Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Not telescoping smoothly. They work, but they stick a bit, delaying the weight transfer when I start braking as well as when I lean on them. I did drop the bike on Saturday while out riding, damn slow speed u-turns up hill... But there was no damage, so I don't think it's related.

It's a 97 Vulcan 800 classic, I've had it a little over 2 weeks now(first bike). It has only 7800 miles on it, so I'm thinking that the previous owner didn't ride it that much and it may have been sitting for a while before I got it - bought it from a shop.

I guess I'm just wondering if anyone can tell me whether this is something I should worry about and worth a trip to my maintenance shop. Could it just be dirty? Do I need to clean it or will it work itself out with riding?

Change the fork oil... if it still does it after that, I'd take it to a shop.

I think you tweaked the forks a tad when you dumped it. Not all damage is visible! Your stiction is probably from the upper or lower triple clamp twisting a bit in the dump.

GET IT FIXED NOW or you'll start to wear away your stanchions which will result in busted oil seals and may require new stanchions ($$$)

I'm with Tech. Sticking forks is almost always an indication of misalignment. The fact that you dropped the bike and the forks started sticking is probably not a coincidence.

well, I made an appointment to have the shop look at it on Monday, dropping it off on Saturday. Guess I'm not riding this weekend

So the guy at the shop tells me the forks were definitely not twisted or damaged. He's ordered a new fork seal for me, so hopefully that will take care of the problem, along with a fork oil change.

He couldn't tell you WHY it was sticking, but is going to throw parts at it anyway? Might be time to switch mechanics?

Yeah, I was hesitant about that as well. I'll have a chat with him when he calls again and will take it somewhere else if I'm not satisfied with his answers...