Just reporting back on my recent fork overhaul, as promised.
I took my G/Flash off its work platform earlier this evening, where it's been for a month and took it for a good test ride. I'm pleased and relieved to say everything felt smooth and correct, so I've returned home a happy bunny
. The forks operated smoothly with no knocks or unusual noises, even though I tried to find as many bumps as possible to test them (it's sods law how scarce they become when you want one to ride over). So my conclusion is that the A50/A65 fork bush retainers (widgetts) in place of the awkward circlips seem to work perfectly and is a quick and easy way to secure the top bushes in place - as long as you buy ones that are made to the correct size. In my case buying ones that were not quite correct resulted in me having to spend time with a file because they were slightly too big in diameter to fit into the oil seal holders. If I didn't have to do that they would have been a piece of cake to fit as they just need to be slipped onto the stanchion between the oil seal holder and top bush (and that would take only a couple of seconds) before screwing everything together.
I also took the opportunity to change the rear sprocket for a new one, removed the gearbox inner cover to check if anything was amiss inside and swapped the cover with one I obtained last year to which I had fitted a new mainshaft bearing and bushes. Also removed the old paint from the front fork legs, trousers, front mudguard, its fixings, the front hub cover and both brake back plates, rear mudguard and number plate, replacing all the nuts, bolts and washers I had to remove with stainless steel ones.
So now hoping for some decent weather!