forks overhaul / repaint

[Geordie]

Hello all

Just been reading through some of the previous posts about overhauling the forks, etc.

My intention is to cleanup / repaint the front end, so dismantle everything, get the rims chromed (dark centres), new discs pads and powder coat the fork bodies.

My question is (are!) : can you powder coat the lower fork housing bodies, if not what would be best ? Im looking for something that will resist the crap from the roads and clean up easily and last a while.
If powder coating is a goer, Im guessing I will have to completely dismantle the fork, so may aswell get new seals etc and get them 'setup' I would rather get a local shop to do this for me.
Also I could upgrade a few bits. Im not a nutter road racer but I would like a bit more confidence going into corners, get my speed up a bit, what mods could i make to the front end to help with this .. ? (as im taking it to bits anyway ?)

There is plenty chat about brake upgrades, which I am considering, but I guessing would need to be matched to the fork setup to prevent bottoming out on heavy braking, etc ? a bigger capacity MC would sharpen things up with standard pots ?

Anyway, and ideas on a budget upgrade clean up front end ?

Many Thanks guys

Geordie

[stormingjoe]

you can get them powder coated, but only plain colours, imho not that good looking but hardwearing I should imagine, I use wheel paint and then give a clear lacquer coat or 2 that way you can have coloured metallics etc even give them an 'ohlins' look if you want.

Just having the internals on mine done in Maidenhead by a company called PDQ, doing similar job as Roger at Revolution hopefully, get them back at end of month.

[JohnnyB]

Yep, you need to get them completely stripped as they sit in the overn for 20 mins at 200 degrees c to cure. Gloss black looks much better in the flesh than you would imagine.

[Geordie]

thanks guys, hadnt thought of the oven .. might just paint them the now unless i can work out they need overhauled, then may aswell go the whole hog ..

How would you tell if the forks are needing overhauled / serviced ? How much oil should there be in there, what adjustments can i make to stiffen them up a bit ?

Mine are fine, just bottom out on large ish potholes ,etc and wondered if stiffer settings would be better for cornering ?

George

[tony.mon]

Why not see if you can get a swappie ride with another poster locally?
As long as they've had forks done, obviously.

Got the WP springs, which seems to stop the bottoming out, but as they were done by the previous owner I don't know if the internals had been modified as well.

And as I ride over the winter, mine look like 5hit as well!

Will probably do the spray can and lacquer thing for now, but if I get the wheels painted (will need a spare set/loan set as I use it every day for work as well as the commute) I was going to get the forks done to match.