a worrying find

If it was down to a defective part like the swing arm there would have been a recall issued on safety grounds especially if Ohlins had informed them. too many potential lawsuits in USA would have seen to that. The bolts fit perfectly like nikfubar just said. bad, lazy, inept, mechanic / spanner monkey call it what you like. Human error simples.

i have an email from a ohlins dealer he is one of the best in uk they specilised in ohlins only and that is were i got info from not as you say mupet mechanic i am a car mechanic i do my own work on my bike as i know its right the email from them stats that they new about it im only saying what i have been told and what ive seen you tell me then why my aprilia dealer knows about this problem and is sorting it out for me and is the first thing they look for on any rsv with ohlins forks when they come in for a service

Ohlins dealer selling Ohlins I'll give you that one seeing as they won't be selling showa. They may be the best Ohlins dealer in the UK but their still a dealer. SPOOKY knows and has had it from an Ohlins technician! Trumps a Ohlins dealer in my book

zubes247 said:

i have an email from a ohlins dealer he is one of the best in uk they specilised in ohlins only and that is were i got info from not as you say mupet mechanic i am a car mechanic i do my own work on my bike as i know its right the email from them stats that they new about it im only saying what i have been told and what ive seen you tell me then why my aprilia dealer knows about this problem and is sorting it out for me and is the first thing they look for on any rsv with ohlins forks when they come in for a service

Click to expand...

I have never experienced, heard of or witnessed, and I know quite a few people in the game including said Ohlins Tech and Aprilia dealers (good and bad), that there is any other reason for the fork clamps to crack apart from too much torque used to tighten them. How the **** can a bolt hole be too small ??? The bolt is purely a "pinch" bolt which tightens on to the front spindle, the threads run right through the the rear half of the clamp and the bolt in the holes are slack up to the thread. Zubes, sorry mate but that's bollox.

I know of two owners, one with a 2010 Factory and another with an "R" on a 2011 plate both less than a month old that bought there bikes from two different dealers here in the Northwest, one had cracked fork clamps the other his pinch bolts where tightened to over 25nm both bikes had not even had their first service. The reason for this, simple, ******** spanner monkeys employed by dealers who can't even perform a PDI on a bike correctly. This says something for finding a good workshop that can carry out the usual services and other mechanical work, Aprilia Performance being one to trust.
On a final note to all you doubters on this subject, please do me a favour and tighten every single nut and bolt on your bikes to nearly double the recommended torque settings and we'll see what collection of mechanical ***** you have left after a while. Torque setting are there for a reason ! !

Laters

SPOOKY

I changed my front brake discs recently havent had the weather to ride the bike yet, it definately sounds feasible that overtightening the pinch bolts could cause undue stress and then crack under heavy braking or vibration, i will be going out and checking my torque right away!

Interestingly, in my haynes manual (just checked) it does not specify a different torque setting for ohlins vs showa forks simply stats

Front wheel axle clamp bolts .........22nm

However, there are a multitude of sources online specifying the torque setting as 12nm.... So haynes need a kick up the arse.

Will need to be extra careful doing this.. going to take both my wheels off at the weekend for the first time.

What steps do I need to take to get the front wheel back in with no problems apart from correct torques?

w00dzy said:

Will need to be extra careful doing this.. going to take both my wheels off at the weekend for the first time.

What steps do I need to take to get the front wheel back in with no problems apart from correct torques?

Click to expand...

It's a pain in the arse but this is how it needs to be done :roll
Lift wheel into place & slide in spindle from L/H side
Do up L/H pinch bolts to specified torque
Fit axle washer & nut & do up to specified torque
Do up R/H pinch bolts to specified torque.
Fit brake calipers.
Slacken off L/H pinch bolts
Take bike off stand apply brakes & pump the forks several times to settle forks, brakes etc into position.
Do up L/H pinch bolts to correct torque

Job done :thumbup

SPOOKY said:

I have never experienced, heard of or witnessed, and I know quite a few people in the game including said Ohlins Tech and Aprilia dealers (good and bad), that there is any other reason for the fork clamps to crack apart from too much torque used to tighten them. How the **** can a bolt hole be too small ??? The bolt is purely a "pinch" bolt which tightens on to the front spindle, the threads run right through the the rear half of the clamp and the bolt in the holes are slack up to the thread. Zubes, sorry mate but that's bollox.

