fork action, too much oil?

[jayed36]

I noticed that 1st gear was grinding a bit the other day when trying to put it into gear. The bike is an A15 with 6K miles. It has been serviced religously and not driven hard. My girlfriend's son used it yesterday and called me to tell me he could not get it into 1st at all. Sure enough... no first gear. I have the extended warranty and expect that this will be fixed, however, I would like to know if this is a known issue with the KLR. Thanks, Jeff

[Tengai Mark Van Horn]

At 3:57 PM +0000 7/21/03, jayed36 wrote:

>My girlfriend's son used it >yesterday

That was the first mistake.....

>and called me to tell me he could not get it into 1st at >all. Sure enough... no first gear.

Is it possible that the shift lever is loose/bent and is now contacting the frame, thus preventing the full range of motion? This is a common occurrence. Mark

[hens_p]

Jeff: Before you panic, make certain that the shift lever isn't hitting the frame. The KLR shift lever has to move a long way to go into 1st. Mine fell off the sidestand and slightly bent my shift lever. I freaked for a bit because it wouldn't go into 1st. If you did blow 1st gear it will be (I think) a list first. On a related topic: Did anyone ever confirm that the lower geared KLR600 1st would fit on the KLR650? Pat

--- In DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, "jayed36" wrote: > I noticed that 1st gear was grinding a bit the other day when trying > to put it into gear. The bike is an A15 with 6K miles. It has been > serviced religously and not driven hard. My girlfriend's son used it > yesterday and called me to tell me he could not get it into 1st at > all. Sure enough... no first gear. I have the extended warranty and > expect that this will be fixed, however, I would like to know if this > is a known issue with the KLR. > > Thanks, > > Jeff

[Zachariah Mully]

On Mon, 2003-07-21 at 13:34, hens_p wrote:

> On a related topic: Did anyone ever confirm that the lower geared > KLR600 1st would fit on the KLR650? > > Pat

It fits. Why? Z DC A5X A12X

[hens_p]

If I was to every break 1st gear or have to split the tranny on my KLR650, I think I would replace 1st gear with the lower KLR600 cog. Same performance for the highway, but a little better slow speed grunt for the hills, etc. Pat --- In DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, Zachariah Mully wrote:

> > It fits. Why? > > On Mon, 2003-07-21 at 13:34, hens_p wrote: > > > On a related topic: Did anyone ever confirm that the lower geared > > KLR600 1st would fit on the KLR650?

[jayed36]

Yeah, clearance was the first thing I took a look at. Lever is fine. No panic since I have the extended warranty... and the KLR is now my back-up bike to my '02 GoldWIng. Thanks for the thoughts. I will update the list once the shop tears into it. Jeff

--- In DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, "hens_p" wrote: > Jeff: > > Before you panic, make certain that the shift lever isn't hitting the > frame. The KLR shift lever has to move a long way to go into 1st.

[mrmooseisloose]

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!