Runner 180 fork trouble, now engine too!!

Ive had a runner fxr180 (1999) for a few months now and have noticed the forks have given up. Chrome is gone and oil has all leaked out.

Ive looked into this and i have 3 options;

I can have my usd set rebuilt and returned to better than original condition for around (re-chromed and new bushes etc...) (£300)

I could put a set of vx forks on (£300)

completely overstretch myself and get a malossi kit (£600 ish)

my problem is cash flow, £300 will hurt but possible. the malossi kits are out of reach unfortunatly and good secondhand sets of either forks are like hens teeth! I cant decide if id be better sticking to the usd which i prefer the looks of but performance-wise what are the differences between the 2? Would fitting vx forks de-value the bike as its non original too?

 

Re: Runner 180 fork trouble

thanks for the reply. Spent 2 days looking around for half decent forks but didnt find anything that took my fancy. Due to the urgency of needing this bike staying on the road ive taken the step of buying a brand new set of malossi f32s. No more messing around as this bike gets used daily and ridden properly. All the suspension is shot so ive ordered new head bearings, pm swingarm repair and pin kits, new malossi air filter and waterpump.
The sudden exspenditiue could render me sterile when the missus finds out tho :O

I took yours and other advice on the vx forks, although they are ok for the job but i couldnt help feeling that they were a step down on the looks of the usd so malossi it was lol

So all i need now is a nice rear damper.....

 

Re: Runner 180 fork trouble

owch thats expensive but would match the bike colours well!

sods law isnt it, ordered all those parts Friday and then literally out on the road the bike starts misfiring it got worse and worse over the next 10 miles then just stayed rubbish. I managed to limp it to a scooter dealer. First instinct was the plug so bought a new one and went outside to fit it only to find the top of the plug has unscrewed and the cap was resting on the thread. This had caused the cap to burn out. So new plug + cap and HT lead. sorted??? er no
still the same misfiring but it has the symptoms of low float level so ive just stripped and checked the carb. All seems fine and checked fuel supply good from tank which was all ok. On a test ride all seems as bad as it was. Its an odd one and im used to 2-strokers, the only way to describe the fault is a misfiring at a particular rev range, idle and gentle acceleration is fine. upto around 40mph its ok with the odd hiccup then hits a wall but rides through the bad bit and picks up normally then at around 60mph it hits a wall again and if i open the throttle a bit more it stars kangaroo'in. It really doesnt feel like a fuel issue and the exhaust note sounds elecrical. So im down to pickup, coil and CDI. Whats the most likely?
My inclination is CDI as the high resistance of the faulty cap has fried something and the richer fuel mixture is blowing out the spark but what do you experts think?

 

If you can do a compression test. I spent hours chasing identical gremlins, changing coil, CDI, etc to find that my piston ring was fooked.

 

thats prob worth a go but anyone any idea what pressure i should read for a comparable reading?

 

spoke to P&M whist ordering my forks and the guy seems to think it could be worn rollers. I cant quite understand how it could give these symptoms tho but i can kind of see his point. In his experience CDI units give up rather than break down. any opinions?

Bike is in pieces in garage so nows the time to sort this out. Ive fitted the new malossi forks and on closer inspection of the old standard units, lets just say i was riding on thin ice :O