I know of two owners, one with a 2010 Factory and another with an "R" on a 2011 plate both less than a month old that bought there bikes from two different dealers here in the Northwest, one had cracked fork clamps the other his pinch bolts where tightened to over 25nm both bikes had not even had their first service. The reason for this, simple, ******** spanner monkeys employed by dealers who can't even perform a PDI on a bike correctly. This says something for finding a good workshop that can carry out the usual services and other mechanical work, Aprilia Performance being one to trust.
On a final note to all you doubters on this subject, please do me a favour and tighten every single nut and bolt on your bikes to nearly double the recommended torque settings and we'll see what collection of mechanical ***** you have left after a while. Torque setting are there for a reason ! !

Laters

SPOOKY

Click to expand...

..... and now take a deep breath Kev! :nana

SPOOKY said:

I have never experienced, heard of or witnessed, and I know quite a few people in the game including said Ohlins Tech and Aprilia dealers (good and bad), that there is any other reason for the fork clamps to crack apart from too much torque used to tighten them. How the **** can a bolt hole be too small ??? The bolt is purely a "pinch" bolt which tightens on to the front spindle, the threads run right through the the rear half of the clamp and the bolt in the holes are slack up to the thread. Zubes, sorry mate but that's bollox.

I know of two owners, one with a 2010 Factory and another with an "R" on a 2011 plate both less than a month old that bought there bikes from two different dealers here in the Northwest, one had cracked fork clamps the other his pinch bolts where tightened to over 25nm both bikes had not even had their first service. The reason for this, simple, ******** spanner monkeys employed by dealers who can't even perform a PDI on a bike correctly. This says something for finding a good workshop that can carry out the usual services and other mechanical work, Aprilia Performance being one to trust.
On a final note to all you doubters on this subject, please do me a favour and tighten every single nut and bolt on your bikes to nearly double the recommended torque settings and we'll see what collection of mechanical ***** you have left after a while. Torque setting are there for a reason ! !

Laters

SPOOKY

Click to expand...

you tell me then why is this only hapaning on the apriia i have had 4 difrent make bike never had this befor

zubes247 said:

you tell me then why is this only hapaning on the apriia i have had 4 difrent make bike never had this befor

Click to expand...

Zubes, nothing seems to be going into that head of yours fella.
I don't know what other 4 makes of bike you have owned and I don't see what the point is in mentioning it but we are not even really talking about Aprilia here. We are talking "Ohlins Radial Road and Race" forks as fitted by Aprillia to their Factory and "R" model bikes. As these forks were derived from the puka race stuff they where built, on a budget, to look good as well as perform as a road fork. Because of this the castings for the radial clamps have only been made with a very thin radius of aluminium around the front wheel spindel, weight saving maybe, but just look at how thin it is on the left leg, the first one to usually go. This is perfectly adequate for a road going fork if the tightening torque is applied correctly, over tighten them and you are in effect closing the pinch gap at the bottom and with the stress from everyday riding taken in to account this will cause the clamp to crack at it's weakest point which is at the front of the casting as we have seen and not at the bolt head or thread.

Now look at a set of Showa's or any of your other four bikes that you have owned and I bet you will have at least twice as much metal doing the same job as the Ohlins, hence you can apply higher torque values.

