Front fork Springs help
 

Hi Every one need a bit of advice please thinking of putting new springs in the forks of my AL9 650 been told by Hagon that they can be done without removing the fork legs is this so?
The forks are very soft at the moment so thinking progressive springs.
Thanks
Steve:D

Re: Front fork Springs help
 

You can remove the cap on the top of the forks, this will be under pressure from the spring within. Don't remove both at the same time as the bike will just collapse with no spring pressure and you'll probably have damping oil everywhere.
Once the cap is off you'll find a spacer and a washer, the spring is under them. Just pull the spring out and let the oil drain off.
The only issue is can you get to the fork cap off with the handlebars in the way? It wasn't a problem on my S version with clip on bars but I'm sure you can unclamp the bars and rest them on the tank with some padding.

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Re: Front fork Springs help
 

I improved things by playing around with the fork oil. Guess it depends what your bottom line is - I guess i am easily pleased!

Re: Front fork Springs help
 

If you go the new springs route, you'll probably need to cut new spacers to get the front sag right.

Re: Front fork Springs help
 

my advice for whats its worth. dont use progressive springs as you cant set the sag properly instead get linear springs. as George pointed out you will need to cut or lengthen (make new spacers) to get the sag settings correct. if you get the correct rate of springs then you dont need to set the rider sag and instead set the bike sag and the rider sag should fall into spec without further adjustment (this is why you buy springs for your weight)

once you have the springs sorted out and as redtrummy pointed out you can play with fork oil weights and height to get the correct rebound. rebound is 90% of fork tuning and once set correctly the bike will feel a lot more planted and stable.

if you need any more help or confused then just ask. no question is a silly one if you dont know.

Re: Front fork Springs help
 

[QUOTE
The forks are very soft at the moment so thinking progressive springs.
Thanks
Steve:D[/QUOTE]

When you say soft I wonder if you mean bouncy which is down to damping not spring. Why not verify this by doing a sag check with the existing? If the spring is too soft the bike with you on it will sit too low even with maximum preload...

Re: Front fork Springs help
 

I changed my Fork to 15w Smith & Allen.Excellent stuff at a good price. Super solid and planted even on fast bends.No ,"Bouncy Bouncy" on the Goat-Track small back roads I like :)

https://www.smithandallan.com/produc...k-oil-15w-4114

I also use their engine oil :)

Re: Front fork Springs help
 

If you look here
https://racetech.com/ProductSearch/1...%20S%20SA/2019
you will see, under **Front Products**, that the the standard/stock spring rate is 0.71kg/mm. Just below, "under Fork Springs & kits" is a link to a calculator where you can enter your weight and riding style, to calculate the correct springs for you. I agree with Bibio, avoid progressive springs for the reasons stated, plus, they are synonymous with excessive fork dive on initial front braking.

Re: Front fork Springs help
 

I cant see why progressives make dive worse as surely thats down to damping again? A spring of what ever type compresses a certain amount with the weight its supporting and then when its subject to more load such as from braking it will compress more depending on its spring rate.
If you have the spring rate correct for the required sag theres not much you can do about how much more it will compress under load. In fact if anything progressive should give less dive travel as their rate goes up the more they are compressed....

Re: Front fork Springs help
 

Ummm, progressive springs have a VARIABLE spring rate, low to start, higher as the thing is compressed.