Making WP43's the best they can be... will they be any good?

[TheLetterJ]

I have a 2001 EC/XC300 with WP 43mm forks. The oil has been changed a few times and the seals were replaced a little over 2 years ago. Bike now has a total of ~150hrs on it and the fork bushings are feeling a bit sloppy. I had been considering building up a set of SSS forks, but I got to thinking, how good can the 43's be made to work?

Besides a complete rebuild (SKF seals, bushings, oil, new/heavier springs) are there any worthwhile changes to be made to these forks? I have WP 48mm CC forks on my other bike and after 3 revalves they are working wonderfully for me, but that bike sees A LOT of highspeed desert whoops, the gasser is primarily used for rocky trails and rarely sees 5th gear (let alone 6th!) but it does get taken out to the desert a few times a year so I do still need it to cope with 5/6 gear whoops. I'm 6'5", 230lbs, and a fast "B" rider. I'd say that the bottoming resistance is where I need it to be, but the midstroke has a very harsh spike to it.

I guess what I'm getting at is that I don't want to spend the time/money/effort experimenting over and over with the gasser forks and would like to make changes this one time since they need to come apart anyway. Is there a "go-to" guy/shop for these old things? I've read lots of positive reviews about Les at LTR, but these things have been out of production for more than 10 years, can they be made comparable to a more modern OC fork?

 

[Zman]

In stock form the WP43s have issues. Rebuild parts are readily available. We have several bikes with revalved WP43s and they can work well if they are revalved for your application. Les at LTR does great work and we have also had good results with Jeremy at MX Tech. I am sure you know there is a substantial price difference between a revalve job and new front end.

Maybe others here can provided details on differences between revalved WP43s and newer forks.

 

[TheLetterJ]

In stock form the WP43s have issues. Rebuild parts are readily available. We have several bikes with revalved WP43s and they can work well if they are revalved for your application. Les at LTR does great work and we have also had good results with Jeremy at MX Tech. I am sure you know there is a substantial price difference between a revalve job and new front end.

Maybe others here can provided details on differences between revalved WP43s and newer forks.

I know all the rebuild parts are available, I just don't want to start down the path of $$$ rebuild+modification just to have an end product that is no better than newer equipment is in standard form. I messed with 48mm OC WP forks a little bit on my big desert bike before realizing that I was spinning my wheels and would never get the results I wanted unless changing to a CC fork... several revalves of the CC forks later and they are just right. Funny thing is, the 48mm OC's on my orange bike worked well in the environment that the GG gets used in most. Different tools for different jobs.

If I can get the 43's working how I like for <$400 then I will stick with them. The problem is that I won't know if the setup works until after the money has been spent, that's why I'd like to hear from those of you that have spent the time on the 43's.