and it works great.

[TimSr]

I used spacers that came from a dirt bikes forks, but you can use anything bigger than the spring, or about the same diameter, with a washer on the top of the spring. Something like a bushing, or cut pieces of pipe. Ive heard of using PVC, but Id be concerned about the fork oil possibly eating it.

[ATCnut]

I have heard of small block chevy valve spring being used to add length to the springs

[250rAL]

I've had PVC spacers in my 250R for probably 10 years and I use fork oil with no degradation of the PVC. And use " real" fork oil for the seal conditioners they contain - the seals won't last long without it.

[lushatc200x]

[quote="Trikeaholic"]I used ATF, just like the manual said.

does that stand for automatic trannsmission fluid

[Trikeaholic]

yes it does

[TimSr]

Its my understanding that some Honda manuals called for ATF, so Id assume it would be fine. Only problem with it, and main reason I would not want to use it is that is a bit hard to vary your damping, by varying viscosity. I dont know what viscosity ATF compares to, (maybe somebody does) but its a lot easier working with fork oils with numbers on them. Its also my understanding that ATF is compatible with rubber seals, as it would be in ATF's normal designated use.

Its nice to know PVC works! Its a lot easier to work with!

[250rAL]

If I remember correctly, ATF is 7.5 weight. I tried that before I went to fork oil because it was recommended(I read it somewhere). I had just replaced the seals and they lasted about a year after that. Before I replaced them(again), I tried mixing tranny stop-leak with the ATF because I had read that that would stop the seals from leaking. It helped but not 100%. I went ahead and replaced the seals and went to fork oil and it has now been many years(10-12) with the same seals and no leaks. I would say that's worth the minimal extra expense.