Advice on SFC1000 Front Fork

E

EncinoBoy

Full member
Location
British Columbia,Canada
I JUST noticed a subtle difference in the exposed height of the fork tubes on my new-to-me SFC. There is a difference of
7 mm between the left and right tubes. Does anybody know or have an unmolested example to provide the correct
dimension of the exposed tube above the top triple clamp ? Grazie !
 
7mm is a huge difference in exposed height.
I’m away so can’t measure mine. 20mm above triple clamps?
Someone will have a view.
 
I checked my ‘86 SFC 1000 and the distance of exposed fork tube above the upper yoke is 25 mm, or an inch.

My bike has 1800 km since new (uncrated and assembled in 2001) so I imagine this is how it was delivered. Interestingly on mine the Tomaselli clip-on handlebars are slightly different left to right, also from the factory as far as I understand it.
 
I have my clip-ons above the triple clamp, therefore on my bike, the fork tubes are roughly 4cm above the triple clamp. That, together with the 375mm long rear shocks (YSS) improved handling a bit I feel.
 
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At your discretion, as long as you're not imitating suspension travel or inducing the bike into tank slapping instability, or the fork ends up against the handlebars, move them to what suits your handling needs. The more the forks protrude, the shorter the trail figure becomes and the faster you can turn the bike. That's a good thing on typically slow-steering bikes from that time. But they must be even on both sides, makes my shin crawl thinking of the binding if they're not even. On modern bikes, tiny differences have huge effects with their much-reduced trail figures. My modern Husky changed dramatically, moving the forks through by 3mm.
 
No,but until I loosened up everything to re-adjust and tried re-assembly there was the difference in that 7mm
offset. I have now evened up the dimension to 25mm for both tubes. I hadn't ridden the bike yet and my
suspicion is that the wheel was cocked between the legs with the axle in place. Whether a former owner had let
the dimension shift I don't know but now I will get it right. When it rains it pours as the left caliper is leaking and
requires a re-seal so I'll wait til Wolfgang gets back from Germany in June. In any event thanks to all for their input.
 
Very few bikes have markings on the forks for fitting. Dead easy even without a ruled instrument - a twig, a matchstick. As long as they're the same both side, job done.
 
I,ve often wondered why photos of SFC1000s show the fork tubes protruding so high thru the top yoke. But as mentioned above keep both at the same level. Increasing the height makes the bike turn quicker, so first use the OEM setting.
Dave Moss who’s a suspension expert has good videos on how to align the front wheel to the forks and brake calipers and I’ll look for his link. It basically involves lifting the front end and loosening the calipers so that they align to the rotors and tightening the lower fork pinch bolts. There's a few other steps I don’t recall at the moment, but the vid shows the entire sequence, and his other vids explain suspension set up and correct tire pressures.
 
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Maybe they were the only forks available that were long enough for the SFC1000 (41.3mm M1Rs?). RGS Marzos have long forks so the clipons can mount above the top clamp.
 
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