View Full Version : K4/K5 quality drop?
skidmarx
13-03-06, 02:48 PM
Is anyone else aware of this? I had a K4 from new and was very happy with it, rode it in all weathers, only washed it twice in 8k miles. My new K5 has only seen 200 miles and the fixings are furring!! Also, and I do know that 'They all do that sir...', but the forks are diabolical! Clunking away over even minor potholes despite screwing in the preloaders, the old one only ever did this when riding over open manhole covers and the like. What exactly causes this and why should the new one be so bad? Does it do any damage?
Lastly I hit upon a brilliant idea for oiling your chain. Immerse a small sponge in oil and wait until thoroughly soaked. I used scotoiler stuff left over from my last bike. Rub liberally onto chain. The sponge gets into all the nooks and crannies see?
Make sure you take plenty of clean rag with you next time your out. You will need this to remove all the excess fling from your rear tyre. This only takes about 45 minutes by the road side and you can use the time wisely to reflect about doing the job properly in the first place...........
Lastly I hit upon a brilliant idea for oiling your chain. Immerse a small sponge in oil and wait until thoroughly soaked. I used scotoiler stuff left over from my last bike. Rub liberally onto chain. The sponge gets into all the nooks and crannies see?
Make sure you take plenty of clean rag with you next time your out. You will need this to remove all the excess fling from your rear tyre. This only takes about 45 minutes by the road side and you can use the time wisely to reflect about doing the job properly in the first place...........
Absolute quality.
Laugh? I nearly brought a round. :lol:
Clunking away over even minor potholes despite screwing in the preloaders........
You sure the forks are topping out rather with all that preload on there?
skidmarx
13-03-06, 03:02 PM
They're clunking under compression at the beginning of the bump, not when returning after the bump if that makes sense.....It was WAY worse before I turned in the preloaders!
Mr Toad
13-03-06, 03:02 PM
Clunking away over even minor potholes despite screwing in the preloaders........
You're not using a magnetic tank bag are you - my forks used to clunk over potholes, until I discovered it was the tank bag becoming airbourne . . . :shock:
kwak zzr
13-03-06, 03:23 PM
build quality is pretty bad :? my k3 isnt great, but ive herd a few people now complaining about the newer black frame models.
northwind
13-03-06, 04:36 PM
Some people reckon the new ones are better built... I don't see it, the paint certainly seems to mark more easily on the new ones. But I'm not sure why you think fork noise is a sign of low quality. Damper rod forks are crude, and they can be noisy. It's not neccesarily a sign of faults or some developing problem, or anythign to do with build quality.
The Showa forks in a GSXR750 have a clunk too, just that it's a different clunk :)
DanAbnormal
13-03-06, 04:39 PM
Blimey. I was just about to post a thread about clunky forks. My SV has only 600 miles on it and is two weeks old yet the ride is terrible. The front is solid and I get a load clunck/bang over medium size dips in the road. I though there was something wrong with it at first. Not much point int installing new forks as it's brand new. Will just have to get used to the crappy feel I guess. :(
northwind
13-03-06, 04:48 PM
SV front end definately shouldn't feel solid, if anything it should feel spongy and soft. How heavy are you sv_dan? If it's not too personal a question? ;)
DanAbnormal
13-03-06, 04:51 PM
It feels totally rock hard to me. I weigh about 12 and a half stone. It could be because I've been used to a spongy Zephyr 550 for a while but even my Ninja ZX-7R was more comfortable. It goes in for it's first service this week so I will highlight my concerns then.
Dan
Fairly sure this will be down to the good old Fork oil / springs / airgap issues that have always been associated with the SV's rather soft front end, having borrowed Sam's SV on saturday I found I could quite easily bottom the forks out under braking, and could feel the movement of the forks as fairly crude, am hoping that adjusting the airgap for now and replacing springs later will improve the front end quite a bit :wink:
edit: If your bike feels harsh try adding pre-load as it may be bottoming out making it feel very harsh
Ceri JC
13-03-06, 05:15 PM
It feels totally rock hard to me. I weigh about 12 and a half stone. It could be because I've been used to a spongy Zephyr 550 for a while but even my Ninja ZX-7R was more comfortable. It goes in for it's first service this week so I will highlight my concerns then.
