Fork spring direction

If the following is detailed in another topic/post, please direct me to it. Thanks in advance.

Having just hit 16K --and not sure what the previous owner may have done maintenance wise-- I did the service: replaced belt and spark plugs, engine oil/filter, air filter, fork oil, new dust seals/covers and had front wheel balanced (as there were no weights on it at all). ...even cleaned all the brown "snot" from the breather tube. Yuck!!! But man is she wicked fast now! 0-50 in mere seconds.

Can someone explain why I suddenly have a front wheel wobble? If I let go of the handlebars, anything below 40mph produces serious wobbles. Any ideas?

On page 14-16 of the 2002-2013 service manual, it show a picture of the fork spring with the caption "facing up" pointing to the right near the smaller/closer coils. From what I've gathered via manual (and YT videos), the smaller/closer coils are to be at the base/bottom of the fork. Correct? What would likely be the result if springs were inverted?

Desperate for an answer as I'm desperate to ride. And so is my 11 yo daughter.

BroOKS2K9 wrote:

(Snip)

Can someone explain why I suddenly have a front wheel wobble? If I let go of the handlebars, anything below 40mph produces serious wobbles.  Any ideas?
(Snip)

I’ve split the “front wheel wobble” discussion to its own topic.

This has nothing to do with 'wobble'. I'm just about to rebuild my front forks and I too am confused about which way up the springs should go.

As BroOK2K9 mentions above, the YT videos suggest having the closer wound coil end at the bottom. This is supposed to absorb the hard impacts and allow the rest of the spring to soften things out as the shock travels upwards. My springs are within the manual tolerance and look to be in good order.

Could the manual be wrong?

Cosmic_Jumper wrote:

BroOKS2K9 wrote:

(Snip)

Can someone explain why I suddenly have a front wheel wobble? If I let go of the handlebars, anything below 40mph produces serious wobbles.  Any ideas?
(Snip)

I’ve split the “front wheel wobble” discussion to its own topic.

Where is the split post? I do not see it on the left side?

Well, I've been reading about springs and orientation from all kinds of sources and it seems that there is no answer. Different bikes seem to have progressive springs fitted in different ways. Some people have also claimed that their manual is wrong. Others, who have a more scientific understanding of how springs work, suggest the tighter coil should be at the bottom.

From my own simplistic view, I reckon that, as the SW has the small rebound spring at the bottom of the piston, I'm going with the manual and put the tighter wound end at the top. I can't wait to try it out; if I ever get the free time to put the front end back together. This job is turning out to be quite an adventure...and not a pleasant one

Something not always considered in the fork spring debate is where the spring bears on the other fork parts; take a look at the top of the damper rod and the washer/spacer on top of the spring, and you may find the orientation becomes more logical.

If in doubt, follow the manual. It says tightly wound end up. From a spring perspective it doesn't matter; its being compressed and will provide the same resistance irrespective of which way up you install it.

https://youtu.be/9-2xt7PV_hA

This fella did an experiment on fork spring direction. From 7 minutes in.

Here's another interesting one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62wnr6Q_qaM

I suppose Honda had to tell us to put the springs in one way or the other, so by saying 'tight coil upwards', it means we'll at least install them the same each side.

It was Del-Boy who ******* convinced me