After I put my LR springs in (with the 2" spacers that came with
them) and 10wt oil, I also found the initial 1-2 inches of travel a
little harsh. I also have the Race Tech Emulators and Dual-Star fork
brace.
Like a couple of other guys mentioned, check that brace first. When
mounting mine, I take off the front wheel, and then put the axle bolt
back in to make sure the fork tube holes are lined up correctly, and
that the axle bolt slides in and out easily. I do not put the nut on
it or tighten it down. Then, as you are mounting the brace,look at
what it is doing very VERY carefully! Make sure that it is lining up
with your tubes just right, and that it is not binding your front end
action at all. (pulling the tubes inwards or pushing the tubes
outwards) When thats mounted, and your putting your front wheel back
on, carefully look at how much space is in between the tube on each
side, and your wheel spacer on each side. You don't want to see
space there, and you don't want to have to push the wheel in between
the tubes, causeing them to push outwards. This will bind up the
front end.
I personally love my fork brace, and will not ride with out it, so I
do not test ride my bike with out it because the difference is so
drastic, but if you can't find out where excess friction is coming
from after changing and checking everything else, it would not be a
bad idea. I think that checking it very closely when mounting it is
the key to having it work right. If you just throw it on, like some
guys I know have done, your just asking for a bad ride.
With that done, I found that shorting my spacer, a little at a time,
made my ride better and better, until now I have just 3 mm of preload
on my LR springs. (The more preload you put on them, the stiffer they
are going to feel in the initial travel because they are
progressive) This also lowered my ride height, and gave me quicker
steering. After that I changed the fork oil to 5 wt, (always using
the 190 mm spec) which was pretty nice, until my fork bushings went,
causing alot of friction, and when I replaced them, I found that the
ride was too soft. I ride aggressively and when I went into the
entrance of a turn with some bumps in it, I was able to push the
front end. Not fun. I changed back to 10 wt and now the front end
is working perfectly for me.
At the beginning, even with my 220 lbs, and the tire pressures at 26
front and 28 rear, on Avon Gripsters,I felt every single little bump,
and of course big bumps were not fun. After the shorter spacers, the
whole ride improved greatly, but I was still feeling alot of little
stuff, and big bumps were still jolting at the bars. After the 5 wt
added, whole ride was really nice, but bushings were not good. After
fixing those and going back to 10 wt, it gives me just enough feel of
the road without feeling every single little thing, and it absorbs
the big hits with ease too. I feel them of course, but they are just
not jolting to me at the bars.
I hope this helps at least a little, but remember, every front end is
different, and everyone rides different. I did learn ALOT about what
my bike is doing, and what changes affected how the bike felt, and it
was fun to do it and feel it get better and better.
One other thing, that I read online about doing front end
adjustments. DO ONE THING AT A TIME! Then ride it to see what that
did. And write it down too so you can remember what you did and how
it felt. If you do more than one thing, you will drive yourself
crazy chasing one thing or the other. Besides, you can't learn what
exactly you did right or wrong if you change more than one thing. I
could not believe how much of a difference I felt after doing one
little thing like shortening the spacers 5 mm, or just changing the
oil wt by 5, or putting in new bushings. It really taught me alot.
MrMoose
A8 (Barbie and Ken special)
--- In
DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, "patod02703"
wrote:
> I'm not entirely happy with my front suspension.( But then, who
is?)
> While I'm glad that it no longer dives dives dives on the brakes,
> I'd like to get the first inch or three of suspension to happen a
> little smoother. Roads around here in Ireland can be kinda rough,
> and the potholes give a fair old jolt to the handlebars. No
> complaints with the back end, its on the 2nd setting on the
preload,
> and the rebound I vary between 1 and 2.
>
> Here goes:
>
> Bike is an A-15, 4500 miles, street use only. I'm about 185 or 190
> in riding gear.
>
> A long time back, I put in the LR progressive springs, and also
> changed the fork oil to 10wt PJ-1. At the same time, I also put on
a
> Superbrace, and I've since changed the tires to Pirelli Scorpions,
> which I run at 24/26 front and 28/32 rear. I followed Mark
Hilaire's
> ( Hi, Mark, greetings from Ireland) instructions carefully, but now
> I'm wondering if the fork oil level is too high. Whenever I bleed
> the air out of them, I get a little spray or mist of oil from the
> air valves. Is this normal?
> If it is, and the oil level is fine, how should I go about playing
> with the forks?
> 1) Reduce the spacer ( by how much?) This , in effect would reduce
> the preload, right?
> 2) change the oil for a lighter grade ( again)
> 3) reduce the fork oil level below standard ( by how much?)
>
> Any and all advice gratefully received!