Some of you may have seen my other post regarding how my brother removed the fork cap on my bike and how I ordered a new one.  The local bike shop is roughly 2 miles away from me on flat back roads.  Now, my question is, is it WAY too unsafe to drive at extremely low speeds and bad for the bike with no spacers + fork caps on the bike?  One of the caps is off so I was debating removing the other to even it out and ride it extremely slowly to the shop and leave it there for them to go over the bike and fix any other problems, aside from the obvious.  In case some of you didn't see, here is the pic ::

dude, no.

If you have to ask if its too dangerous, then you already know the answer.

rent a uhaul for 29.00 a day if you have to, throw it in the back, and drive it up there.

good luck

closest uhaul is 40 miles away and cheapest is $80 from them lol...worst case i will, but i thought i'd ask to see if driving 20mph on backroads for 2 miles was possible.

2 miles and don't wanna rent a uhaul? push it...

Quote from: Junkie on May 13, 2010, 01:28:15 PM
2 miles and don't wanna rent a uhaul? push it...

This is actually what I was thinking as a free alternative.

You dont know anyone with a truck?

Must not live in the South.   

Don't ride that man. Find someone with a pickup.

Get your brother to push it there

call up one of your buddies with a truck and buy him a case of beer. that's what I always do 

Well the worst of all the ideas was removing the internals from the left side to even it out. Right now you're running at 50% suspension. If you took the other side out you'd be riding at 0% suspension. Riding there with one side is the kind of thing I would do, but that's not saying it's a good idea. If I could make it the entire way without having a car pull behind me to interrupt me from going 15-20mph I'd give it a shot, but seriously 2miles is like a 35-40 minute walk. You wouldn't even have to push the bike. You could turn it on and just gently let out the clutch so it would pull itself there if you got tired. I definitely vote truck. Did you call the dealership?? I'd bet they have a shop truck and they'll come pick it up for a fee, that your brother has to pay anyway.

Did you really never find the stuff he pulled out??

Quote from: twelvepoint on May 13, 2010, 02:07:30 PM
Get your brother to push it there

Buy the fork cap, bring it home, screw it down. Ride the bike to the shop, and have them inspect it.

Riding with the forks open like that is a bad idea. Riding with both forks off is a very bad idea.

go for it


we always need new parts bikes

Desperate times call for desperate measure.... 

you would destroy the valving by bottoming it out constantly, cant you just drive/catch a ride to the dealer?

Quote from: tt_four on May 13, 2010, 03:24:05 PM
Well the worst of all the ideas was removing the internals from the left side to even it out. Right now you're running at 50% suspension. If you took the other side out you'd be riding at 0% suspension. Riding there with one side is the kind of thing I would do, but that's not saying it's a good idea. If I could make it the entire way without having a car pull behind me to interrupt me from going 15-20mph I'd give it a shot, but seriously 2miles is like a 35-40 minute walk. You wouldn't even have to push the bike. You could turn it on and just gently let out the clutch so it would pull itself there if you got tired. I definitely vote truck. Did you call the dealership?? I'd bet they have a shop truck and they'll come pick it up for a fee, that your brother has to pay anyway.

Did you really never find the stuff he pulled out??

The part has been ordered already, but it's coming from factory so it's going to take like 10 days...curious, how hard is it to screw the fork cap down if I have the suspension completely unloaded?  I'm gonna do my best to see if i can find one of my friends who has a truck, though I just figured I'd ask if it was possible to do this without doing much damage to the bike. 

As for the part, the only part actually never found was the fork cap.

would it really be bad to ride with both off? cause i mean it would bottom out once and stay there ya konw, like a cruiser with no suspension, i would think 2 miles at bottomed out wouldnt be bad, especially since its not unloading and bottoming, unloading and bottoming etc... its, it drops down easy as he pulls the cap off, and he rides rigid for 2 miles, hows it that hard on the bike? he said its all flat smoothe road

ok. you are smashing two pieces of aluminum together that aren't supposed to be in contact, constantly, tiny bumps in the road will make them grind and bounce. 350ish pounds of force juts over and over bashing. the forks are there to KEEP the front end from being rigid. but hey i'm just another guy on the internet

Here's an idea:

Put the bike exactly where it was when your brother pulled the cap off, then undo the other one and see where it goes, you should find two there! At least it'll narrow the search area.

If you go really slowly and avoid potholes its probably OK to ride it to the dealer, better if you leave the other fork together. But if you just tell them to look it over, you don't know really how much work they'll do for the money they charge you. Better to wait for the part to arrive, and in the meantime check it over yourself. Bikes are pretty easy to work on, just check for loose bolts etc, adjust chain, align rear wheel, check fluids. Then you can start on the motor if you feel up to it. Otherwise take it to the shop to get a service.

If getting the bike to the shop is such a problem why not ask the mechanic to come out to you.........or am I thinking too hard?

I might've already read this part and forgot, but why aren't you just picking the part up and screwing it back in yourself? Replacing the fork springs is one fo the first mods a lot of new guys here. You can follow the 2nd half of the instructions in the wiki and be on your way in half an hour. While they're open you might as well pull open the other side and just replace all the oil in the forks too.