K3 suspension
 

Recently had some work done on my bike. At ~35k miles and having owned it 2years I had the fork oil and seals changed. Asked the mechanic if he noticed anything non-standard about the springs. He mentioned some scoring on the tube which he sanded down and isn't concerned about and a previous owner (1of 5 or 6) added some shims. Any ideas as to why they'd be added? What would be the next step to upgrade for street use? It has a nitro r1 rear shock but nothing up front so will look at changing those.....later down the line.
Tia

Re: K3 suspension
 

I guess the shims were added to increase preload on the springs. A common upgrade is to swap the front-end to a GSXR setup, better brakes too.

Re: K3 suspension
 

Do you increase pre load by screwing the adjustment screws on the forks down? As they're very far out on mine

Re: K3 suspension
 

Which model of SV is it?

**Edit** I'm a dunderhead - it's in the post title. Doh!

Re: K3 suspension
 

Re: K3 suspension
 

Increasing preload is only used if the weight on the bike (people and luggage) is upsetting the height of the bike. Unfortunately it does nothing to spring strength or any other suspension parameter:( Even then a lot of people find the springs too weak for the weight carried so fitting the correct ones is a prime consideration...

Re: K3 suspension
 

Setting preload without rider determines if the bike needs springs suiting rider weight. Can't remember off hand what the measurements are but it goes like...

Set your preload without rider.
CHECK preload with rider on bike.

If the measurements fall out of spec with rider on bike then you need to get new springs. If the bike is used for street dont use settings for racing.

Re: K3 suspension
 

Yes basically with bike fully loaded your suspension should sit about a third of the way down its travel. A lot more than this and stronger springs are required...