250R Question

[Fox250R]

So I got some money to burn and im looking to upgrade my trike! I want a new swinger, axle, rear shock and front forks. Could any of you give me some tips on what I should be looking for and where to buy? My front forks have been leaking oil for years after replacing the seals many times. My front tire hits my fender just coming down from a wheelie. When I lift my grab bar my rear shock doesn't move up what so ever. At the dunes it feels like I have no suspension at all!

I guess my question is, should I be fixing these problems or just replacing them? What would be a good rear shock that I could just buy off the internet?

Im not sure how to attack all of this yet so I wanted to get some pro info from you guys first..

Thank you.

[El Camexican]

My front forks have been leaking oil for years after replacing the seals many times.

Forget the fender rubbing and shock for now, are your fork tubes pitted? Scratched? Bent? Misaligned? What brand of seals have you been putting in? What oil are you using? Leaking is not normal or acceptable, there has to be a reason. Are you using wipers? Hard to tell in the photo.

[C.J]

Send your rear shock to Mr. George over at Suspension 101! My zuki rear shock is on it's way there right now as we speak!! Ask Manbearpig how good his work is! Or JasonB (unless he hasn't rode on his yet),,,

As for the forks: I'm like El Camexican. Something ain't right for them to constantly leak like that.

If you got serious dough to burn go buy one of LSR's swingers..... Sheesh they spendy.... $1000 for a swinger, carrier, chain guide,,,, no thanks..
Does Tyler over at MetalTech do ATC swingers? If not someone needs to get him to make a jig and all for y'all! He makes some sweeeeeet a-arms and quite a few of my zuki buddy's are running his set up.

The axle I would get/plan to get for my zuki is the Durablue Eliminator 2+2. It can be "adjusted" to up to +4 wide. My buddy is replacing his bent zilla axle with one, and I will be doing the same next year.

Yes I know I said 'zuki zuki zuki zuki' blah blah blah QWADZ but still,,, all very good sources right?? Lol

[200x newby]

I had the 04-05 450r rear swinger, shock and linkage on my 86 R and loved it. As for front forks it really depends on what you want to spend. I had a set of progressive front springs and NASA spring adjusters and it made a hell of a difference on the cheap side OR you could get with Jason Hall and get a set of triples for inverted forks.

The 450r stuff is bolt on. BTW if you go that route I have everything you need for the 450r rear suspension and progressive fork springs (parted my bike out).

[JasonB]

metaltech does atc swingers, i have had them do an air cooled 84 +6 swinger for me and a +6 on my 310 86 bike.

suspension 101 is great, George did my rear shock and its a world of difference. i want inverts for my 500 and 310 bikes though, suspension makes the difference. What is going fast worth if your super uncomfortable and out of control while doing it?

[barnett468]

as far as the forks go, you can easily get it to keep from bottoming by using thicker oil and/or heavier springs.

what weight oil are you using?

how much do you weigh?

do you know if your springs are stock?


get your front tire just slightly off the ground.

have someone steady the bike.

grab the forks at the axle and try to wiggle them front to back.

if they wiggle at all the lower tubes are worn.

if they wiggle just a hair they are ok and not the cause of your seal leak.

if they wiggle a lot they should be must be replaced and are at least one cause of your seal leak.

if you need complete new forks are you looking for suggestions for possible aftermarket ones like marzocchis etc or just where to buy orig ones?

they might also might make a damper rod kit for your tubes that will change the damping characteristics and possibly increase travel slightly.

[barnett468]

as far as the rear shock goes revalving/rebuilding is a good option imo however if you have a really fat wallet, call works performance shocks in van nuys calif and see if they make something.

[JasonB]

works is great, my buddy Gary bought DHAM's big bore 250R bike at glamis in March this year and watching that thing hit the 'woops at the base on some of the hills was amazing, it just soaked them up like no big deal. That shock also cost more than a 250R, (over 1,000$). Works builds their shocks to your specs, but so will Suspension101. Mine was revalved, rebuilt, and with new parts and a stronger spring was still closer to the 400$ price tag shipped back to me. Your call, but that 700$ more for the works shock could be better spent on the inverts from Hall with a set of cartridges. just my 2 cents

[Fox250R]

I am around 6'2 200. And I'm not really sure what kind of oil, seals or springs i'm using. Never really thought about it until now. My R rides so rough now its beginning to get really hard to enjoy it.

[barnett468]

ok,

your bike looks really nice.

there are many questions you have not answered. in addition to the questions above:

is this your first high perf trike?. the reason i ask is because your bike with your rear tires will feel very rough over wash board roads and harder terrain etc. it is simply the nature of the beast. it is still likely that the harshness can be reduced but it will never be able to be reduced to a point where it feels like your grandparents caddy flyin down the freeway.

what is the air pressure in your tires? low air pressure noticeably reduces harshness over all terrain.

if you simply stand over your bike and push down on the forks do they push easy?

do they push very far?

if you push on the rear does it push easy?

does it push very far?

when you let up in the rear does it rewturn all the way to the top?

when you sit on the rear how fsar does it compress? just use a tape measure to determine this.

it is possible your fork springs are orig and sagged out plus stock springs are slightly light for a 2000 lb rider.

you previously said when you lift on the rear it does not go up anymotre. if this is the case then someone increased the preload on the spring and/or installed a stiffer spring. onec you do these thests ant sanswer the questions we will have a better idea.

there may also be a knob on the rear shock that adjusts the rear damping. if so, turn it all the way one direction and try it then all the way the other direction and try it.

to reduce the easy bottoming in your forks you can try the following if after inspection the forks are determined to be useable.

insatall honda seals.

install 10 wt oil.

raise oil level 5/8" from the stock recommendation.

either add 1" long spacers on top if the springs using hardware store tubing close to the same size as the inside of the tube or add around 10 lbs of air pressure to the tubes if you have air fittings on the top.

when you come down from a wheelie your forks should go around 1/2 way down.

when you run over a curb head on they should go down aroumnd 3/4 of the way.

you can put a zip tie on the tube to determine how far the fork is traveling.

if you do not have enough air in your tires you might dent your rims if you do this test.

[barnett468]

OK, I WATCHED YOU VIDEOS WHICH ARE XLNT.

FORKS

Your forks never bottomed out.

when you stopped using fron brake on the downhill they only compressed around 1/2 way. it would be good to see them over some jumps but it looks like the springs are not too soft to me and might even be a bit too stiff.

put the zip tie on the tube and determine exactly what is happening and where. also find some jumps to test travel on.

since i saw no bottoming i would not out heavy oil in the tubes.



TIRES - Looks like they have a lot of air because i did not see them compress much.


REAR - This looks like the rear spring is very stiff, it hardly seems to move.


TRAVEL - It looks to me like it has more than stock, someone else here might be able to tell. if so then someone has definitely been in threre messiing with things so who knows what you currently have.

[barnett468]

Post correction

i would not use heavy oil in fork tubes.

[BOB MARLIN]

Call "suspension 101" Tell him how much you weigh and what type of riding you do. Put your stuff in a box and ship it to him. Done.

[Fox250R]

Well when I push down on my forks they don't rebound all the way back up. Sometimes ill lift up on the handle bars to get the forks to fully recover. And that's with me not even on the bike.

I just got back from the dunes a last week and as I was loading my bike back in my truck I noticed oil all over both forks.

[Fox250R]

Some of those vids are up to 4 or 5 years old When I jump just a foot in the air and land I can hear my front tire rubbing against my fender.. Even does it when i come down from a wheelie.