Chris

Chris,

My first guess is that the front end wasn't tightened in the correct order and the forks are not parallel. When they compress, the tubes press against the inside of the sliders and bind. Take the fork brace off and loosen all the bolts except for the upper tripleclamp bolts. Push the front end down to "center" the forks. Then tighten the lower tripleclamp bolts (they go to 18 foot pounds, make sure to use anti-seize on all bolt threads). Center the forks again, then tighten the axle bolts. Center the forks one more time. The fork brace is always installed last. Make sure the bolt holes line up and the brace doesn't have to be bent in any way to fit. If need be, elongate the bolt holes and shim the bolts so that the brace fits perfectly before tightening. It should not exert any pressure on the sliders, only holding the forks in alignment. Give this a try and let me know if that fixes it. If not, we'll try the next step. Jon

NOTE FROM JIM SNELL... The bottom fork tube has a guide bushing shaped like a cone. The top leg goes into this under full compression. When the customer loosened the big bottom Allen bolt in the lower tube, this cone got out of "center" position. The top tube should be unscrewed from the top cap, the bottom bolt loosened, the top tube extended fully down, and then tighten the bottom bolt. This will align the cone with the bottom internal center of the top tube and fix the problem.