Creaky forks

[Flatbutt1]

Guys, when picking the bike up off of the side stand I get a creaking from the fork tubes that I can correlate with the action of the top tubes settling into the bottom legs. There aren't any springs in there that I am aware of (nor any pictured on the fiche)so could this just be a matter of lubing the sliders?

Whatcha think?

[signit98]

Ah, you're just gettin old, Tom!

[Steve Carlton]

Put the earplugs in sooner.

[ckcarr]

You better lube your slider.

[Flatbutt1]

signit: make that getting oldER!
Steve: what?
ck: the ladies luv me so much they make their own lube!!!!

[signit98]

LOL... funny, very funny!... I am still convinced that you hear your knees creaking!

[ckcarr]

"If these forks are creakin', don't bother peek'n..."

[Doyle Whiting]

Apply your brakes and see if noise goes away.

[PFFOG]

I had the same thing with the old RS, I attributed it to the ball joint, or A frame, if memory serves me correctly, don't remember what I did, but it was no more than lubing something.

[motoyoyo]

Could be your front shock mount bushings. I have seen the lower ones get pretty trashed on some bikes. Take the lower shock bolt out and apply some grease to the lower bushing and bolt and see if that stops the creaking. Ball joints would be the next thing to look at if that doesn't get it.

[PFFOG]

Originally Posted by motoyoyo

Could be your front shock mount bushings. I have seen the lower ones get pretty trashed on some bikes. Take the lower shock bolt out and apply some grease to the lower bushing and bolt and see if that stops the creaking. Ball joints would be the next thing to look at if that doesn't get it.

BINGO, that was it, just needed a little rattle of the cobwebs, my bushing was fine just had to R&R the bolt and spray a little chain lube on it.....Whats chain lube???????...wait this is a BMW forum. OK, spray a little of your favorite lube on it, and no the "natural stuff" is water soluble and will not hold up well, white lithium grease will work

[AntonLargiader]

Originally Posted by Flatbutt1

Guys, when picking the bike up off of the side stand I get a creaking from the fork tubes that I can correlate with the action of the top tubes settling into the bottom legs.

Has the bike ever had a front-end impact? I worked on (can't say 'fixed') a bike a few years ago with this problem. Several people had previously worked on it to resolve this issue, and once I found the creaking to be in the fork legs I pulled the tubes out. Bent tubes, got new ones. Put it back together; better but I didn't notice that the problem had not entirely gone away.

Bike comes back two years later, leaking fork seals. I notice the creaking again. Tubes still OK but they would bind at the bottom of fork travel. I replace the sliders. Problem totally gone. Both tubes AND sliders were bent in the initial incident.

In this case the problem was noticeable when on the centerstand, front wheel in the air, turning the handlebars. Others had diagnosed it as bad upper bearing, bent frame, all kinds of stuff. Of course the S won't sit with the wheel in the air quite so easily, but you might want to jack it up and see if you notice this when you turn the forks from side to side.

[Guest24]

Anton said "...the problem was noticeable when on the centerstand, front wheel in the air, turning the handlebars..." Just what did you notice? No, I'm not messing with you Anton.

[Flatbutt1]

I've lubed the ball joint(hehheh its 420) and the shock mount. Its quieter now but I'll know better aftr tomoorows commutte.

[AntonLargiader]

Originally Posted by Nail24

Anton said "...the problem was noticeable when on the centerstand, front wheel in the air, turning the handlebars..." Just what did you notice? No, I'm not messing with you Anton.

Thinking about it again, I don't think it'll apply to the S, but on the GS/RT/R the top clamp movement is not orthogonal to the fork legs, so when you turn the forks you get some fork extension and retraction. In the case I mentioned, this was enough to demonstrate the creaking.

The S and RS have top ball joints and conventional fork top clamps, so you probably won't get that effect. I would drop the fork tube out of the top clamp and slide it up and down in the slider to see if it was sticking. If it is, I doubt it would simply be a lubrication issue. Would be nice (and a lot cheaper) though.

[Guest24]

Thanks Anton. I'm now wondering what weight the HP2 Sport will the sprung for out of the factory.

[Flatbutt1]

OK, I took some time and really got under the covers. Its definitely coming from the forks when they compress, not the ball joint.

So is there a rebuild procedure?

[Flatbutt1]

bump

[AntonLargiader]

I would start by unclamping the top and sliding each tube down into its slider. If one of them's binding, you will need to do more than just replace seals.

[Flatbutt1]

Thanks Anton, so aside from seals no rebuild is possible. Any thoughts on what might cause the binding?