rear shock change

ralph did you get the spacer tube in the end and what length did you use ? just about to order some k-tech springs for my k3 ohh and where did you get the tube from from?

also does any one know weather or not its worth adjusting my gsxr1000 k3 rear shock ? more preload maybe ?

[Red Herring]

How much sag have you got at the moment?

not sure, as my abba stand kit still hasn't arrived, so will measure then. im sure i saw something about 2 turns on the gsxr1000 shocks but not sure where or what age they were talking about.

trying to get it set up for the 16th of April

Originally Posted by barwel1992

ralph did you get the spacer tube in the end and what length did you use ? just about to order some k-tech springs for my k3 ohh and where did you get the tube from from?

also does any one know weather or not its worth adjusting my gsxr1000 k3 rear shock ? more preload maybe ?

I did, I got three lengths, 58mm, and + or - 4mm. The standard ones are 46 mm. I have the -4mm spacer in at the moment and on the Abersoch rideout had to back my preload off until the 4th marker is just hidden and 3 markers are showing in order to get the forks supple enough to cope with drain covers through town, etc They were fantastic on open roads above 50-60 mph, no wallow, completely planted, the bike is now SO easy to ride fast, but too hard at lower speed and bumps became intrusive, annnoying and tiring after a long ride. I fixed it at low speed by backing the preload off 1/2 turn at a time until it fixed it, but now at high speed there is just a little bit of wallow when pushing on in corners. Maybe a 1/4 turn back on will give me a nice compromise. For track days or smooth foreign roads it would be great as it is.

There is only 2mm difference between standard spacers, and the spacers I have in, and my preload is set more than 2mm higher than it was with the stock forks, so the conclusion I'm drawing from my experience at the moment, is the standard spacer is fine. With the preload completely undone anti-clockwise and the standard spacer, I still have to push the caps down by 10mm or so before I can start screwing them in, so the bike has maybe 16-18mm of preload, with the standard spacer, before you even start screwing down the preload adjustment.

I know the preload changes spring travel and not "hardness", but it changes how "hard" the bike feels to the rider, and that's what matters.

Now, don't draw too many conclusions from this, I am certainly no expert, I'm only telling you what I can feel, but we are a similar weight.

I'm wondering if the hardness may be down to too much damping, or maybe I should have gone for a progressive spring, to give me a softer initial travel. The SV forks used to clonk in potholes. What I believe causes this is because a fixed weight of oil is flowing through a fixed size hole in the damping rod, if the forks get hit hard and suddenly, the oil can't get through quick enough and the damping rod stops, causing the bang and clonk. I am now getting that bang and clonk on EVERY sudden bump. It's definately not the forks bottoming out, I have 0.9kg/mm linear springs in there. It happened maybe six times on the Abersoch rideout, whereas it used to happen only occasionally. I am thinking of syringing half the oil from the forks and putting a 10w oil in to make the viscosity 12.5 w.

Any thoughts from the experts very welcome and appreciated.

It may be that I'm not going to get good high speed handling, and nice low speed control bump absorption, in the same set without cartridge emulators or gixxer forks. I don't know how much more money I want to spend on the SV though, I may be as well chopping it in for a bike with better stock suspendies.

(The rear shock is fantastic BTW, I found the stock ZX10R setting which were basically half way on everything, then added a bit of preload because I'm fat. I think I'm going to take that perload back off again just a touch, but most of the time I'm very happy with it. Need to be careful on the traffic light GP as with less squat at the rear, the front has a tendancy to wheelie )

cheers that was very helpful as im going for the same springs and weight as you and 15w oil, let me know how you get on with the 12.5w oil if you do it

i don't do much town riding at all so the harder liner springs should be ok for me (im usually traveling on the Foss)

so i need 54mm,58mm or 62mm spacer for the front, from what you are saying im guessing the 54mm would be best?

Any thing is better than what i have now, even with the preload wound right the way in i can bottom out on the smallest of holes also i dont think the for oil has been changed for 7 year/17000 miles

Originally Posted by barwel1992

just about to order some k-tech springs for my k3 ohh and where did you get the tube from from?

Icanopit kindly cut my spacers from tube he had bought and gave them to me. It's clear from what I've seen so far that I'm never going to use my +4mm spacer (standard length, plus spring length difference, plus 4mm = 62mm), so I'll pass that pair onto you, and you can keep them or cut them to whatever length you think will suit you best.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Icanopit kindly cut my spacers from tube he had bought and gave them to me. It's clear from what I've seen so far that I'm never going to use my +4mm spacer (standard length, plus spring length difference, plus 4mm = 62mm), so I'll pass that pair onto you, and you can keep them or cut them to whatever length you think will suit you best.

ok thanks very much , i wont be able to pick them up tough as the bike's in bits at the moment but will pay postage for them or would that be more expensive than buying the tube from B&Q

Originally Posted by barwel1992

cheers that was very helpful as im going for the same springs and weight as you and 15w oil, let me know how you get on with the 12.5w oil if you do it

i don't do much town riding at all so the harder liner springs should be ok for me (im usually traveling on the Foss)

so i need 54mm,58mm or 62mm spacer for the front, from what you are saying im guessing the 54mm would be best?

Any thing is better than what i have now, even with the preload wound right the way in i can bottom out on the smallest of holes also i dont think the for oil has been changed for 7 year/17000 miles

Don't draw too many conclusions from my experience, I'm not an expert on this and still learning myself. It may not be my preload that's causing the issue, it could be my spring is too hard, or I have too much damping. Once I have got it set up so it's working nicely, I'll let you know what the setup is, but I don't yet know how to get to that point myself, I'm still in trial and error mode.

Originally Posted by barwel1992

ok thanks very much , i wont be able to pick them up tough as the bike's in bits at the moment but will pay postage for them or would that be more expensive than buying the tube from B&Q

Don't worry about it, it'll give me an excuse to ride over and see my sister who lives in Ladbroke (you are in Southam?). When are you getting your springs?

im in rugby but can also be in Southam, my GF lives there so i can be there any time i want

not sure when im getting them yet, most likely within the next 2 weeks

thanks