FE/FC Finally Going To Fix The Front Forks On My 501

I have been riding my 2018 FE 501 for about two years now, and I have never been too excited over the front suspension on it, so I finally decided to have the front forks reworked. I did some research on different fixes and also did some research on the nearest suspension gurus in my area. I finally went with an old and trusted shop that I have always used in the past, partially because of the past good service I had from them on all my dirt bikes, and partially because they had a good value for the dollar, as Bob Bell came up with his own version of dampening mods for the Explorer forks that were a lot less expensive than other kits. So the forks are up at Precision Concepts in Riverside, while poor Mr.501 sits in the garage with nothing to do and nowhere to go. In a couple of days, i should be able to go back up there and pick up the much improved boingers to slap back on the bike and try out. Can't wait!

Well. How are they? I can imagine they're really good!

I just got them back this afternoon. The kit that Bob puts together was missing a part and he had to order some more parts from Zip Ty. Then that order got lost and delayed in the mail. Finally, everything came together, and I got my forks. Just got done putting them back on the bike. Will ride very soon.

Took the new boingers out for a little whirl on Sunday afternoon. Night and day difference, like new forks. All the harsh, uncontrolled rebound was gone. Compression over small high speed stuff was plush and sensitive, then progressively tightened up just like it should. The bike felt settled and balanced for a change. The stock rear shock matched pretty well, with a slight bit of tweaking to the clickers. It would probably be more plush if it was re-valved also, and I will probably have that done in due time.

I haven't shortened any of my bikes so far.
The area is crisscrossed with single track trails in the brush.
There are plenty of rattlesnakes out there, including Mojave, western diamondback, sidewinder, and speckled. I haven't seen any this year, yet. Although I have spotted my first horny toad of the season.

Here is a rattler from a few years back.

It's too bad that WP is sticking with the lousy fork designs. Why won't they just admit that having one side for rebound and the other for compression is just dumb? Calling the same basic design by a different name doesn't fix the problem. Converting to traditional is the only way to make them work right.

It's what we refer to as "cheaping out".

That and not wanting to admit they were wrong. Glad you got it sorted out.

The problem with the Explorer fork wasn't just that WP wasn't able to spec it out properly, but that NObody could spec the design out properly. It just was an inferior design, period. No tuners use any of the stock engineering for their modifications. Bob Bell said he spent months experimenting with trying to make the stock design work, but that it just wasn't feasible or practical. That's why he, and others went back to an older, more conventional design that is easy to tune properly.