| Author | Message | ||
     Levor |
I'm gonna be swapping my forks out (been having issues with my original forks so I got a new set to put in, OEM spec, nothing fancy) but I noticed on a buddy's 1125CR his forks sat about 3/8s of an inch higher in the triple trees, whereas mine are set with the top tree basically flush with the top of the tube/bottom of the cap. Which one is correct? Can someone with a KNOWN good setup take a picture? The FSM isn't really clear, it just says use the alignment marks and I'd do better with an actual picture of the part in question. I know they have two alignment rings on them as I can see from looking at the new tubes waiting to go in. | ||
| Dhays1775 |
To the best of my knowledge, having the forks flush with the top triple increases the trail and helps to stabilize the bike. Kinda like a free steering damper. On the other hand, the proper setup (factory) is with about 3/8" above the trees. If you mount the forks flush with the top triple, it slows down the steering a little, making it less twitchy. I've kept mine in the stock location so I can turn in faster, but also installed a GPR damper to slow (not remove) the head shake. Try it in the stock location first. See how you like it. If you want a little more stability, flush the forks to the triple and see how it feels. It's all personal preference. Just my $0.02! I'll post pictures in a bit. | ||
| Dhays1775 |
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| Jdugger |
Bike geometry is part personal preference and part tire. The "correct" setting for a bike can vary. There is a factory setting, and it's determined by the snap rings on the forks -- they fit into recesses in the top triple. It's not necessarily correct, but it's a good starting point. | ||
| Levor |
Well the front end has never been right (actually that is a lie, the only problem I've had is eating fork seals, yet I don't wheelie or anything crazy so I know its the forks) since my wreck a few years back so "personal preference" is "whatever feels better than the mushy, vague front end that likes to try to step out on me in the mildest of turns" and I think stock spec is a good place to start. I just need to get it back to factory specs, the whole bike just feels wrong since the last fork seal job was done, and it seems with the very helpful pictures (THANK YOU SIR!) posted above, my suspicions that the forks were not reinstalled correctly were right, both settings (which I had already figured) and height-wise. Frustrating because I doled out the scratch to have GP Suspension set up my suspension and it was PERFECT prior to the latest fork seal job a year or two ago. All of this in mind the bike DOES feel rock stable now, but of course with such a mushy front end, I can't imagine how different it'll be having some actual feedback in the handlebars for once. Its pretty sad that I'm riding a GS500F harder and more comfortably than the 1125CR because it feels so unpredictable in the turns. Either way, out with the old, in with the new! Thanks guys! (Message edited by levor on August 25, 2013) | ||
| Levor |
Actually, before I forget, I'm probably going to have to resort to hanging the bike from the rafters, at leas the front end. I know a few of you have done this, whats the usual method? I've been advised to grease the steering head bearing too, which is a lot more stuff to take off than I originally wanted to, and also means I can't just route a strap underneath the steering head and be done with it if I go that route, but wanted to get some input from those of you who have lifted an 1125 in this fashion. And before you ask, no I don' thave stands, and unfortunately they aren't really in the budget right now with an impending move coming up soon. A buddy was supposedt o loan me a front and rear stand but it never panned out and I'm tired of waiting to borrow them, just wanna get this DONE! | ||
| Sir_wadsalot |
OK, here's the stupid answer.... .....if you know someone with an ATV/Mower Jack, you could use that. I looked it up in here and couldn't find a definative answer as to whether or not to do it with the 1125. The shop manual states something along the lines of "Place a scissor jack at the jack point and lift the wheel off the ground.", every time there's a procedure that requires removeing a wheel. I cannot find any reference, anywhere in the shop book as to where those jack points are, or what type of jack to use. Thoroughly written, that. Must be the same guy who wrote the oil change procedure.  If anyone knows where that's located in the shop manual, please to point it out to me. On the bottom of the muffler there is a flat spot at the rear, and right near the front. With my ATV jack most of the weight is on the rear detent, and the front lift arm sits directly below the left side muffler mount, between the two detents. Unfortunatly, there's also a bigass seam down the middle, making this less stable than it would be. I put the kick stand on a block to level the bike, touched the jack to the muffler, strapped the bike to the moving part of the jack to stablize it, and lifted it. Then I strapped it to the base of the jack as well. It's very stable left to right, but because the weight sits toward the rear contact point, it wants to tip to the rear. I had to put a block under the rear tire to break the axle/taper nut, you could do the same to take out the front/rear wobble. I put the front stand in there for extra stability, but by the time I got it jacked high enough to lock the safety on the jack it was off the stand. Sounds stupid, looks sketch, but it works. I pulled the wheel Friday, and it's going back on today. I don't think I would leave it like that long term, though. Again, this is the stupid answer, and I assume I'll get flamed for it. In my defense, if it wasn't mentioned in the shop manual, I wouldn't have done it.  