2011 six days fork fixed (kinda)

[coopernicus]

Originally Posted by motogroove

Did you ever do something dumb and then have your girlfriend ask you why you did it?
And you sort of sit there, trying to think of a good answer?
And there just isn't one?

I hate when that happens.

-dean
Nothing takes the past away like the future -K&D

Nice! I've done this to my wife, my mom and dad, my brother, my coworkers, my boss...Need I go on?

On a serious note, I'm sure I will be beat up for this posting but this is a business and I'm sure what GG does is what everyone else does: They spec their parts, source it, random sample it, and ship (along with the rest of the assembled parts) to the customer. Where they likely differ is the random sampling is likely less than the larger companies as their pockets are not as deep. GG needs to make money or break even in the long run so, for better or worse, money IS a consideration. Take a look at the Japanese companies: The largest and most funded of the companies have the "highest" level of quality (be it real or perceived) and their reputation goes down in order of size (H-Y-K-S). Japan has a culture of honor and quality that extends into their business but their Quality Assurance testing of suppliers is still needed to catch "statistical anomalies". Suzuki likely having the least amount of spare cash has the lowest perceived "quality" dating back to the seventies (being a vintage dirt bike guy all of the old Suzukis I've had needed the most amount of attention even for relatively unused bikes...Point being is that I do have a sample size so I'm not "making things up"). KTM is made by a culture that puts an emphasis on engineering and performance (their kind of performance, not necessarily yours). They also own many of their major suppliers which cuts down on the amount of supplier Q.A. testing folks they need. WP Suspension, if I recall correctly, is a KTM company now and how many years did it take for them to get suspension that was acceptable to the masses? KTM is a fine company and they make a great product but they occasionally have problems like they statistically should.
What's the point of all of this rambling? GG like other small companies in other businesses from a statistical standpoint will suffer from occasional supplier problems. In the expedited time to fill GG US's "surprise" large order for 2010 and 2011 models, GG and their suppliers likely rushed through their processes of QA and assembly and we are seeing the results with what folks are seeing in their forks, power valves, and carb variances. Excuses? No. Reality? Yes. Unfortunately, since I've been buying "off brands" since 1979 that is what occasionally happens. My first bike was a 1979 Can Am Qualifier and it had Marzocchi forks. They were not that good and "Terry Fork Kit Company" sold entirely new damper rods for the forks and for other brands to fix it. Marzocchi for years has suffered from occasional quality control problems but if you get a good set, they work very well (sort of like a Ferrari).
AzRick asked a valid question but I doubt there will be an answer as that would be an admittance of some sort of liability (remember, this is a business) for a shortcoming. These situations should be where a good dealer steps in and becomes the forefront of the phrase "the buck stop here" and they work the problem. Furthermore, according to the GG manual I just looked at under the US importer's website, there looks to be a warranty and a process to address defective items for a period likely to be six months after the purchase. A defective damper assembly would likely be a candidate for warranty work according to my reasoning. Yes, I'm aware of all the postings and arguments about "time, money, convenience, should be, shouldn't be", etc and I'm not trying to dismiss your points. I'm just saying that things "are what they are" with smaller companies and there is likely a process to address the majority of shortcomings found on a sampling of the GGs. That's the price we sometimes pay for not following the crowd like those riding those popular red bikes. Oh, by the way, a riding partner "wanted to ride" one of those big red 450x's and got one only to have the automatic decompression mechanism fail causing a loss of power and eventual near stranding while riding deep in the mountains. It turns out there was a service bulletin/recall on the part. So with all of their resources, culture, and reputation they have the same type of problem. I never saw one word about it on the websites or in the magazines. That riding partner is now riding a new GG 300 and loving it except for getting the jetting dialed to perfection! Sorry for standing so long on the "soap box'!

Eric

[GMP]

Thats a very realistic assesment, and those of us who work or have worked in a mfg business from R&D through production certainly understand. I've worked in the medical device industry and my wife still does. Highest level of QC/QA, and small things still happen. Its all statistics.

I think the inside of the Zoke forks never see the light of the GG factory. I'd bet they are speced, sourced, delivered, and bolted up. Husky had the exact same issues with stacks comming loose a couple years back, Les found a bunch of them.

[AZRickD]

I agree with GMP. The manufacturers being stung by the Zoke Factor should be up in arms.

[moto9]

I'd love to see GG come from the factory with Showa suspension

[Dave A]

When i pulled the base valve from the bottom of the fork legs on my new 2011 six days the shims where laying there loose. I was able fish them out with no problems. I have to wonder if it is the air impact that causes the nut to come off. I would think that if it had come off while riding the shims would have been mangled and loose nut could have caused damaged. I could not find any signs of damage.
Dave

[noobi]

There have been a few reported cases of the air impact wrench spinning the nut off the stack and having the shims come loose.
I prefer to compress the fork some, and use a normal socket and bar to loosen the base valve a little, then release the compression off the fork and undo the base valve the rest of the way, but I only really do this because I dont have an impact wrench.

[AZRickD]

Found today on KTM Talk:

http://ktmtalk.com/index.php?showtopic=428040&st=15

By "layoutd"

My tuner buddy found the problem with that. One of our riding crew got the 300 and started blowing and wrecking in every corner. There is some spacer in there cutting off oil flow. His words:

"The major problem with Robbys was that the forks were hydraulicing, the same thing that happend to Steves forks when I used an open cartridge spacer in a closed cartridge fork, it (being the fork spring seat) cant keep up with the movement of axel, it does not flow enough oil.

Watch in all the film clips when robby crashes, front end slides out rather than compressing. the dirt line on the chrome part of his forks was 4-6" from axel lug.(look at pics on ur phone) Intially I thought they had to much oil from factory, but upon dissasymbly the spring seat is like a sx after market mod.(look on the od where I cut "V" slits in spring seat, and look at factory seat, black one) the one i made is the white one with the half moons cut in it) in the the 45mm zoke shivers are just like the 94 and up kyb open catridge forks, except that they have better compressiion and rebound valves"

He fabricated a new spring seat and the bike works great now. Send me a PM and I can give you the email to my tuner.

[Robby45]

That's my bike they are discussing on there. I wouldn't go so far as to say "it's fixed". Definently better, but still not right.

The fork soaks up small bumps and trail trash really well, but on large hits/square edges etc.. it'll break your wrists. Way, way too harsh.

I'm gimpy right now, so it's not high on my list to work on, but something will have to be done before the SETRA season gets in full swing.

[GMP]

I want to see a pic of the cartridge/spring seat of that fork. Like I said something is not right, and its not the fault of the spacer, unless the spacer is a lot larger which it does not appear to be. I've had several sets of these apart many times, from '02 Husky to '07 GG, and they all have the same spring seat and spacers(length varies a little only). What he did helped some but the stock spacer without notches is not the cause. I could guess and say they changed the spring seat to something easier/cheaper to mfg that has fewer holes or holes/slots that happen to be blocked by the edge of the spacer, but I'll wait until I see a photo.

Is it really "hydrolocking", or could you be experiencing coil bind in conjunction with the normal function of the hydro stop (bottoming cone)?

[AZRickD]

This is a photo of the modded components from "layoutd"...

Sez layoutd:

The one on the right is stock and the one on the right was fabricated. The notches greatly improved the forks. Great motor and great bike, just a little suspension issue that is easily corrected.