Fork springs

[smoke]

 How long are fork springs good for if they have been raced on for a full year? Also if the fork springs have just been sitting in a bike with no use for a year? are they any good?

[Zac]

The forks springs in Elaine's CL450 vintage bike have been in there for 31 years.  ;D

The only reason springs lose their springyness is due to relaxation and creep.  If a quality steel is used, these shouldn't be issues.  A quick check would be to measure your sag with your normal preload, if the sag is the same, the springs haven't changed.  If the sag is greater, the springs may have relaxed (or could be the effect of off-season weight gain  :-[)

Many suspension houses have a fixure for measuring spring rate (basically loads a spring with a known weight and measures dsplacement), and could tell you what the spring rate is at, but I would see that as too much trouble for what it's worth.

-z.