Clunk mid way through fork compression
 

I was just sitting on my XTR in the garage wishing my legs were longer (!) and started bouncing the front of the bike, which I've only had a fortnight. I noticed that there's a clunk from the forks in the middle of the compression stroke. It's not a bang like bottoming out, and the forks do continue to compress, but there's an obvious clunk. Is this normal? I'm sure I've not noticed it on previous bikes...

Are you sure it's not the pads shifting in the calipers. The pads shift fore and aft on their mounting pins a little and make a clunking sound which resonates through the fork legs and can sound like dodgy forks. My XTZ makes a noise from the calipers when you bounce it holding the front brake on. Try chocking the front wheel against a wall with a block of wood and bounce the front to rule out any clunking and clanking from the brake.

That's not right.How many miles.?:snooze[1]:

Thanks. I'll give it a try in the morning.

2500! :D

Take it back mate.

:biggob:

I've just taken the bike over to my local dealer for a check-up. The warranty ends next month so I wanted them to take it for a spin and check all is well.

They listed a number of things that would be audible with the forks, including Pleiades' suggesting of shifting pads. After 5 minutes being checked over by the head tech, and a 15 minute test ride, the bike got a big thumbs up! Phew!

So, Pleiades scores 2 points for possibly being correct and making me feel better, and Mort scores -10 points for trying to scare the crap out of me! LOL!

:HappyRoll_ANPIUI:

Check steering head bearings too, a clunk or click can point to this when applying the front brake. I have just done mine at 9k miles as Yamaha dont seem to like grease.

My X did that - I'm almost sure its the brakes moving about, as its got floating disc....

Yep. I was in a quiet garage rocking the bike back and forward when I heard it, and it was only the fact that I just bought the bike and the warranty is up next month that made me look into it. I put 200 miles on the bike over the weekend and all is good. :)

Another explanation could be the springs inside the fork leg, as the spring compresses it bends outwards slighty, (try squeezing a small spring between ur fingers, itll try to bend as it compresses ) as it does this it touches the inside of the stantion and you get a metalic clunking noise
I had the exact same problem on my Husqvarna 610tc and a friend suggested putting a 4" piece of heat shrink over the spring around the middle of its length and shrinking it onto the spring to dampen the noise and the clunk went away :-D