| Author | Message | ||
     Firebolteric_ma |
I was speaking w/ Saintly last night and the Free Spirit Bearing I installed in the XB came up. I told him I would post some pictures that were sent to me from free spirits as the directions never came with the bearings. There is a special tool needed to line these bearings up properly. I have not had a chance to ride the bike since there is still snow here. hopefully it will melt soon.        | ||
| Firebolteric_ma |
      I have some more pic's of my instalatin i will need to dig out. But this gets you in the ballpark as to how it was installed and what is needed | ||
| No_rice |
so what are you attempting to fix, or improve by installing it? | ||
| Saintly |
Eric, I'm assuming that the big red anodized jig aligns the cups simply because you rotate them with the bit installed in the guide hole until it hits the jig and stops? So what is the purpose of the two long extensions(of the jig) which protrude toward the front of the bike and have holes in them? | ||
| Firebolteric_ma |
That is exactly what my problem was when i got the tool/bearings in the mail, no directions, was a bit confusing. But they actually serve no purpose(two long extensions). Maybe this tool is used in other applications? Until I saw these pictures I was stumped on the install. Yes you are correct on the drill and the stops. so what are you attempting to fix, or improve by installing it? Good question! kinda experiment right now, but I feel it may help the bikes stability as I am of a bigger size on a little bike. The steering geametry is pretty radical on these bikes. | ||
| Saintly |
The steering geametry is pretty radical on these bikes. That reminds me, when I asked you last night about the increased trail causing a need for longer forks in order to retain the original ride height. I remember you saying that it only adds about 2° to the steering angle, so I did a little trigonometry and came up with an answer to my own question. At 23° rake (stock being 21°), in order to retain the same front ride height, the fork tubes would have to be 1.0142 times as long as they were at 21° rake. On the XB this translates to roughly 0.23" So it comes out to less than 1/4" difference which is negligible anyway. | ||
| Disturbed |
Firebolt, can you go into a little more details on "stability"? As in, what do you feel is unstable. I've not yet begun to push my bike but it feels solid to me, I'm still a novice though. Thanks, Cord | ||
| Trojan |
That reminds me, when I asked you last night about the increased trail causing a need for longer forks in order to retain the original ride height. I remember you saying that it only adds about 2° to the steering angle, so I did a little trigonometry and came up with an answer to my own question. At 23° rake (stock being 21°), in order to retain the same front ride height, the fork tubes would have to be 1.0142 times as long as they were at 21° rake. On the XB this translates to roughly 0.23" So it comes out to less than 1/4" difference which is negligible anyway. All this kit does is alter the rake by 2 degrees, to exactly the same geometry as the XB12SS. That bike does not have longer forks fitted does it? So as you say, the difference in ride height is negligible and certainly not noticeable unless you happen to Valentino Rossi. You can more than make up for any difference by altering suspension settings if you really wanted to be retentive about it. This kit is purely designed to calm down the twitchy front end and give more stability to the bike, which it does. Our race bike last year used exactly the same geometry as this, and was superb. Turn in and direction changes were still really quick, yet the bike was super stable even over bumpy corners where the XBR would shake it's head quite alarmingly. We didn't even fit a steering damper all year and never looked like needing one. The extra 'loops' that the fitting tool has are purely there to store all the parts together for safe keeping (just slot the long threaded rod through the holes, with the red collars attached). | ||
| Nuttwerxz |
Saintly & Firebolteric: How do you get in touch with FreeSpirits? Thanks. | ||
| Firebolteric_ma |
I actually got my bearings from ronlv, he is on badweb. |
