K4/K5 quality drop? - SV650.org

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...........

13-03-06, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skidmarx

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.

13-03-06, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skidmarx

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?

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!

13-03-06, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skidmarx

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 . . .

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

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?

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

13-03-06, 02:48 PM	#1
skidmarx Guest Posts: n/a	K4/K5 quality drop? 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...........

13-03-06, 04:36 PM	#7
northwind Moderator Mega Poster Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: In the garage where I belong Posts: 17,083	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 __________________ "We are the angry mob, we read the papers every day We like what we like, we hate what we hate But we're oh so easily swayed"

13-03-06, 04:48 PM	#9
northwind Moderator Mega Poster Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: In the garage where I belong Posts: 17,083	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? __________________ "We are the angry mob, we read the papers every day We like what we like, we hate what we hate But we're oh so easily swayed"

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13-03-06, 03:02 PM	#4
skidmarx Guest Posts: n/a	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!

13-03-06, 03:23 PM	#6
kwak zzr Guest Posts: n/a	build quality is pretty bad my k3 isnt great, but ive herd a few people now complaining about the newer black frame models.

13-03-06, 04:39 PM	#8
DanAbnormal Guest Posts: n/a	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.

13-03-06, 04:51 PM	#10
DanAbnormal Guest Posts: n/a	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