A little while back I replaced my front springs with Racetech items to suit my weight and riding stile. The difference was huge, but I always intended to go back for Gold Valves when I had nothing else to spend on. Science there is never a time to have nothing to spend on, I decided to experiment on oil types. I always felt like after the spring change, the bike was over damped. Don't get me wrong, suspension tuning is not what I'm good at, as I have no idea why things are happening. But I thought I would have a go at mixing my own 7.5 weight to the factory height (130mm). I thought it felt better, so I then changed it to 5 weight again to 130mm. It felt better again. Then I happened to read the Racetech recommendation page for the 01VFR and filled it to 120mm, which coincidently recommended 5 weight oil as well. I now think it is actually OK. It will definitely improve once I get shim stacks to suit me, but it is much better then before. Considering it took all of 20 minutes to pull the forks off and maybe half an hour cleaning them and getting the oil volume right, it is well worth doing. This will not suit everyone, as riding styles vary and personal preference has a lot to do with it. But I'm now much happier. The reason I put off the valve upgrade for the moment is that my rear shock now feels like shit. I've already talked to Jamie and will be getting a 929 shock from him next month. I think it is the best value for money rear shock upgrade if you don't want to spend more than double. (The only options for the same sort of money is to rebuild your original one, so you can get a like new shit shock, a Hagon, which is the same as stock so why bother, or for a bit more a bottom of the range Wilbers with no damping adjustment and no external oil reservoir). It's a no brainer. After that I will get Jamie's front damping rod upgrade shimmed correctly to my taste. I'll report when it happens. Be patient, I'm a father of 3 girls, I'm always last on the rank of spending money.
