Curvy shorter front springs?

Originally Posted by toxic

I'm against lowering the front, ground clearance can become an issue unless you have higher pegs fitted.

ah yeh i have, spose that could become a issue with normal pegs

ps im 25mm lower at front at 30mm higher at rear

I got hold of some rearset risers for about a tenna. These and shorter dog bones aid ground clearance and turn in. However not the best for comfort, but hey im not an ol man :P.

mmm may heighten the back as well then, with shorter dogs, the standard bike IMO handles absolutely terrible, the more I lean the more I think the front will lose grip and down I go....
Whats a good bolt on rear shocker from another bike (I've heard of loads like kawasaki etc) or can a longer spring from something work?

What tyres do you have on?
How worn are they?
What pressures are you running?
Are the front forks still standard?
When last were they serviced?
There's a lot of variables here, especially when you start talking about an older bike.

matching metzeler mz4's
loads of thread
33f 36b
indeed
god knows (i've got the 15w oil to replace whats in there just now)
Its only got 14k miles so shouldn't be that worn I would imagine.

The stock tyres were mez4, they were never great even when new.

Even though your bike is low miles that fork oil could still be original and like soup now. Any idea of service history?

Pretty sure its full history up to 10k miles (need to check) the last owner said he serviced it himself but he was a mechanic and mechanics hate doing their own machines so who knows.

My 2000 sv had an £800 service and overhaul 2 months before i bought it. It means absolutely jack! My forks are like pogo sticks, rear shock is poo but thankfully all will change in the next fortnight with new springs, shock oil, emulators, zx10r rear shock and Yorki Chris

Originally Posted by LJH

Pretty sure its full history up to 10k miles (need to check) the last owner said he serviced it himself but he was a mechanic and mechanics hate doing their own machines so who knows.

Most skip the fork service, the oil should be changed periodically anyway. My first SV was 4 years old when purchased with FSH and the fork oil was blacker than swamp muck. A quick spring (.85kg/mm) change and fresh (15w) oil transformed it.

I really can't advocate major geometry changes without checking that the system as whole is fundamentally sound. If the oil in the forks has lost viscosity due to age there will be less damping than even the woefully inadequate OE suspension would provide when new. If you're asking more from it for quicker turn in there's a real possibility of making the bike unstable.

The good news is that as the bike has fairly low miles the rear shock should still be serviceable, not great but usable.
Fork springs, oil and dog bones are cheap enough and what I would do as a first improvement exercise.

I also remember my front MEZ4 wore the edges of the tyre, it was still legal, but left the front with a triangular profile. That felt like it would fall into corners and the transition would feel very unstable until settled into a bend.

True that...Just ordered some 0.85 sonics so will change all that first