'79 Honda XL75 - suspension help

[SS109]

I picked up an old '79 Honda XL75 for my daughter to learn to ride on. The bike has been stripped of it's street legal attire (lights/battery) and been turned completely over to just a dirtbike. It is old and ugly but it isn't a bike I will have to worry about while she is learning to ride. However, I want the bike to be safe for her which brings me to what concerns me.

The suspension, front and rear, is as soft as butter on a hot summer day. The rear springs are already at their maximum adjustment and the shocks appear to have little, if any, affect on the suspension. I have no clue on what I can do for the forks as they feel the same as the rear.

Does anyone know what I can do to get them up to spec? Where I can get replacement parts (springs/shocks/upgrades) for the forks and rear shocks as bikebandit.com lists a lot of parts unavailable?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[sm7482]

try ebay for the springs for the rear, for the front however is a simple rebuild or just add some more fork oil if fork seals are still fine. inspect your front shocks, depress them rapidly ( jump up and down on the bike) IF YOU CAN SEE any excess oil on the seals they need to be replaced. if not go to the motorcycle shop and pick up a bottle of motorcycle fork oil 5wt should do it, go home and look under the front forks at the very bottom there should be a drain screw. drain the old oil and replace with the new stuff. i read transmission fluid may work also never tried it though.

 

[SS109]

Thanks for the tips and suggestions.

After doing the little jump up and down bit it looks like a rebuild is needed for the front. No problem as I see that all the seals are available and the springs can be picked up on Ebay if need be.

BTW, can anyone answer another XL question? It appears that the handlebars have a tweak in them so off they have to come. What profile of bar would be closest to the original bar? Mini? CR High bend? What???