92B+ Forks

[djdesantis]

During the restore of my 92B+ forks, I noticed after re assembly they rebound with a thunk! The tubes come all they way up to the end of their travel and thunk real hard. Is this the normal fork activity for this bike? Does thicker oil solve the problem? I do not notice this in the CW fork.
As always thanks for the help!

[Al Harpster]

I believe mine most definitely rebound with a thunk.

Had them apart twice.

I don't see anything that would stop them from topping out hard.

I used 10 wt Yamaha fork oil.

I believe the book calls for 10 weight on the B+ forks that have the drain screw in the bottom of the tube.

If you have the Hodaka workshop manual you can verify what fork you have by the pictures they show.

[BrianZ]

Both the Combat Wombat and 92B+ have top out springs and should behave the same. Hodaka recommends 30 wt fork oil for these forks, but this weight fork oil is hard to come by these days. Most modern fork oils are in the 5-15 wt range but Bel-Ray still produces a 30 wt fork oil if you can find it. I use this oil and have not noticed a top out problem.

Brian

[djdesantis]

My 92B+ fork is old school. Definitely not the same as the CW fork. There is no top out springs in them. Just the one long spring. The lower legs do not have the bolts in them to release the piston, etc. I will try the 30w oil and ride them as they are.

[Dale]

Do you have pictures? This does not sound like a B+ fork.

Regardless, there should not be a thunk of any kind. I don't believe that you will have that issue once you have 30W oil in place. If you find the 30W to be too stiff, then mix your own blend with a combination of 30W and a lighter weight.

[socalhodaka]

My 92B+ fork is old school. Definitely not the same as the CW fork. There is no top out springs in them. Just the one long spring. The lower legs do not have the bolts in them to release the piston, etc. I will try the 30w oil and ride them as they are.

Your B+ forks should have a lower bolt holding the damper rod. Show us a photo of your forks, they should be like the ones in my video https://youtu.be/3EUbKp8j09M

[Al Harpster]

The "plus" designation may be a source of interest.

The B+ designation is SORT OF defined in the Hodaka Workshop Manual Supplement Model Ace 100B..... and sales literature.

The Ace 100 B Manual shows some key variances based on Frame Number. The inproved variances seem to match the "plus" designation in the sales literature.

My guess is if the owner says there's no bolt for the fork piston he likely has the B, not the B plus fork.

Another tell is the speedometer. The B spedo went to 80, the plus went
to 100 & had a reset odometer.

The speedo changes are on page 72C,. Fork changes start on page 63C, end on 68C.

[socalhodaka]

Al, yes you are correct. The 92 Ace 100 has the external spring style fork and the B model came with the improved internal spring forks. So we need to see some photos of his bike, or numbers to sort out what he has. Many time over the years people switched and swapped parts.

[taber hodaka]

DJ what is your frame number?? --------------Clarence

[JackM]

Kelly, that was a great video on the fork dis-assembly/assembly process. Thanks

[dirty_rat]

There are two types of the internal spring forks used on the Ace 100's. The original ones came on the Ace 100 B (looked like a 100 B+. but had low front fender and rear wheel with non-cushioned, 4 bolt sprocket mounting), and while they look like the later forks that came on the Ace 100 B+, they were much different. They did not have a removable damper rod as did the later forks. They also recommended a mix of oil for them, consisting of a 50/50 mix of 30 wt and 70 wt oil. These early forks were also prone too the thunk noise upon full extension. The top triple tree was also different in that there was a stop at the top of it and the fork legs would slide in from the bottom and stop at this stop. The spring was then installed and the top nut screwed on, capturing the fork leg into the top triple tree.


It sounds like djdesantis has the earlier fork.

[Al Harpster]

The differences noted are the incremental, but large, improvements available only in the B+.

I guess they couldn't call it the Ace C.

The Ace is the cornerstone of the Hodaka story.

The B+ was the culmination of the initial Ace story.

If you haven't read the Ace 90 article on the Baha trip I'd suggest putting it top of your list.

[djdesantis]

Yup, this is the type of fork I have, the ones listed by dirty rat. They thunk on full extension. I will try the heavier oil to minimize the thunking, not much else I can do. I think my bike is a miss match of 100 B and B+. It has the lower fender, the trip speedo, the 100 mph speedo and frame # A52078. And the earlier forks. Oh well. runs great, ha. and looks great after the resto.