[wrstlr119]

To introduce myself I bought a 91 tw as a cheap first bike to ride with my dad on his new crf250l (way too tall for me at 5'4, 140). After riding it a couple of times, I noticed some problems with the bike which has led to almost a complete rebuild. The forks were bent (one was bent badly and had a crease) so I decided on the yz80 forks as a cheaper replacement which leads me to my question.



What internals would you guys recommend for a lighter rider who plans on doing casual backroad/trail riding? Should I leave it stock (with longer spacers) and experiment with oil level/viscosity? Yz springs + air? Stock with the YZ bottoming springs as spacers? Or am I over thinking all this?



PS: I plan on lowering the forks in the triples to stock ride height if that wasn't apparent.

 

[lizrdbrth]

I recomend that you not fix it unless it's broke, particularly if you're a light weight rider.



Put it together using stock parts, 10wt. at stock oil levels and spacer length equal to stock. You'll have 2" more air gap to play with oil levels and the fork will react a bit less severely to minor changes in oil level, so it will be a bit more tunable.



I wouldn't advise moving on until you've exhausted all that is possible via oil levels and weights using the stock internals.



Too many variables to rely on what works for someone else.



Just my .02. If you don't roll with the stock internals at first you'll have no basis for comparison and will probably spend a ton of money, then not be sure which change to undo.



If you just gotta spend munny you should probably go straight to emulators and go through the learning curve with them, instead. Same procedure but with more clear benefit.



Same procedure. Leave the longer, shorter, stiffer or progressive springs and gizmos off your charge card until you find you actually need them.

 

[wrstlr119]

Ok thanks. Thats what I figured. Im definitely not looking to throw any more money at this thing than I have to. Just couldn't help thinking "what if" while it was apart.



Btw Im giving the shinko 421 trials tire a try based on your initial impression of it. Its gotta be better than the bald, dry rotted stocker.

 

[lizrdbrth]

Cool. Let us know how that works out. We're not piling up the miles on hers as quickly as we'd hoped. I'd like to see how they wear.



I hope I didn't come off as discouraging experimentation, cuz there's plenty of room for that. But I'll bet you that no more than 1 in 10 TW's even have oil from this decade or at the proper levels and their owners have no clue how well it can be made to work. I guess my point is that you gotta start somewhere.

 

[tw200sgp]

I'd second Lizards view. I changed the oil and seals in my forks and jammed an additional 1/2" spacer (PVC) in there, changed the steering bearings and wow - it's like a different bike.

 

[wrstlr119]

Yeah my fork oil came out like sludge. Im doing the steering bearings too, they were really notchy. Worst of all though, was that there were several spokes missing from the back wheel. It wobbled pretty bad in the turns.

 

[joedirt1970]

I learned that when my money tree starts to blossom that I will need some progessive springs for the hybrid forks. My TDub just didn't handle the triples as well as I had hoped. The Blaster shock needs to be stiffened up too.