So front brake i did a bit more work with the wrench etc to push the pistons and a bit more snading so now they are spinning slightly more freely. Ill leave the rest to just get knocked of which riding.

Rear brake: just gonna ride it a few times and see how it goes. If it doesnt then just whack some new pads in.

thanks everyone.

OK, here's a short story made long.

My old forks were spurting black liquid and so I acquired another pair of a very similar construction (cheers Vaughan) which I slapped on. The old forks dropped out no problem.

New forks looked exactally the same. I jammed them in the hole, stuffed the spacers and stem back on. After discovering you can make them too tight, I finally got it set so that the setup swung freely, and didn;t rock about.
However, last weekend, and even worse today, once I start riding it's like the power steering in my car has gone away. Stiff as hell. Almost impossiblt to ride, no smoothness at all. I stop and lift the front off the ground and it spins freely. It's only while riding that it's so jammy. I have loosened off more, and it makes the headset move and clank about in the headset. I tighten it up and I can turn the bars at all.
Now, a bit of research on the interbed say stuff about bearings and so forth, of which I have none (on the old or new forks, or headset) so I was wondering if I just need to add a handfull of grease, or if there is something I am missing?

Advice? What am I missing?

Did you take of the crown race of the old fork and put it on the new one?

fox wrote:Did you take of the crown race of the old fork and put it on the new one?

pulled forks out, compared to new ones, same, stuffed in the hole. There is nothing from the old forks I can see which is removable.

Clean then up and you'll see it
Requires a screwdriver and hammer to remove

Astoria Paranoia wrote:Clean then up and you'll see it
Requires a screwdriver and hammer to remove

doesn't everything?
I'll strip & clean and give it a go. It;s like a funky washer aye? I should replace the one on the new forks with the one from the old forks yes?

Yah
As it's specific to the headset, not the fork

Have fun

crazychris wrote:

Astoria Paranoia wrote:Clean then up and you'll see it
Requires a screwdriver and hammer to remove

doesn't everything?
I'll strip & clean and give it a go. It;s like a funky washer aye? I should replace the one on the new forks with the one from the old forks yes?

yes, probably pay to pull out your bearings and clean then grease them too

clean? Yea right.

OK, pulled apart. Here's the top of the new forks after a clean

and the old forks after a hearty wiping

however, the stepped bit seems to be park of the forks, not removable.
Or, is this the bit I'm looking for? The ring below the glass of Pinot Noir was in the headset, and fell out this time, while it didn;t last time.

crazychris wrote:however, the stepped bit seems to be park of the forks, not removable.

That's what you're after
Is there a cut out under it on top of the crown to hammer it out?
They are a tight pressfit

The "stepped part" IS removable and ISN'T a part of the forks, and it's what you need to make your headset work.

so there!

The stepped part is removable. It aint built into yon forks.

You need to take the stepped part out. You can rangi it off carefully with a thin/small blade screwdriver

the stepped part is the bit you're after, it's removable.