Dan
Have you tried softening it up a bit using the preload (although almost everyone firms theirs up, but each to his own...)?
DanAbnormal
13-03-06, 05:19 PM
I've not played with the pre-load as yet. Will have a crack this eve and get it on the road to see if it's any better.
build quality is pretty bad :? my k3 isnt great, but ive herd a few people now complaining about the newer black frame models.
My k5 with black frame has given no probs....as of yet
tomjones2
13-03-06, 08:16 PM
I've not played with the pre-load as yet. Will have a crack this eve and get it on the road to see if it's any better.
have u checked that your front tyre pressure is not to high.
northwind
13-03-06, 09:29 PM
It feels totally rock hard to me. I weigh about 12 and a half stone. It could be because I've been used to a spongy Zephyr 550 for a while but even my Ninja ZX-7R was more comfortable. It goes in for it's first service this week so I will highlight my concerns then.
Question for you- when you get on, how far does the front end sink down? Just approximately...
rwoodcock01
14-03-06, 09:15 AM
My K5 was showing a little distress, I ride it pretty much rain/snow/sunshine. I gave her a good clean and a good coat of WD40 in key areas and she seems to be holding out ok now.
My fault really as I was not cleaning the winter muck off as much, its all a learning curve for me bike mechanics, but hell, no matter the weather she keeps on ploding on.
Mind you, I have to remember that she is a budget end bike so I expect some problems.
You just have to remember to look after her!
Cheers
Rich
diamond
14-03-06, 09:17 AM
My K5 looks like a bag of sh*t after 10,000 miles rust and corrosion every where you look but hey it's my own fault for not cleaning it and leaving it out in all weathers. :lol:
kwak zzr
14-03-06, 04:44 PM
Mind you, I have to remember that she is a budget end bike so I expect some problems.
You just have to remember to look after her!
Cheers
Rich
rwoodcock is right! my honda cbr build quality was ace but its list price is £7200 < (in 1998)
Dangle_kt
14-03-06, 05:17 PM
I could be way off but isn't a similar noise down to head bearings being loose?
A mate has a K5 at work and he mentioned exactly the same thing to me today at lunch, over medium bumps it clonks, he is going to get the head bearings looked at, so I thought I'd mention his idea here.
SV650Racer
14-03-06, 07:01 PM
think you will find most SV650's clunk when hitting a big bump in the road, something to do with the damping rods?.
Ah and corrosion - budget bike and crap salt the councils are using. It isnt just SV650's...i have today taken in a 3000m R1 and a CBR600RR and both are corroded to bits....i reckon the new synthetic salt they are now using is like acid. :twisted:
my k5 broke down after 200 miles , however fingers crossed 600 miles now ,
Have wound up the front preload to max and added some to the rear shock , helps however def needs spring & oil .
Build quality is ok ish not honda quality however you do get what u pay for , I use my bike every day & accept that it will suffer ( also can't be arsed to clean bike every time I use it ) its my main transport so just live with it .
Reason I bought a sv was it was cheap to buy , cheap to insure & cheap to run .Bonus is it is great fun to ride .
It has enough power to be fun on the road , and to sort out suspension is cheap.
To be honest don't think its worth spending money to increase power , just going to mod front suspension & fit a can .
Don't like the dunlops , did manage to get some heat into them after a blast round the twistys , however lack feel , to be honest the weather is so sh#t at the moment most tyres would struggle , normally use Bridgestone BT020's in the winter & something stickier in the summerBT014/diablos.
Keep it a year or 2 and then get a Falco or SV1000 However the little SV is growing on me.
Cheers Steve
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