By the way Nikfubar has my vote for the best technical write up of the front wheel replacement method, **** on there Nik :thumbup

Adam, I have now taken breath

Laters

SPOOKY

Kev you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink mate! after all he is a car mechanic so he has bikes covered! he has an email to back himself up don't you know lol

Kinell Daz, has this guy upset you or something? :devious

http://www.thumpertalk.com/topic/993749-bad-trip-new-ohlins-got-a-cracked-fork-lug/ does not look to me as overtorqueing...
and this one is cracked on different place http://www.apriliaforum.com/forums/showthread.php?215429-Another-Infamous-Cracked-Ohlins-fork-leg!
happens on ducatis as well http://www.ducati-upnorth.com/forum/showthread.php?13990-Spindle-clamp-has-cracked&
you have to tighten the axle that is for sure. why does it never happen on showas? showa drivers never overtight?
the torque spec is just an excuse for shity manufacturing that is all. even if you tighten them to exact torque then they can crack on a wheelie or heavy track use. then you will tell me that aprilia knew that the forks are just for highway ride or what?

Your not really backing your arguement up there.

2 of the links point to forks which were issued a recall and the 1 from af1 is down to overtightening actually backing up spooks' arguement.

I dont think you can claim a company such as ohlins has an inferior build quality.

As i previously said the haynes manual i have quotes the incorrect torque setting, i think ignorance is to blame in most cases, no one intentionally overtorques the bolts and i bet many qualified and experience bike mechanics have done it.

If you can find evidence that they have cracked whilst under the correct torque (and not issued a recall) then you can ram it down everyones throats

Kurva curak read SPOOKY'S post correctly, he has it from an Ohlins technician which your obviously not, even you links back up SPOOKY as just stated. So us us all a favour and keep you bollocks talk to yourself

Oh and I ride my bike not drive

Nowt wrong with a bit discussion on the matter Daz!

Aye your right Paul, but the thing is mate I for one and others like me know **** about bikes other than riding them and we come on here for advice. That advice when it's correct is invaluable and gives you peace of mind. So when you get guys coming along thinking their the king **** that contradicts good valuable advice it **** me off mate.

theruck said:

http://www.thumpertalk.com/topic/993749-bad-trip-new-ohlins-got-a-cracked-fork-lug/ does not look to me as overtorqueing...
and this one is cracked on different place http://www.apriliaforum.com/forums/showthread.php?215429-Another-Infamous-Cracked-Ohlins-fork-leg!
happens on ducatis as well http://www.ducati-upnorth.com/forum/showthread.php?13990-Spindle-clamp-has-cracked&
you have to tighten the axle that is for sure. why does it never happen on showas? showa drivers never overtight?
the torque spec is just an excuse for shity manufacturing that is all. even if you tighten them to exact torque then they can crack on a wheelie or heavy track use. then you will tell me that aprilia knew that the forks are just for highway ride or what?

Click to expand...

Totally missing the point yet again Mr Ruck. why don't you read through the posts that you have pasted in to the above !!

As stated in my last post, which you obviously didn't read properly, Showa forks have a lot more metal at the same point that the Ohlins don't, and that's not a problem if maintained correctly. I'm sure that if you were to be such a plank as to tighten your Showa pinch bolts to 44nm, twice the recommended but please try it, you would have some damage, probably stripped threads :jack. Torque setting are supplied by the manufacturer for a purpose as are instructions for any other thing that you buy. If you chose to ignore the information provided that's your problem but please don't come on a forum such as this with a totally negative attitude trying to put the ***** up people saying that it's "just an excuse for shity manufacturing". Another thing, a wheelie or heavy track use will not cause the damage seen and if you know different you may need to practise both of those art forms a little bit more. I am certainly not going to tell anything else because you obviously know, or want to argue about everything that is constructive but while your sitting there thinking about the next doom and gloom instalment why don't you put your testicles in a food blender and turn it on but please don't read the instructions first as they will probably tell you not to do so :bigfinger.

Dazzer, this is why I don't do the forums anymore, you try and give help with a few helpful tips to and know hows to people who ask for or need it not knowing these bikes and you end up with this bollox uke.

Larcarnie thanks for the pm m8, glad to help :thumbup

Laters (MUCH)

SPOOKY :ghostface

I know exactly what you mean mate, but some people where just born pricks! Once a prick always a prick