Spring swap, 4th gen. Almost dropped it.

Holy crap....REALLY close call.

Ok...so a 30 minute job turned into an hour, and almost a dropped bike.

I was progressing my way through, and realized that its a cartridge style fork....i think. I say that, because the spring doesn't simply come out, once the top cap is off.

So off comes the top cap. No problem.

Next I have to get 2 wrenches, one on the jam nut, and the other on the bottom of the top cap, and twist in the opposite direction, so I can actually remove the top cap. No problem...done this before on my mountain bike fork.

Top cap comes off. Now with the top cap off, I can actually remove the spacers and spring.

Remove spring. No problem.

Ok...first problem. Bushing rod that jam nut sits on seeps back down inside fork.

Cant reach it with anything.

So I thought to myself, remove the other top cap from the right leg, fork will sit down, and bushing rod will come back up.

Bike is on centerstand, and I am standing over bike doing the work.

Remove top cap on the other side....and presto....forks slide down, bushing moves up, and bike rolls off center stand. I somehow keep it upright. Luckily I was standing over it, otherwise I think it would have been an automatic tip over.

However now I am screwed, cause I cant put the bike on the kickstand, and everytime I put it back up to the centerstand, it automatically rolls off it.

Nobody is around to help. Hmmm....not a good situation to be in, the day before I leave on a 6 day trip through the Rockies.

Ended up calling a buddy. Luckily I had cell phone in pocket. Wait 30 minutes while still straddling bike, working on my tan. buddy arrives, put bike on center stand, he holds weight of bike back, and I finish the job in a couple of minutes.

I think I installed the jam nut on too far, cause I dont get all the rebound clicks that I wanted. However not to bother for now.

Took it out for a spin, and a big improvement over the small bumps. I got the 1kg racetech springs....replaced the stockers. I weight about 225. Feels pretty good.

The bad news, is now that the front feels good, the back end feels like complete crap.

Ride hight up front is a little higher also. Not a big deal.