Frankenstein's front end changes again

I think I hate you.

Originally Posted by petevtwin650

Can't believe you changed all that in a day Northwind.

So the new front was £140. Did that include those calipers too?

My mate has a Gxsr 750 K6 and they only have 2 pads per caliper.

The two pad calipers are better btw, no funny pad wear and they dont 'ramp up' at low speeds, plus price up a replacement set of pads, should put you off enough

[northwind]

Originally Posted by lylej

whilst on the subject northwind i have been offered a k5 gixxer thou front end at a decent price can this be applied to the sv?

How big is your hammer? (I think it will but I'm not so good on recent SVs, I know some bolt straight in and some don't. Thous come with the KYB forks which most people will tell you are lower quality than the Showas on the 750s, though, but they're still going to be a huge upgrade. Nobody knows why the faster bikes get the worse forks, the new Busa has KYB as well But I bet you'd still be happy)

Originally Posted by petevtwin650

Can't believe you changed all that in a day Northwind.

So the new front was £140. Did that include those calipers too?

The actual bolt-up work was about an hour and a half at a nice relaxed pace, plus more time on snags like trying different mudguards and calipers, mucking about with brake hoses... Oh yes, and bolting one caliper up then discovering I'd forgotten to fit the pads. Then bleeding the brakes, which I HATE but which was deceptively easy this time. As much as I'd like to claim I'm awesome, it's actually not difficult this stuff, if you have the right approach and prep.

£140 was purely the forks, the calipers were £70 including a master cylinder, which I sold. For £40 I think Ebay's strange.

Originally Posted by Grinch

I think I hate you.

Ah well. We'll always have Paris.

Originally Posted by Robw#70

The two pad calipers are better btw, no funny pad wear and they dont 'ramp up' at low speeds, plus price up a replacement set of pads, should put you off enough

Hmm, interesting... I've only tried them on a 636, where I really liked them, but then it was a bit shonky so that could have hidden a grabbing/ramping up effects (sorry Drew!) I'll remember that, one less option to squander money on!

Oh yes, just the man, could I ask your opinion? What do you reckon would work out better in these forks, the Racetech option or the Ktech street and track 20mm kit? Given occasional fast road use, occasional trackdays, a fair bit of commuting and general riding like a granny. Or are there any other alternatives of note?

Originally Posted by northwind

Ah well. We'll always have Paris.

That is true... Oh the roses.

I'd racetech them, fairly straight forward to fit, you'll probably need to go down a spring size as well, think they've got 9's in and 85's would be better suited for fast road, can be a bit 'knocky' when valved for 9's

[northwind]

Cheers... Are there any special tools needed for these forks? I have to admit I'm not great with suspension setup, I can get a reasonable setup but it's a shame to settle for reasonable with good parts, so I'm tempted to take it to ERS Racing or Youngs and say "Make it better". I prefer doing stuff myself, obviously, but I might have found my level here.

Racetech's site recommends me .81 for my puny 62kg... They reckon it has .85s as standard, compared to .78s in my old ones. I'd been wondering about this, I must have misread it before as I thought they were the same but they certainly didn't feel the same- and now I know.

It's a nice match for my oversprung rear I suppose

What are you going to be doing with the old forks?

looking good northy

Matt

[21QUEST]

Originally Posted by northwind

Cheers... Are there any special tools needed for these forks? I have to admit I'm not great with suspension setup, I can get a reasonable setup but it's a shame to settle for reasonable with good parts, so I'm tempted to take it to ERS Racing or Youngs and say "Make it better". I prefer doing stuff myself, obviously, but I might have found my level here.

Racetech's site recommends me .81 for my puny 62kg... They reckon it has .85s as standard, compared to .78s in my old ones. I'd been wondering about this, I must have misread it before as I thought they were the same but they certainly didn't feel the same- and now I know.

It's a nice match for my oversprung rear I suppose

I believe it's .85 in those.....but dude, you need to eat some dumplings .

Sure ractech recommends .81 for you? Asking as I'm pretty sure for my 80KG, their recommendation was about the .80 mark(can't be arsed to check it now lol).



Ben

[northwind]

Originally Posted by Grinch

What are you going to be doing with the old forks?

Viking funeral... Or, alternatively, depends on what I find regarding the fork tube compatability, I may end up using these ones for parts and practice. They're useful spares for now... But they're in a horrible state just now, if the next question was "Can I have them", you don't want them, they need rebuilding and one of the legs needs replaced or rechromed too- not worth it I think.

Originally Posted by 21QUEST

I believe it's .85 in those.....but dude, you need to eat some dumplings .

Sure ractech recommends .81 for you? Asking as I'm pretty sure for my 80KG, their recommendation was about the .80 mark(can't be arsed to check it now lol).

Aye, just checked it again. I tried it with 50 kilos and it recommends .77 so I think this is probably about as low as it goes. For 80 it recommends .85 btw

You know how fat people say they have big bones? I have tiny bones