Hitchcocks Forum

My 1995 classic export bullet 500 fork spings have gone soft , what are the harder springs like ?

Hello PHIL ASHBROOK, ------- Are you sure they've gone soft ??? Not a leaking seal or damper units playing up ??---------- What's your current set-up ??

I fitted brand new seals and fresh fork oil 20w , but now with front shoes bedded in I find nutters pulling out on me everyday and the front dives right down to the near limit , storys of spring softness from these 95 exports prompted our host to make stiffer units ...but how stiff ? Scrambler stiff or road race stiff ?

Hi PHIL----------- ironically I have recently fitted a set of our hosts SOFTER springs and thus have a set of STANDARD springs from a home market bike kicking around the garage. Do you want to give them a try on a NO KEEP, NO FEE basis ?? (£25 + P&P)It is possible that you may have assembled the damper units incorrectly OR that the damper oil hasn't fully filled the units. I believe MATT had a similar problem recently.

Phil, I didn't think they had that many cars in Darwin, they got traffic lights up there yet?

I'd be tempted to up the weight of the fork oil to 30 grade as a first thing as its considerably less work and expense than changing the springs.

Hey Norm , I'm in Sydney which is very much a sprint city , I should have pulled out the fork springs as the Madras manual sugests they will sqwash and get shorter , STD they are 20" and 1/2 inch , an inch less they say to replace them . It's no shock to me as I've had this bike 13 years and one day I knew I would have to face this , I thought new seals and fresh oil might do the trick but as I originaly asked ; our are hosts softer than std ...if so I'll buy Madras springs .

I had the originals re tempered on my old 51 bullet and what a dramatic difference it made! The bike handles like a dream and particularl all the rather terrifying under steer in tight corners was gone.

Simon , thats intresting that your bike felt tighter , Madras springs in general go soft , my kick start lever spring has gone soft as well making the lever move back under load , at first I thought it was my new layshaft bushes bedding in but it has got worse , my side stand spring has gone soft as well . Valve springs are made in the UK for my high lift cams so I will be fine in that area for a while , I find it strange that the original rear springs are way too hard for my 9 stone body but thats not as bad as my front fork dives when nutters pull out on me , I could try 30 oil but I have thoughts of response changes to the bumps and humps , it's gotta be soft springs ...I feel it , had the bike 13 years now .

Still on the Madras springs , I've blown 2 brake shoe springs and 2 gear change lever return springs in 13 years , I carry spares in the tool box . My rear brake switch sping is at it's limit and should be replaced ....I'm not being a nit picker , I love my 1995 Enfield but it was a bad year for things like this ...Oh yeah ...half the chrome fell off and the gold line painter must have had a bad day as well .