So, I'm sure we can all agree that nothing looks better than a sweet ass shaved.....set of FORKS! Shaving your forks is cheap, easy and really cleans the lines of your bike up by removing unused fender and brake caliper mounts. While your forks are apart its also a good time to replace those 30 year old fork seals and lower your forks as well!
So if you have never had your forks apart before, or are a bit timid to go hacking into the "unknown" there is a great tutorial on fork disassembly and proper lowering provided by Mulligan Machine and the boys at xs650chopper.com. The pic above shows what you should have after complete fork disassembly.
Here's a pic of the fork lower tube prior to cutting. I use my favorite tool, a Porta-band saw to cut off the useless brake caliper and fender mounts. A bench vise also comes in real handy. Be sure when cutting off the mounts to leave plenty of excess material. The last thing you want to do is cut into your fork tubes.
This is what remains of the left fork lower after cutting. Being that your lower tubes are made out of aluminum they will grind down very, very quickly, so don't be afraid to leave more material behind for safety's sake. My brake caliper mounts on the right tube, so this left tube gets shaved clean.
Here I am grinding down the remaining material. For this task I use a 4 1/2" grinder with a 80 grit flap wheel. This method will remove aluminum material fast, but slower and safer than a standard grinding wheel. The key here is keeping your grinder as close to 90 degrees as possible to prevent "dishing" the fork which is very easy to do. I prefer to leave about 1/16" of material remaining which will be removed in the next step.
Here I use a orbital palm sander to do the fine sanding and smooth/level out the remaining material. I start with 60 grit and finish off with 150 grit. You will go through quite a bit of sandpaper as the aluminum clogs it up quickly. Keep the sander moving across the workpiece to prevent flat spots. This method is pretty painless. I noticed in the past that disc sanders make it very easy to dish the piece, which looks like shit. No one likes shit except for fecalphiliacs..
Now for the fine cleanup. I use a piece of 220 grit emery cloth (available at your local hardware store) to get ride of all the fine lines left behind from the palm sander. This takes a bit of time, but the results are priceless! This method will give your forks a nice fine round finish that you can later polish or powder coat.
Here's the finished product! Super smooth and looking so minimal, just how I like it!
And as you can see, no dishing or "speed bumps" as I like to call them. This tube is now ready for powder coating. After I get them back from my powder coater, I will install new fork seals, re-assemble, add fork oil and be lookin' damn fine!
I urge you to do this yourself, but if this looks like too much for you to tackle, hit me up! A basic XS fork shave with new seals, fork oil and powder coated will set ya back $150.00 for the pair plus shipping. For another $25.00, I will lower your forks 2 inches. Other "racey" options such as progressive springs are available, feel free to ask!