Flame on! Pic- https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-U4i-_ELDzyw/Uhs vt1rTB3I/AAAAAAAAAb4/_ZRnHCryuyY/s800/%255BUNSET%2 55D.jpg (I tried to embed the pic, but I just can't seem to get that right in BADWEB.) | ||
| Jdugger |
If you are just doing the forks, get the stands. If the stands aren't in the budget, there's a 100% chance a decent fork service isn't either, so wait on both. If you are eating fork seals, you probably have a nick in the tube. Get them polished. This should be done every time the forks are serviced, anyway. | ||
| Sir_wadsalot |
+1 to the smart answer!  | ||
| Sparky |
Sir, use the backslash imagelink { url } command to post pix that are already on the internet. Ref BWB Help/Instructions/Formatting topic. Oh, and remember to edit out any space characters in an extremely long url.   | ||
| Levor |
I do have an atv Jack now that you mention it... I hadn't thought of it but could make it work. Jdugger, the forks are getting replaced. I've already got a new set of forks ready to go in that I bought from Ronin motor works stockpile. For the really cheap price I paid for them, I'd have have been stupid to pay to have ANY work done to the old forks. They likely are scratched though since Wyoming did a pretty good job of sand blasting the front of my bike when I got caught in a dust storm. At any rate, I'm a DIYer I'm just waaaay better better equipped to deal with cars than bikes at the moment. I've made do in the past when I had to and I'm sure I can figure it out now. | ||
| Jdugger |
Good call, Levor. A good fork service including the tube polishing and careful cleaning of all components runs around $200. | ||
| Levor |
Bah, foiled again, it seems I misremembered, its an ATV STAND not a jack. Probably just going to have to ride it to work and just lift the damn thing there on one of the two posts and some of the straps we use for pulling frames and stuff on cars (I work in a body shop) which are way overbuilt for the job. Actually realistically I could just use the damn engine hoist if nobody is using it this week now that I think about it. Screw it, engine hoist on this biatch is probably the simplest way. I do love me some improvisation. Won't be able to do the steering head bearing lube though, I don't think... oh well. | ||
| Pmjolly |
You can lift the front by the K brackets that hold the radiators. One strap on each K bracket will let you take apart the steering head. | ||
| Pmjolly |
I used the K brackets here to rotate my engine for the valve adjustment. I also serviced my forks while I had them off. I am not a pro, but I easily cleaned everything, installed new seals, and gave them fresh oil. They were clicking and clunking. The noise stopped. I had the rear secured with a Pitbull trailer restraint. It was rock solid, with no swaying.  | ||
| Thefleshrocket |
Guys, head lift front stands aren't very expensive--$100-ish. I applaud the ingenuity some of you guys are doing to be able to work on the front end without a stand, but if you plan on doing your own work and intend to keep riding for the foreseeable future, a head lift stand is hardly a bad investment. I have my triple tree set flush with the top of the fork tubes. Setting the triple lower makes the bike twitchy and want to headshake. It also makes the steering require a bit more effort to maintain a line when leaned over. Interestingly, so does adding just one notch to the shock preload. One day I decided to be scientific about suspension tuning instead of doing it by feel and I decided that the 1125R needed one more notch on the shock to have its sag be around 25mm. After making that change, I noticed that the handlebar started getting twitchy under hard acceleration around 110mph or so. I dialed back the shock preload that one notch and the problem went away. | ||
| Jdugger |
Flesh, You are effectively just adjusting rake and trail from the rear, and that's why you are noticing those differences. You sacrifice some mechanical grip, but I doubt that matters. A lot of time getting one of these bikes set up is a huge set of trade-offs between rear-grip-on-the-gas, holding a corner, and keeping the rear on the ground enough one can actually use the brakes. On my belt drive bike, I have it set up quite tall as a result. The chain drive and longer wheelbase helps tremendously with the set-up challenge. | ||
| Jimustanguitar |
I actually bought a pair of boat trailer winches that I've bolted to some 2x12's that are secured across several rafters in my garage... They're rated for 5 or 600 lbs each, and that's been working great for me. |
