Judie and I went for a little run today on our Xplorer400. When I loaded the bike on the trailer I noticed that the right (when sitting on the bike) strut was not compressing. I broke out the hair dryer (not wanting to use the new butane torch I got for Xmas) and warmed the strut up enough to get some slight downward motion - the rebounr was very slow.

We offloaded the 400 and from 0-5 miles every now and then I would get a slight knock (felt in the bars) from the front end. I checked the strut and there was very slight movement and very slow. 5-7.5 miles there was more of a constant knock. Speed = 10-15mph. At 7.6 miles it disappeared. For the remainder of the ride everything was fine.

The bike was laid up for about 2 week in the garage. Not really cold although the starter froze (had to use the pull cord) and the throttle was frozen. Is it possible for the strut to "freeze" and it warmed up after 7.5 miles. Any help would be appreciated.

Loyal

 

You bet! I had that happen to my 95' Explorer a couple years back. I put it in a warm garage and it came back up... I replaced it before my next ride, so I don't know what it would have done in the long run. My guess is it won't get any better.

 

I wonder if water gets inside the strut . . I guess it wouldn't cause the oil would get out. I guess the oil does not hold up to the cold temperatures (althought I would not call -5C cold).

Any idea on the price for a strut? I need new tires also and if the strut is going to cost a couple of hundred I may think about trading her in on a Green (ick) '00 Xplorer 400L, SP500 or Magnum 500.

Loyal