5th gen fork spring upgrade

Hi everyone! I've been thinking of getting firmer springs. A little confused with progressive/non-progressive types and what the actual difference would be. Race tech calculator gives a rate of ~0,93kg/mm for non-progressive but then the original spring would have been set for a 25kg rider by honda? I don't want to spend much, thinking new springs and 15w oil. Any help/knowledge/experience is very much appreciated thank you!

 

Race Tech is good, there are some other companies as well, Traxion Dynamics another one. Straight cut springs from 80kgs going up by five. They have tables to figure oot what you want, you can experiment with different pre-load spacers as well as weight of oil. 15 is ok, you could do two different viscocities in each fork leg too, if you wanted. Your after SAG, which you can read aboot.

I swear by 7 weight in my honda, thats just me though. I did the race tech emulators and springs yearsa ago, nice thinga aboot suspension set up, is once you have everything dialed in, its pretty much, "set it and forget it." At least for the street, even on the race track I never fiddled with my settings once it was good. Just gearing...Anyway, Its too cold in your country to ride right?

You listen to the Backyard Babies? Cheers :thumbsup:

 

Thanks! A little too cold and slippery yes, two months before riding season. Does non progressive, say 0,9kg spring make it hard on bad surfaces or just firmer in a good way? I also have 44 aluminum rear sprocket and it really was a good buy.
I listened minus celsius, a good one ;D

 

I dont recall what I have in my honda, but I recently ordered some springs and I got 85kg instead of 90kg. I was right in the middle of the chart and we felt it was better to be able to adjust it with preload and oil instead of being too firm. This is a lighter bike than the vfr bear in mind.lk If you call one of those companies mentioned above, I am sure they would be happy to talk to you.

Remember when you change sprockets you want to do both at the same time along with a nice new o-ring chain.

Love the BYB, best band I have listened to in many

 

I'm 75kg and ride 80% solo, 20% two up and bought Racetech 0.95 springs. A bit firm solo, but ok two up.
Preload won't fix too soft a springs.
After trying 10 weight, then 7.5 weight oil, I settled on 5 weight.
I found the original front suspension badly under sprung and over damped.
But as someone else mentioned, suspension is very personal.
At least oil is easy to replace and cheap.

 

Thanks guys, sraight rate it is. I could get öhlins 0,8kg springs for a good price but because i'm 85kg/187lbs i'll need to think this over still a bit. I understood that racetech valves are bigger and when you don't change them it might actually be better to use lighter oil..?

Yeah i did get JT front, DID gold chain and esjot aluminum rear, thought this was a good set for durability and performance. Wonder what kind of benefit a 520 conversion would have brought, though.

 

Forgot to mention i have also slid the fork tubes up ~6mm, really good for handling imo but the bike's weight is also more to the front. Probably need to get stiffer than 8kg springs

 

http://vfrworld.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/27012/title/skidmarx-windscreen/cat/506

Been riding it like this since forever. Think its around 10mm of tube. Preload does not adjust the wrong/incorrect spring. Sag is important, not talking about breasts here either. :wacko: which in that case would be a bad thing...Cheers, been killing Iron Maiden today :rockband: bread and butter are the BYB though. :thumbsup:

 

Is it possible to replace springs and oil without taking the fork tubes completely apart?

 

If you mean removing the forks from bike, yes, but it doesn't take very long to remove them.
And removing them is a much more accurate way measuring oil height.
When I first bought the bike, I gave it a fork oil change while still installed, a bit hit and miss on oil level.
If you remove them, you can give them a good clean while you're at it.
Either way, you don't have to dismantle the tubes from the legs to do any of it.

 

I did my fork seals fairly recently, so everything's cleaned up internally, and I keep the outsides clean as well, but as my riding skill has improved, I've been wanting an overall stiffer front end. Just wondering if it's possible to pop the fork caps off and do it that way, or something like that. Is there any problem measuring by oil volume instead of height?

 

You can easily replace the springs on the bike.
You will have to cut new preload spacers (they should come with the new springs), but it's easy enough with the instructions supplied.
You're better off measuring your oil level by using a dip stick, and keeping to the centre of the fork tube, trying to go by volume is not good, as you don't know how much is left coating the inside, or in the damper tubes.
Have a go, it's really not that hard, and you will appreciate the difference once it's all done.

 

I'm running race tech .95kg springs and 5w oil. I'm just under 200lbs. I'm running nearly full preload to get the right sag. I bought the bike with these in and it was set up for a rider who was at least 22lbs lighter than I. I've set it up as best with what I've got for my weight and it's not to bad but the damping could do with fixing. I'm also running an ohlins rear shock which the previous owner fitted. Overall it's pretty good.

 

I sent query to bitubo at the same time i started this thread and got info yesterday on their progressive springs. They are 0,82/1,5kg so they might be one option also.. Haven't measured the sag, i'll need to that too. Thanks for good answers and useful info!

 

Hi! Actually i did'nt do anything because there's been lots of other stuff. But basically im sure that the easiest cheapest and in most cases best way to go is progressive aftermarket springs. Stiffer oil and increasing oil does a difference also. Glad to her theres still people willing live and cope with these girls, they're excellent bikes :love_heart: