Hi All,

Purchased a new bike over the weekend. It's an older sportster with a springer front end.

The front end is very stiff, too stiff for my liking. Wondering if anyone can provide some pointers on adjustment? I've done a little searching and googling but cant find very much?

 

Not sure what you mean by stiff, exactly.

My stock springer isn't what I would describe as stiff. With the springs and shock off, it moves relatively freely with the only resistance coming from the rocker and rigid fork bearing. It's quite stiff to move by hand when adjusted correctly, but I'd judge that resistance to be negligible with the whole fork assembled with springs and shock, and the weight of the bike coming into play.

Only thing I can suggest is remove the shock to see if that's the culprit, it's a bit more work to pull the thing down enough to remove the springs and try it.

It doesn't look like a stock unit to me, so maybe it's sprung to suit a heavier bike. That'd mean getting the springs re-tensioned or replaced, but you'd want to know what your doing there, I think!! From the shot you've taken it looks like there's not a lot of clearance between the guard and the lower shock mount..... so you might need to be careful with the amount of travel you allow if you change anything....

Just an opinion....

Thanks for the reply and the info!

It's stiff as in it feels solid well compared to a sports bike anyway, and only noticed the clearance (or lack of thereof) with the front guard :/

No, the clearance is my bad....the lower shock mount will rise with the spring fork since it's attached to it!! DOH!!

And I should have added that I think there is no adjustment you can do to get them less 'stiff'. Unless you count replacing or re-tensioning the springs an adjustment. From my limited experience, I think that's about the only place the stiffness could come from, unless the bearings on the rocker are done up real tight....which is unlikely, I'd think. The only way you can tell is to dis-assemble the forks and feel 'em.