new and great fork fargle ( kind of long review)

[Tom Zangla]

This pushin "60" year old tackled the Dunlop 606 last night. Since I was off work last night I figured I better get the bald MEFO rear tire off (MEFO got 5,200 miles on it). I work the night shift and I am in the groove of starting to work later in the day. It was about 5 p.m. and it looked like it could rain at any second. I had recently purchased a motorcycle jack but I like working off the after market center stand. I had taken the center stand off a few weeks ago since I kept hitting the road with it. It only takes a few minutes to put on and take off the center stand so I use it as my maintenance jack. I still use the bolts that came with the center stand with 3 lock washers on each bolt when I take the center stand off. Back to the tire.... I just got the wheel off the bike and it started to rain here in SW Pennsylvania. So down to the basement I went and with 3 tire tools I got the MEFO off with some effort. I put on a new rim strip and stuck a HEAVY DUTY Moose inner tube in the tire. After only 3 beers I had the Dunlop 606 on the rim. It took a good bit of stick on wheel weights to balance this tire. It was late night so I figured this project would get finished the next afternoon. Like I said before I work the night shift so I was up until 6:30 a.m. and got up at noon had a cup a coffee and went out to put the wheel back on the A19. Got the wheel on, adjusted the chain and torqued the axle nut. Off I went around the block to test drive this new tire. You would have thought I was on a merry go round horse. Up down I went going around the block. I stopped and noticed that the bead of the tire did not pop into place on a section of the rim. I pulled into the yard and and tried more and less air to see if I could get the bead to seat. Nothing seemed to work. I hated to think about pulling the wheel back off the bike. The bike went back on the center stand and I left all the air out of the tube. I pushed back the tire where it was not seated on both sides and sprayed some soapy water in there. After about 50 pounds of air I heard a pop and boy was I happy that I did not have to pull the wheel back off. I took it around the block a few times and the A19 seems normal again. Now my first trip on this new tire is to get some more beer for the fridge. Tom SW Pennsylvania

[fmhilton]

Dan, great information and insight... The one thing that I have added to my 08 is a stiffer spring on the stock rear shock... The front end on the 08 seems to be a little firmer that some of the other KLR's I've owned in the past... I'm looking forward to the company offering this product for the 08.. Mike H

