Reworking forks ...

Enough blah blah blah ... so how does it work?  

I went out on a 20 minute test ride and hit every bump I could find.  

I am super happy with the results!!

The jolt/jarring is dramatically reduced.  If you drive over a brick at 45 mph you'll still get a jolt, but normal-ish road imperfections don't have the harsh impact now.

In one turn there is a ~1 inch pavement ripple, just floated over that, no jolt, no wiggle, just absorbed it.  

And how much did this costs?
$6 usd - oil
$7.12 usd - shims

$13.12 total!!  

Well ... there were tools ... and the GRiSO stand.

But the fork specific tools:
$15 - ebay fork spring compressor thing
$20 - Motion Pro damping rod pull up thing (guys on youtube are using a zip tie)

I already had the impact wrench, and the vice soft jaws.  The $15 long allen wrench set, I'll call that generic tool.

So if I had paid a suspension shop $250-$350 for a suspension revalve, I would have been happy with these results.  

So ... what change did what?  I did 3 things ...
1. Different compression stack
2. Lighter weight oil
3. Less oil in the forks

I feel it is a combo of #2 & #1.  And the oil the left fork was super thick ... so #2 might be the biggest difference ... don't know.

But Round 1 was a major success!!  

Actually, not sure I need a Round II.   Will hopefully get some more rides in this week and test some more.

Winner indeed!

Thanks

A good write up.

Picking up where Usedtobefast left off.

The OEM rebound stack is;

17 x 0.10
17 x 0.10
17 x 0.10
17 x 0.15
10 x 0.2
10 x 0.2

I have decided to replace the valves with Racetech Gold valves and use the spreadsheets /calculations they provide for the shim stacks. In talking to the Racetech technical department when I found they don't have the GRiSO in their system, he said 'we can roughly calculate a set up and adjust from there'

So using the 2006 Suzuki GSXR 750 to get into the system and then added 70 lbs to my rider weight, ( 175 lbs ), to compensate for the weight difference of the bikes ( roughly 420 lbs to 490 lbs ).

These are the baseline shim sets

Compression;

17 x 0.15
17 x 0.15
17 x 0.15
17 x 0.15
17 x 0.10
15 x 0.10
13 x 0.10
11 x 0.10
 9 x 0.15

Rebound

17 x 0.15
17 x 0.15
17 x 0.15
17 x 0.15
17 x 0.15
17 x 0.15
17 x 0.15
17 x 0.15
15 x 0.10
13 x 0.15
11 x 0.15
 9 x 0.30

A 5 weight oil & air gap of 120 mm recommended. However I have changed out the springs, so the air gap may need some fiddling with.

Cool! You doing the work yourself? Or having a suspension shop/person do it? Seems like a lot of 17mm shims! But then the racetech valves supposedly flow more oil ... so would make sense to need more shims.

Hope it turns out great.

Found a suspension guy who doesn't mind me looking over his shoulder & buying the parts.

Nobleswood wrote:

Found a suspension guy who doesn't mind me looking over his shoulder & buying the parts.

Let us know how it all works out. I'd like to get my forks done as well, and I'm not that far away, 'bout 100 miles. I installed the Race Tech valves in my Blackbird a long time ago. It wasn't difficult, but a bit tedious. Now my eyes aren't as good, and my stubby fat fingers aren't quite as nimble.

I will !
Are you going to be at the ‘Garage Brewed’ event in Cincy on 2/8 ?

Yes I will. I'm actually hosting a bunch of fellow CBXers that weekend, and we'll all be there. We call it our PMS party (Parked Motorcycle Syndrome).

Look for a custom Kawasaki in orange/rootbeer w/ single sided swinger. A friend of mine built it.