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Buell Motorcycle Forum » Court in Session » Archive through August 07, 2008 » Showa Fork Clunk « Previous Next »

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2evil4u
Posted on Thursday, February 14, 2008 - 08:59 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

I searched for this symptom and found a few long-dead threads that had potentially the same issue. I posted in KV under suspension but I figured I'd go right to the top as it seems like a strange problem and I like to know exactly what to tell my dealer when I bring the bike in for warranty work.

On my way home from work yesterday I noticed a new noise. Under braking there is a "click" or "clunk" from the front forks.

It is not the brake caliper click as I can duplicate that specific brake noise with the front wheel jacked off the ground.

I can duplicate the new noise while sitting still by holding the front brake locked and compressing the front forks pretty hard. It clunks on compression and then again in the same place on rebound. The forks are not bottoming out. It happens a little lower than mid-way in the fork's travel. Sometimes it only makes one click, sometimes it sounds like both forks make the noise at about the same time. I can also make it clunk without using the brake by putting the wheel against a wall and compressing the forks.

There has been no noticeable change in ride quality. I ran the preload adjusters to the stops both ways last night and it made no difference in the noise.

I checked the steering head bearings and there is no play there so I'm kinda stumped.

I've had some speculation that there may be a valve in the forks that is clicking as it moves. I don't know as I've never seen what these look like on the inside.

The bike is a 2006 XB12X with about 22,000 miles on it. The noise did not develop gradually, just all of a sudden it was there today on the way home from work.

Any thoughts?
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Sloppy
Posted on Monday, June 02, 2008 - 07:20 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

This maybe a little late, but I had the EXACT same symptoms on my S3. Dealer and I scratched our heads but couldn't find anything.

Problem turns out to be the FRONT ISOLATOR has failed. On the S3 it was a simple replacement, not sure on the XB line. Mine happened at about the same mileage as well.
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2evil4u
Posted on Tuesday, June 03, 2008 - 09:19 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

That's what it was. No visible failure of the isolator though so it was a beyotch to diagnose.
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