I installed some linear springs (acquired from Revolution Racing), did the taper mod, 1mm relief hole, all new bushes, all new seals and fresh fork oil. I thought everything was fine, until today. I finally had time to get to the garage and start to experiment with the fork settings. I noticed immediately that rebound adjustment felt really weird. It was stiffer than I remembered. Also the range of adjustment was really short, only about 1 revolution of adjustment from max to min, and it didn't seem to make any difference in the amount of actual damping anyways.
I should have stopped playing with the rebound adjusters right away...
I loosened the left fork cap and pulled the damper rod out... only to see deep marks in the taper I had previously honed to perfection. wombles...! It's clear that the damper rod was installed so, that it was too deep inside the cartridge, making contact with the internals. Other side was exactly the same.
So what caused this? It seems I didn't screw the fork cap/damping rod/preload adjuster in the original position. Instead, I screwed it as much as it would go without effort, and then tighten then "locknut". In the workshop manual, it is actually adviced not to undo this nut, as "fork damping force will be changed". Even if the locknut is removed, the original position of the damperrod could have been preserved, if the rebound adjustment would have been set to maximum rather than minimum damping before taking the forks apart....
Now, what about my forks? Well, I ground the tapers again, no part of the original damper rod taper is left intact. I tightened the locknut in such a position that I have a range of 5 turns from min to max damping. If someone knows the original number of turns, I would like to know it (if I decide to pull the forks apart again). I screwed the fork caps back on. Damping adjustment works now as it should, but I have no idea what kind of damage I have done to the internals?
What's your opinion on what should I do? Just ride the bike and see how it goes? I have already blown my budget for bike parts for this year....
