rake angle alteration

You nutter! you can bang any bike off the stoppers on speed bumps if you try!(memories of a scooter on holiday come to mind)

Im going out for a proper ride tomorrow so well see what happens. Perhaps I should have bought crash bobbins first. :P

[northwind]

Aye, but there's a difference between bottoming out the forks and driving the sliders and seals into the yokes

The best test, was to compress the forks when the springs were out. My specialist subject? Pointing things out too late...

Naa you rightfully told me that before I had it done but the chap who did it for me assures me "it'l be reet that lad" so we will just have to see! And if it all goes tits up Ill let you be the first to assume sagelike status and say those age old words,

I TOLD YOU SO!

I can only raise the staunchions on my 2000 curvy by 5 mm before the sliders can hit the triple clamps. 20mm could be lethal, or at the least very painfull

[21QUEST]

WAIT!!! DANGER

Okay now I've got your attention .

Maybe I'm overreacting but reading you last few posts gave me goose bumbs. I would suggest you take another look at what people are saying regarding going 20mm (just on safety aspects if nothing else). It won't be a good thing for you to suddenly have no suspension under say hard braking. If one is unlucky, they may not have the chance to make a diffferent decision.

Now I don't know the guy who has done it and who has assured you that it'll be alright but not a lot of places would even recommend pushing the forks through that much in one go. Did the guy check to make sure by taking the caps off?

I'll say this I've got a really bad feeling in my bones about all this but sincerely hope I'm wrong. Hope all goes well.


Cheers
Ben

Right! I have been out and thouroughly hammered the bike all over the place in a quest to discover the handling improvements of my bike. So...

First of all accellerating in a streight line is much better than stock thanks to stiffer setting on the rear shock and the different size chain and sprocket kit.

On tight corners I have noticed a great improvement. This is due to the settings of the front and rear shocks, the fancy fork springs/oil and the ubersticky tyres that are fitted. My definition of great improvement here is that I find it much much easier to get round tight corners quickly.

Medium/fast corners. Nothing amazing here just a greater sense of control and feedback. And strangely an improved sense of stability.

the greatest improvement is chicanes, in which I was able to move the bike much quicker. Its great fun and quite a buzz to be able to ride an SV like that.

The only downer Ive noticed are that I manageged to lock the back wheel up yesterday on a down change in the wet. A slipper clutch would fix this but at £500 a shot plus fitting I have decided to be more careful of my downchanges.

Note: At no point during my ride today did I manage to bang the forks off of the yokes, which leads me to the conclusion that cronic obesity is rife within our community. :P
Just kiddin!

When setting up forks, it's handy to put a cable tie around the fork leg, this will get pushed up during riding, then you can monitor the fork travel.

[northwind]

Originally Posted by Little Rich

First of all accellerating in a streight line is much better than stock thanks to stiffer setting on the rear shock

I still reckon you should reduce the drop on the front, but that's your call. But with the rear, don't mix up the preload adjustment with stiffening the rear, they're very different. Preload is purely for setting up sag- making sure that the bike uses the right amount of suspension just to carry its weight and yours, basically. If you turn up the preload, the spring actually remains exactly as stiff. It can trick you into thinking it's stiffer, because when you climb on it doesn't sink as much- this is just because it's "pre-sunk", if you like. Having too little sag on the rear can cause bad roadholding problems...

Or, maybe you've got it spot on, don't know

[21QUEST]

Originally Posted by northwind

I still reckon you should reduce the drop on the front, but that's your call.

very true that.


Ok I'm going to do this one last time. I've checked some figures and 20mm definitely too much on the 'S'.

On my naked bike I've got 10mm before the dust seal contacts the bottom yoke. That's with the forks 9mm through the yokes.

It may appear from what I've just said that you are not too far off but lets say the top yoke from the 'N' and 'S' have further differences apart from the very obvious.

Carry on riding as you have it you will crash if you ever ride hard enough to use almost all of your available suspension stroke(as you should) as some point.
Best of luck


Cheers
Ben

Hi all....been reading this thread with interest.....a few points if i may.... feel free to flame me

Firstly....dropping the forks, as we know, will quicken your steering.....but it will also make your bike less stable at speed....what makes a front end sort out a tankslapper on its own is rake,trail and castor.... now, dropping the forks lessens rake, lessens trail, and makes castor less effective at sorting out a slapper. hence as someone pointed out, a steering damper might not be a bad investment as "oh ****" insurance.

Think a shopping trolley.....its easier to steer by pushing from behind than it is to stand on it and propel yourself with one leg....same stuff only different shape.

AS for the whole changing all the suspension and dropping your forks..... well and good...all things to do to improve handling and steering etc....but, you really should do one thing at a time, run with it, get a feel for the changes you've made, alter something else once you have a new "bottom line"...get a feel for the new change, see how it suits you, change something else......etc... Progressively is the word.

Its up to yourself man...tis your bike and your money. My own feeling is that id like to learn little by little and at the end of it know how each change ties in with the other.... how it may work against some other aspect and how it may improve in conjunction with another adjustment.

As for it not bottoming out.....thats not the main point....you could in theory stiffen it up so much that even with 5mm travel it doesnt bottom out.....think race/drift cars and hard suspension....very little travel, but no bottoming out. Thats no use on a bike....you need a range of USEABLE suspension and not just a simpleup and down either.....not just to make sure its not bottoming out. Hence you need to look at static sag etc and get it setup by someone who knows what they're doing.... if you've done that then great....if you havent then you need to be looking at the guy who has adjusted your suspension and realise he hasn't done the most basic of checks for you.

The only other thing i can think to point out is "lateral suspension" as such.
When you go into a corner, the more you lean over the less your forks work as suspension, and the more the actual forks and frame/yoke/steering head etc take up the forces. Basically, a bikes frame has to have a degree of flexibility to allow this flexing,else every small bump you hit in a tight/low corner would sent you lowsiding front first.

You may recall one of the race teams this season making small cuts on a bikes frame with a hacksaw to help de-stiffen the frame for cornering...?
The point? Shortening the forks puts more emphasis on the frame taking the loads during fast cornering, not to say anything will break, but the bike being a budget bike would be less stable, less comfortable, and may tank slapper or lowside easier...especially with very stiff suspension.

Bottom line? If you really want good adjustable suspension....put a gsxr front on it.....much less hassle, and much more worthwhile/upgradeable in the long run.

And aside from all that.....enjoy yourself but do realise that nobody here is intending to lecture...just help..... in much the same way that if someone posted "im removing a front brake caliper to save weight seeing as i use mostly engine braking anyway,what you guys think?" would be advised in the name of safety why it may not be a good idea !

Safety over function over style...........