progressive fork springs?

Hi all

I am looking at investing in some progressive springs to replace the jelly in the front end and i am after some advice on what kind to go for, price, stiffness, and feel all factored in.
I guess i would weigh a little over 11st with full kit on and i am after springs that wont break my wrists over a stone in the road but offer better resistance than stock.
Any advice/suggestions appreciated.

Thanks Craig

Depending on your budget, you might like to look into emulators and linear springs...

You can get a set of emulators from the US, (from a Harley website IIRC) they cost around £30-40 instead of the £100 for the racetech ones. Just as good in my experience. Slight difference in maching quality. Emulators will give you greater control over compression damping. I'm 11st and use 0.9 springs.

Thanks lawson, i did think about emulators but i only want to do light-ish upgrades to my sv and save the money draining mods until i move to a more powerful bike so thats why i've been looking at the progressive springs but wanted some opinions?

[MJC-DEV]

I don't think many people will recommend progressive springs, most would opt for linear instead even without emulators.

Is there any reason why, ive heard nothing but complaints about linear and positives of progressives? I mainly want to firm up the front a bit and get rid of the bottoming out under heavy breaking or sharp bumps making the horrible clunk noise from the forks but not spend a fortune?

The majority of the progressive springs I've heard of being fitted to the sv have been the hyperpro ones.

http://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/moto...ent_prod/64399

Can't comment on them as I have k-tech linears & emulators (which I can recommend, btw) but the original question was for progressives so check them out.

A lot of people ride with progressive springs i Denmark, and i have only heard good things about it.
Infakt i have just installed som in mine, with intiminators. Cant wait to try them out.

I can comment on the Hyperpro as I'm running these. They are better than stock full stop. Are they better than Linear springs made to your weight? Probably not, but as a drop in 5 minute improvement its a no brainer. Can be a bit expensive but, again, if you instal yourself you'll save on labour (this is totally doable).

For an 11 stone rider you will probably not notice a great deal of difference unless you ride at a good pace. If not the springs and heavier weight oil will be fine. Emulators are the next step but some modifications need to be done if fitting to a pointy. You'll need the right type of oil as it doesn't require more than about 10wt. You'll need a spacer to fit emulator to damper rod. You'll need to cut the stock spacer to accommodate for the emulator. All doable but not a 5 minute job. The improvement will be seen in bikes that are ridden harder.

Sounds like this is not you, so Hyperpro progressives - hell, any springs - will be an improvement on stock.

Thanks for the input Runako, as i said i don't want to go mental with upgrades just sensible money for worthwhile outcome and i wanted to get others who have/are using them to comment on how they found it. I will be doing the work myself so labour cost is irrelevant but i still want to be sure about them before i go out and buy a pair.
And as for riding the bike hard... It'd be rude not to

Thanks Craig

If comparing to stock then its an improvement. The front end dives less under braking and the progressive nature of the springs mean less harshness over bumps. A more educated mechanic like YC will say Progressive springs are self defeating because the spring rate is not evenly progressive under stress in comparison to good linear springs. My ass is not educated enough to tell the difference though. However, the Hyperpro package does come with Hypepro's recommended oil and this also helps. If you have the stock oil in then its likely to need changing anyway and this alone can make a noticeable difference.

As I said, for your weight, you probably won't feel a massive difference until you start really pushing the bike. The problem with improving the suspension little by little is the more small changes you make, the more it shows up new problems.

For example, changing the spring and oil may reveal if the rear is underdamped for you (11 stone? You may be fine). Rebound was an issue for me with the stock shock. If you then upgrade the shock to give a more stable rear, it then shows up the hyperpro's as still being underdamped. Again, you may get away with this for your weight but it might involve some trial and error.

But when compared to stock, its a noticeable improvement.