1976 Front Fork Help

[simmons1]

I have been messing with Buffalo since I got it polishing it up some, replacing hardware, cleaning the carbs, and I fixed the electrical issue. The bike is running awesome now. It is an absolute joy to ride. I have put about 400 miles on it now since buying it.

When I bought the bike one of things I was told was that the forks had been rebuilt, so its is one of the things I haven't messed with much yet.

I rode the to our local Tuesday night gathering and the way home I rode over a slight bump in the street and the right fork cap blew out. The forks collapsed and I slowly rode the rest of the way home. My forks have the plug and cir-clip that hold the cap in. I am guessing the previsous owner didn't have the cir-clip installed quite right. I am surprised it didn't blow out much sooner than now.

I just did a little checking and it looks like I can still buy the black plastic cap, o-ring and cir-clip but not the metal cap itself.

I was on a pitch black side street when it happened or I would have stopped to look for the parts.

I would much rather have forks with screw in caps, but I am not sure what will fit

Does anybody know where I can get a metal replacement cap?

Thanks for the help!

[yeadon_m]

You need part # 51172-31230, and gtreiner1@aol.com stocks them at EU 6.

You were darn lucky not to be seriously injured. If the other had come out, you would have had a ghastly accident as the front would collapse. Doesn't bear thinking about.

Also, you were fortunate not to have been struck by that heavy missile streaking out of your fork top. Not funny if that happened.

Personally I've done perhaps 50K miles on bikes with this design and still feel queasy about the fundamentals, would prefer a more certain method for fixing them in place give safety criticality.

Good luck,
Mike

[simmons1]

Thanks for the help!

It wasn't even much of a bump. That is what scares me the most. Since it was pitch dark out I didn't see it come out. I heard a funny noise and felt a little fork oil on my face and the front end drop a bunch.

I'll check out the lead for the part shortly

[Coyote]

C'mon guys. In 40 years, the plug and cir-clip / snap ring has certainly proved itself to be a more than adequate design. If I were still in the machine shop I could build you a new plug in minutes. Your local salvage probably has buckets full.
Post in the "for sale/ wanted" section here. Another member will probably come thru with the plug.

[simmons1]

I am not saying it is a bad design, just that I would prefer a screw caps as I am thinking they are easier to assemble and are highly unlikely to have this type of failure.

The funny thing is I have owned over 30 bikes dating from the 1960's to 2012 and this is the first one with this type fork cap arrangement.

Thanks for the suggestion on posting in the parts wanted section.

I can get one machined locally if I need to. I was going to try and buy one first.

[simmons1]

You need part # 51172-31230, and gtreiner1@aol.com stocks them at EU 6.

Good luck,
Mike

Thanks for the help Mike.

I got in touch with Reiner and he is getting me fixed up with what I need.

Rich