----- Original Message ----- From: Dan Bittner To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2008 5:47 AM Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] New and great fork fargle ( kind of long Review) Hey Mike, Glad you asked for a review Mike because I've received some private emails asking for info on these fork preload adjusters, a product which you could probably tell from my posts I was pretty excited about. While I've been on this list since 2002 and read it every day that I can and have benefited from it greatly, I haven't contributed to it much in the last 3 or 4 years. So this info on a product that I feel really improves what is to me the weakest component on the KLR, the front fork ( the brakes being a close second ) is a payback of sorts for all the good tips I have come across here. I'm not selling products for anyone. First a little info on my 04 KLR, how its set up now, what I was looking for when I ordered these preload adjusters and how it compares to what I did to the fork on my first KLR, an 02 that I bought new. Not a lot of Fargle on my bike, has a flat Corbin seat, K9 fork brace with Daystar fork boots, EBC 320mm big front brake with Galfer green pads, guards for the water pump and radiator, Eagle Mikes doohickey (of course) and now the Motowizards fork preload adjustors. My first KLR was set up the much same way except I installed Progressive fork springs when I installed the fork brace, my current bike still has the stock springs. I'm generally a 90/10 rider and run with either MEFO Explores, Avon Gripsters AM24's or Avon Distanzas, currently on the Gripsters. For reference, I'm 180 lbs with gear on and the stock rear shock, set at # 3 on spring preload and # 4 on damping has always worked well for me on the street, no complaints there. The fork however is another story, a story that most of us are all to familiar with. Long flexy soda straw sized undersprung tubes that set the standard for dive under hard braking, especially once you upgrade the front brake. Plus there's that very nasty sound you hear when the fork bottoms out all to easily when riding off road. The K9 fork brace, a fine piece, takes care of most of the flex, but then you still have to address the springs. Now on my 04, still with the stock springs but with the set up described above I was looking to cure two additional problems. First, nearly half of my fork travel was used up just by sitting on the bike. The second problem was that when riding at a fairly quick pace on some of our fine canyon roads here, the bike was starting to set up a slight weave when accelerating out of the turns. Nothing really serious but not confidence inspiring either. My first KLR did the same thing and I finally got that one sorted out by going with the Progressive fork springs, another excellent product. However, this was something of a trial and error possess. The Progressives, at least when I bought mine back in 02, are longer than the stock springs and Progressive recommended at that time of going with a two inch spacer instead of the stock spacer which measures five and one half inches long. I put it together with the two inch spacers and it was still to soft for me. After a couple of more tri es I ended up with a spacer length of two and three quarters of an inch long, which worked well. Of course, that's where they stay, there is no adjustment. Finally to the new Fine Fargle Preload Adjusters. Two big advantages here. The one inch of adjustability, which makes a LOT of difference as I found out while dialing in the Progressive springs a few years back and the fact that these adjusters worked wonders on the stock springs, which I thought for sure I would have to replace. Plus it was a one shot install, I didn't have to take it apart several times. I now use only about one third of my travel while sitting on the bike, just about right, and the weave is gone. It just in general feels more stable. These adjusters along with the Progressive springs would probably be outstanding and I may go that way sometime down the road, but for now I'm really happy with what they did for the stock springs. The adjusters are gold anodized aluminum and are two inches in length and extend to three inches, two O rings on each, one on the outer cap for the fork seal and an inner O ring on the rotating adjuster itself. Two PVC schedule 40 (read thick wall) four inch spacers are included, along with two stainless steel washers that install between the spacers and the adjusters. I assume that the washers are to prevent galling between the two parts and the instructions say not to do the install without them. They were nicely packaged individually in thick plastic bags in a stout box. The guy even included some sticky Teflon tape to line your socket with so as to not scratch the anodizing when you tighten them on the fork. The install itself was easy, jackup up the bike so the front wheel is off the ground, loosen the top two bolts for each tube on the triple tree, remove the stock fork caps and spacers, drop the new spacers in the tubes, drop in the washer on top of each spacer, screw in the adjusters until there nice and snug and tighten the tube clamp bolts, let down the jack and your done. If you change out the fork oil like I did it adds a few steps, but even with that it goes pretty quick. As I said, the stock spacers are five and one half inches long and the new parts with the preload backed out all the way are a total length of six inches, so you gain one half inch of preload right off the bat before you even turn down more preload. I ended up turning mine down another half inch to achieve total happiness, which worked out great because I'm right in the middle of the adjustment range. Sweet. My initial impression was that these were a little pricey, but once they were in hand it's easy to see where the money went, they are nice. I did take some pretty good close up pictures of these before I put them in, I'll email Mr. Motowizard tomorrow and ask him if he would mind if I upload them to the photos files if anyone is interested. If I can figure out how to do it. Dan Bittner Sacramento, Ca. ----- Original Message ----- From: Mike Hilton To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com ; Dan Bittner Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2008 2:59 PM Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] New and great fork fargle Dan, thanks for writing about the new product. Please continue to give the list reviews. I have asked about the 08 version, they indicated they are in the works. Mike H. ----- Original Message ----- From: Dan Bittner To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 11:22 PM Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] New and great fork fargle Randy, I just got home from my first ride with these installed, rode up to Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe and back home, a good test ride : ) All I can say is, our KLRs' should have come from the factory like this. One inch of preload adjustment makes a much more noticeable difference in the ride quality than I would have thought. I tweaked the adjustment quite a bit going up and back ( I used a 14mm 1/4" drive socket, extension and ratchet as no adjustment tool was provided ) and they worked great. As for the quality of the product, the pictures the guy has on his EBay ad don't do them justice really, these things are like works of art in metal. Plus they came with everything you need to do the install ( very easy ), good instructions too. Yes, I'm enthused about these. I could rattle on about the install and particulars, but it was a long hot ( still in the 90's here) ride and I'm tired. Any questions, let me know. Oh, it takes 25 complete turns to get the full inch of adjustment, I gotta get a 14mm T wrench for the tool kit. Dan Bittner Sacramento, Ca. ----- Original Message ----- From: Randall Marbach To: KLR Group Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 1:57 PM Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] New and great fork fargle Those look great.... has anybody tried them yet? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Parts-Accessories_Motorcycle-Parts-Accessories__KLR-650-PRELOAD-ADJUSTERS_W0QQitemZ190255372673QQddnZPartsQ20Q26Q20AccessoriesQQadnZMotorcycleQ20PartsQ20Q26Q20AccessoriesQQddiZ2811QQadiZ2863QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item190255372673&_trkparms=72:836|39:1|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245#ebayphotohosting> Randy from Burbank Recent Activity a.. 6New Members b.. 3New Photos Visit Your Group Health Zone Look your best! Groups to help you look & feel great. Yahoo! News Get it all here Breaking news to entertainment news All-Bran 10 Day Challenge Join the club and feel the benefits. . [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]