Suzuki cougar 100cc front forks

[Farmingstock]

Hello all

I have a knock off 100cc bike called a Cougar with a 100cc Suzuki engine from standard.

The front forks are borderline useless and bottom out, so I’ve removed them and stripped them to find they have hardly any oil in them, which I presume is the reason they didn’t work!

After looking high and low on line, I can’t find any replacement seals or an amount of oil to replace? I’m guessing they are similar to another bike? I can obviously put them back together cleaned up but the seals are most likely shot and surely they should have some oil?

Thanks for any help

[WD Forte]

Oil just damps movement and wont stop them bottoming if the
springs are bad.
You'd need about 150cc per leg at a guess

Oil seals are easy, just measure the inner and outer diameters and buy them ofn the interweb
Circlips and dust seals may be a wee bit trickier if yours are missing
or rotted away but you'd probably find some to fit as I bet the forks
are not unique but are common to many other similar bikes.
____________________
bikers smell of wee

[Farmingstock]

Thank you for the reply

The clips are still in tact so I can reuse them, why would the forks bottom out?

I will measure the old seals, can’t seam to find any similar forks

[WD Forte]

Maybe they're just cheapo forks that came with weak springs to begin with.
Oil will have a retarding effect on how fast they bottom out
so I'd do the oil and seals first then if they're still shite, get better springs or bodge some packing in there.
____________________
bikers smell of wee

[stinkwheel]

If the forks are bottoming, the springs aren't long/strong enough for you. Could have been made with someone lighter in mind, could have deteriorated with age.

They need replacing with stronger ones.

An old fashioned bodge was to add an old valve spring on top of weak springs, this both gives you stronger spring and more preload... but also presupposes you have some old valve springs lying about the place which I suspect most people wouldn't these days.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Farmingstock]

Thanks guys, the forks are very basic maybe I could fit a spacer at the top of the spring?

Also the top of the Stantions are rusty (away from seal) any method to remove rust? Would just throw them in a large if I could.

[stinkwheel]

Increasing the preload with a spacer might help if the forks are actually bottoming out. Wont help if it's the spring itself becoming coilbound.

Slices of blue plastic water pipe make good spacers because they are cheap and you can adjust them to whatever length you want quickly and easily.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[A100man]

[Farmingstock]

The bike is only a cheap field bike, my friend said he will put the stansion on his lathe, I will remove rust and polish up!

Also the bike doesn’t rev out fully for some reason, I have tried to put the choke on when it bogs but that makes no difference at all. It also chugs out a lot of smoke when it bogs, it’s absolutely fine starting/low to mid range, but 3/4 revs upwards or above say 8k revs it bogs then starts to smoke a lot! Any ideas for this?

[stinkwheel]

From pictures, it's a little aircooled, piston-ported 2-stroke single.

Does it have the original, unmolested airbox and exhaust system?

When was the exhaust last de-coked? Have you tried fitting a new plug? If it's a points ignition, have you checked the gap and ignition timing?
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Farmingstock]

Yeah original exhaust and air box, haven’t de-coked the exhaust or checked the timing, it’s cdi not points, changed the plug but no change what so ever.

Will check the timing and exhaust next.

[stinkwheel]

If it's a CDI, the timing will be right. Always worth de-coking he exhaust on a stroker that's running badly.

Another thing to check, if it's got them, is that the reed valves are in good order.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Farmingstock]

Will do, it runs spot on up to 3/4 throttle then bogs, almost like it’s over fueling

[Farmingstock]

Changed suspension oil seals etc, not much better so I’m guessing I’m to heavy for the bike.

Tried to decoke the exhaust, I took it off and held a heat gun at one end for 20 minutes, a bit of smoke came out but no fireballs.

There was no change, will take carb and reeds off tomorrow and check them next.

[WD Forte]

Never been much of a 2 smoke boi but didn't folk use caustic soda and hot water to de crap their 2T exhausts?
I dont see how hot air will do much
____________________
bikers smell of wee

[Farmingstock]

Once it gets hot enough it burns off all the carbon, looks like a flame thrower when it’s burning.

I did it on a 125 exhaust I had, once the flame thrower stops you know all the carbon has burnt off.

[Nobby the Bastard]

Burning it will get rid of any residual 2T oil but the carbon deposits are basically solid carbon. They don't actually burn off as such.
____________________
trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[Farmingstock]

This is the method I used:

https://youtu.be/YnUKlpshri4

[Nobby the Bastard]

[Farmingstock]

[Nobby the Bastard]

People who actually know anything about 2Ts use caustic soda. There's a reason why. Anyone who is decoking a scooter exhaust and not a pair of spannies knows nothing about 2Ts.
____________________
trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[Farmingstock]

[stinkwheel]

Also don't discount the possability that the poor wee thing is just worn out and needs a top-end rebuild.

Crank seals are another thing that commonly goes on strokers although it's more common for that to cause poor starting or burning of gearbox oil.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Farmingstock]

Yeah, could do a compression test, it’s 90% fine, starts not a problem, nippy for what it is, just doesn’t feel like it’s totally revving out!

Kind of like trying to rev the bike out while it’s cold.

[stinkwheel]

Fuel flow from the tap is good?
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.