Dr rictus front end operation (get buying springs & oil!

[BillyC]

Yes, I think we've all agreed that it was a very worthwhile day, and I for one not only learnt a lot, but also had a lot of fun! Once again, many thanks to Mark and Ian for taking valuable time at the weekend to hold our hands and show us how these things are done.

The K3/4's use a linear spring in the naked, and a progressive one in the faired (put in upside down according to normal standards). Most people were needing to put in a spacer of about 12mm on top of their new Ohlins springs to make up some preload.

The K3-Naked springs are 480mm long, and the Maxton replacements are 490mm long including a sizable spacer. This automatically makes up 10mm of extra spacer, and the rest could be done by the pre-load adjusters on the K3 forks, which have at least another 15mm of adjustment to add if needed.

For me, the difference has been very obvious indeed. The front end is a LOT firmer, and I still have loads of preload to go (not that I think I'll use it). It's definitely felt much better, and the dive and rise on braking and acceleration has all but disappeared. I think I have to increase the rear shock again now to compensate for the harder front?

However, an excellent improvement, and if you're anything more than a basic sunday rider, I'd recommend this upgrade... no surprises there then.

Chutz & Coombest, this wasn't the first time I've had my forks off so if either of you want to get this done, then I'm sure we can give it a good go, as the only thing new to me was dismantling the fork itself and doing the business!

I WILL be in touch dude.Maybe I'll get some springs at the nec

Originally Posted by Powergaard

Can we get some info on how you set up the bike, when you dismounted the forks ???

Any pictures ?

I took quite a few pics, so will attempt to write up what we did, and annotate the pics to make it a bit more obvious, although before I post anything, I'll run it past Ian & Mark just to make sure I'm not about to send out a set of instructions as to how to kill yourself
Watch this space over the next few days

[rictus01]

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

Lets do something more complicated next time

I could always drop the lump, strip the barrels off and do a piston change, but the thought of half a dozen engines in bits is sort off disturbing some how

perhaps service tasks, clutch changing, carb balancing are about as far as I'd like to go for now.

Cheers Mark.

[Sid Squid]

Originally Posted by rictus01

the thought of half a dozen engines in bits is sort off disturbing some how

Quite, I wasn't thinking of going that far, (yet ).

Originally Posted by rictus01

perhaps service tasks, clutch changing, carb balancing are about as far as I'd like to go for now.

Exactly, that's more what I had in mind.

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

Exactly, that's more what I had in mind.

Say when...

Hurrah

My ride to work has some pretty fast but bumpy roads, which I'm sure the bike now copes better with. The real test will be on the way home, as theres a bump before a fast corner that normaly causes the bars to wobble.. will report later

Thanks to Mark and Ian once again

Can we get Greg to run a workshop on "how to polish our downpipes"

Mine need a good polish before the 31st

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

Exactly, that's more what I had in mind.

Ah, music to my ears, sounds good fun. Would that also include (purely for the education of the others, naturally ) the replacing of the ignition advance key? As I've got a 4° one sitting here that keeps asking me when it's going to get fitted...


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Originally Posted by Mr Toad

Can we get Greg to run a workshop on "how to polish our downpipes"

I would happily do this but feel the attendance figure might be a little low.


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