BusyLittleShop

Mr.RC45's fork stiction was high because HRC bushed the forks with very close tolerances in case you were entering the WSBK wars... but the travel on the track or street wasn't smooth and my body was getting hammered on rough roads... I had to find a cure... It all starter with the Ohlins shock... a quality product on one end will upset the balance on the other end... the smooth shock action pointed out a sticking fork problem... Upon close inspection I found the scuff marks on the chrome surface of the fork legs... I pull the forks apart and chucked the leg up in the Lathe... I employed a 600 crankshaft polish strap around the leg... got the leg wet with Acetone and spun it at 750 rpm's... I worked the strap evenly up and down the leg until all the marks were gone... I was mindful not to go below the surface hardness of chrome... I was successful in establishing a smooth uniform finish over the length of the leg... To improve the smoothness of a fork's action and to minimize stiction there are a number of ways offered to a tuner... Ti Ni(Titanium Nitride gold coating)... BDC (Black Diamond Carbon)... GOFHP (Good Old Fashion Hand Polishing)... I decided to go it alone and tackle the polishing job by hand with the help of the Lathe... I use Nevr-Dull magic wadding under a trimmed down section of black PVC... in about a day I had one leg polished up real nice... In conclusion... a little less frict'n fork stiction... I estimate a 25% drop in stiction as a reward for my hours of labor... I will still get hammered as a result of race track ready suspension settings but now to a lesser degree... I can't complain... I prefer to sacrifice a bit of comfort for a volume of control... Anting up TIN coated Ohlins forks were the finalyy solution... RC45 Ferodo CMC disc 02 by busylittleshop, on Flickr

Its possible he is the same Rob Lindeman who use to hand fabricate titanium exhaust systems for the RC45... rlindemans@wanadoo.nl