Forks

cassius · Post by **cassius** » 01 Nov 2007 20:07

list, while i tell 'ee a sad, sad tale.

See i took my Strada apart many years ago, for faintly complicated reasons, but I've kept it, in boxes ever since.

I've always been really carefiul to keep all the bits together, but at the last move, I left it a week between packing the last boxes into the car and moving the engine and the two sets of fork tubes, springs and innards to a new garage which I was moving to because the little old lady I was renting my old garage off wanted to put her lawnmower in it.

But when I went back the weekend later the engine was still there, but the daft old bat had thrown out my forks, thinking they were "old curtian rails, so I didn't think you'd want them..." leaving me with two bottom sections and nowt else.

I have actually stopped waking up at night screaming about this now and can sometimes think about it without weeping uncontrolably

I am assuming that replacement new tubes, springs and innards are going to be a bit pricey.

Sooooo....

what other bikes use the same forks? Is there a modern equivalent I could fit instead?
I've been offered a set of newish forks off a Suzuki Impulse 400 with a nice alloy wheeel and all the brakes, at a reasonable price...

3potjohn · Post by **3potjohn** » 02 Nov 2007 07:22

waking up at night screaming

Pull yourself together man!
Sorry- old curtain joke.
There's a few shots I have seen with bikes using different forks so good luck.
Or perhaps you should try and source the correct items after all.

hendre · Post by **hendre** » 02 Nov 2007 07:45

I shall have a look this weekend in my attick for some curtain rails with inners.... there should be some (or the wife threw 'm out during last spring cleaning). AndrÃ©

robinh44 · Post by **robinh44** » 02 Nov 2007 09:48

Hi,

Bad luck, I am always worried my wife will do that to my 'junk' as she refers to it.
I fitted different forks to my Kanguro ( Husqvarna SM610 forks) but had to reduce the height of the headstock to match up with the new fork clamps due to the fork legs being much larger diameter. The original forks are normally marzocchi, there must be similar forks legs from other Italian bikes of that era knocking about at breakers or on ebay. The suzuki ones sound good, I ended up fitting suzuki bandit wheels to my forks along with a Ducati 996 4 pot brembo caliper. Good luck.

Regards

Robin

EVguru · Post by **EVguru** » 02 Nov 2007 12:05

Was the chrome perfect on the stanchions?

If not then buying new ones isn't going to be that much more expensive than have the old ones re-chromed.

http://www.discovolantemoto.co.uk/ have new stanchions available in rather better steel than the 'gas pipe' Marzocchi used. They cost about Â£70 each as I recall.

The damper rods are pretty crude and you could easily make/have made a set if you can't find a reasonably priced set of used ones. You could also consider fitting a set of Guzzi cartridges.

Most old springs have sagged and would benefit from being replaced anyway.

Brubru · Post by **Brubru** » 04 Nov 2007 23:52

The fork is the same as the Ducati Pantah, except for the springs (harder for the Ducati, how did you guess?).

Good luck!

Bruno

cgrigson · Post by **cgrigson** » 13 Nov 2007 08:59

Hi,
I was eyeing up a set of pantah forks on ebay the other week with an eye to disposing of the terrible front brake (sacriledge! I hear them say) and going for twin Brembos. The chap selling them said quite firmly that the Pantah forks were Paoli and not Marzos, I think they have fittings for Brembo P5 calipers on slightly larger discs. Despite having many of the parts already, the cost of fitting a brembo four pot to the existing forks was going to be cheaper and preserve the look better. Whether this is physically possible I don't know. Has anyone else upgraded the front caliper?

For a complete set of forks you could try the Italian Vintage co or the chap from Bristol that advertises in the club mag.

Chris

EVguru · Post by **EVguru** » 13 Nov 2007 09:59

I take it you currently have a single disc?

In common with many 70's bikes, Morini used a mastercylinder that was really too big and gives the brakes a 'wooden' feel. If you're sticking with one disc, fit a 250 cylider (14mm bore rather than 16mm). They're about Â£50 new from NLM. If the chrome is good on the disc, clean it thoroughly with a FINE abrasive (something like a Garryflex block) and fit a set of soft Newfren pads.

Otherwise upgrade to twin front discs and keep the 16mm cylinder.

In any case a set of braided lines is worth having. They're not hard to make up and Euroquip fittings are quite cheap from Rally Design.

pistonslap · Post by **pistonslap** » 12 Mar 2008 11:27

interesting what you said paul about fitting Guzzi cartridges to the forks.Do you have any more info. on this? ie which models fit and how difficult they are to install.

EVguru · Post by **EVguru** » 12 Mar 2008 16:02

V35 and V50 were fitted with 35mm Marzocchi forks.

I don't know what would be involved with fitting the cartridges to Morini forks, but I've heard it's possible.

I've got cartridge emulators (from Race Tech) in my Valentini project, but it's yet to turn a wheel in anger, so I can't comment on how well they work.

72degrees · Post by **72degrees** » 12 Mar 2008 20:10

Amongst the remains of the 'Rotarini' in the shed I have a set of 350 forks (Paul has already had a spare rear hub). The stanchions need re hard-chroming, but all the innards are there except for the spacer tube thingies at the top (cunningly replaced with valve springs as a 250 Rotax MX engine is much lighter than a 350 Morini).

I might be persuaded to part with them, as I don't have enough parts to build a third bike as well as the "Forgotten Error" hill climber project.

cassius · Post by **cassius** » 14 Mar 2008 00:16

cooo! how much and where are you?