Re: Grip - or more like the lack of it.
 

Not much point with stock springs TBH, there isn't much difference in behaviour from factory stock setting to fully in.

Re: Grip - or more like the lack of it.
 

Yep- still clonks on upgraded springs.

I've got Hagon progressives in my front end- VAST improvement over stock. About £70 for parts + labour.

Another +1 on the Avon Storms. Though I'm also hearing Conti Road Attacks are pretty damn good (a bit pricier though).

Re: Grip - or more like the lack of it.
 

I way as much as a bag of sugar (10.5 stone in leathers) and my front end clonks over harsh bumps, and is all set up for me as best as possible using preload.

Re: Grip - or more like the lack of it.
 

If you do go down the springs route and dont want to have to get the forks off or pay labour for someone else to do it; you can simply remove the preload adjuster/cap, remove spring, put new spring in and top up oil. one leg at a time with the bike just on side stand. Although this wont get rid of old oil it will renew it slightly with the newer stuff you use to top it up :P and it only takes 20 mins. Sorry if this is obvious just trying to help. I didnt find the springs alone removed the clonk but they make the ride, handling, braking etc much better.

Re: Grip - or more like the lack of it.
 

Springs usually have nowt to do with the clonks, unless the clonk is the fork actually bottoming out. Even on stock that's unlikely during normal riding if all is healthy, I've been as heavy as 16.5 stone in the time I had my SV and only bottomed the fork out during a very sudden slow speed emergency stop which bought the rear wheel right up in the air. Or you'd need to completely not see a speed bump and hit it at speed. If you think you are bottoming out your fork, put a tie wrap round the fork and go for a ride, then see how far up the fork it has been pushed by the movement.

My SV had .95 linear springs in and it clonked more than it did as stock. It's oil flowing through the damper rod that causes the clonk. If you get the damper rod moving fast enough, through a heavy enough oil, it'll lock up and clonk, and if you hit something hard enough, the spring won't actually need to have travelled very far.

If you don't want cartridge emulators or different front forks, you just need to live with it.

Re: Grip - or more like the lack of it.
 

My stock forks bottomed out all the time, you only had to hit a bit of a bump in the road whilst you were braking. With uprated springs and cartridge emulators I get no clonks at all, though the forks still get surprisingly close to the end of their travel on occaision.

Re: Grip - or more like the lack of it.
 

How do you know they were actually bottoming out and you weren't just experiencing a hydraulic lock in the forks? Not saying they weren't, if you were already under braking when you hit a bump they could have been. Just asking of you checked that diagnosis in any way? What state was the oil in when you changed it?

You won't get clonks with cartridge emulators, you've drilled out the holes in the damper rod, so you've eliminated the problem.

You want the fork to be using most of it's range of travel, that's how it's designed to operate.

Re: Grip - or more like the lack of it.
 

Because I have a cable tie around one of the fork leg, and a permanent marker line on the stanchion showing the end of travel which I marked when I first changed the fork oil a few days after I bought the bike.

It looked pretty good when I changed it the first time, nice and clear anyway. Obvioulsy when I fitted the emulators I changed the oil again (15W) and the oil was only a couple of months old at that point.

You will still get a clonk when the fork hits the hydraulic stop at the end (or very nearly) of it's travel...

Re: Grip - or more like the lack of it.
 

What kind of riding have you been doing? What I really mean is, are the tyres getting up to temp?

Just thinking if its mostly slow town riding, your tyres wont be anywhere near optimal temp, and grip will not be anywhere near as good. This cold weather doesn't help.

Also, what about your rear brake? Maybe the SV rear brake has less "feel" to it for you, so its harder to judge when you are getting near the limits of it locking up? Have a nosy at the rear pads, can't hurt.

Reason I mention this is there was a discussion about GG and HH pads a few days ago and some people saying that on HH for the rear the "feel" really diminishes. Couple that with a bike you are not used to, cold weather, cold tyres, slippery roads = your symptoms (maybe)

Re: Grip - or more like the lack of it.
 

True enough, but a different type of clonk. Most people think every clonk is caused by bottoming out.