| Author | Message | ||
     Moosestang |
I've ordered a manual, but who knows when that will get here. Maybe someone who's done it can answer a quick question. I posed the question of suspension setup for a 140 lb rider on Mr. Buell's facebook page and here is his reply. I've posted before that I can only get 28mm's of front end sag with zero preload set. here's the scoop from our suspension guru, Jon: With a 142 lbs rider the 1125 will be a little over sprung on both ends. 35-38mm front sag with 28-35 rear works best for most riders so he needs a little more front sag to get neutral mid corner steering.... See More If his bike was an early 1125R with the “rev A” forks it will be even more stiff due to the 1.0 kg/mm vs. the .95 kg/mm springs that came in the rev B forks (J0121.1AMB & J0122.1AMB). If you look through the front wheel, you can see part number sticker on the fork lowers to verify rev A or rev B. Both the rev A & rev B forks work best for light riders with an oil level of about 120-125mm (stock should be 117mm). Ideally if he rides mostly on the street he would be better off with a .85 kg/mm springs. An alternative would be to cut about 5mm off the spring preload spacer and stay with the .95 spring and reduce the oil level to about 125mm. He could then get the proper sag and handling although the ride would be a little firm. Hope that helps, Erik Now my question is can I remove this preload spacer and cut it down without taking the forks off the bike? | ||
| Sknight |
Short answer, no. Long answer, yeah but it won't be easy. You unscrew the caps off the forks, then the spring and damping rod come up out of the tube. The lower tubes go up in the outer tubes just like normal. You then have to compress the spring, slip a locking tool under the jamb nut to hold the spring compressed. Then loosen the jam nut on the damping rod, and then unscrew the cap from the rod. Then you uncompress the spring and the spring can come out. Reverse to reassemble. It's easy enough, I wouldn't try it on the bike though. Chances are you'll need a helper to compress and lock that spring. | ||
| Bcrawf68 |
Sknight, I did that recently. I have a set of the Rev A forks and they were too stiff. So, I purchased a pair of .9Kg springs from Race Tech. To facilitate the spring replacement, I purchased a traxxion fork disassembly kit. After fabricating a pair of very well made spring preload spacers, I reassembled the forks. They had a clunk halfway through their travel. Also, the forks made a scratching noise that wasn't their before the spring replacement. I took the bike to Mancuso West, who took the forks off the bike, disassembled the forks again and put them back together. After I got the bike back, the forks felt great and no longer made the noise or had the clunk. The point of all of this is that the manual says to remove the forks from the bike, put them in a vise to hold them vertically while they are disassembled and reassembled. I now know why. btw, I'm selling the traxxion fork disassembly tool to anyone that wants to buy it. Hope this helps. | ||
| Sknight |
I've done it the hard way every time. One of these days I'm gonna get bit. Look for a PM about those tools. Reason you keep the forks upright is when you put the springs in they need to stay in their seats. If you let them lean the springs will shift over and rub the damping assembly. When it's time to assemble them I keep them upright. | ||
| Sknight |
Forums acting wonky right now, not letting me PM. What tools do you have and how much for them? You can email me at sknight13 AT comcast DOT net Sorry for the thread jack. | ||
| Rockstarblast1 |
i so need to do this (i weigh 138)lol but no wy in hell ami doing this to my new bike. and dont have the cash to hve a pro do it.... so um yea | ||
| Moosestang |
So you have to compress and remove the spring to get to this preload spacer? I only have the xb manual and it doesn't really show a preload spacer. If I have to go through all that, then I might as well change springs. | ||
| Sknight |
Yep it has to come totally apart to get the spacer out. The spacer sits on top of the spring under the cap, in fact the spacer is what you have to push down to access the jam nut. You can leave the spring sitting there, but literally you can just set it out. If you have the money you're better off just swapping springs. | ||
| Jmr1283 |
if i buy lighter springs, would i need to adjust the spacer length also. and also should i have the 125mm of fluid. im also 140lbs Or are the cut down spacer and added fluid just alternatives to a spring change. | ||
| Sknight |
It's an alternative to a spring change. If you order springs they'll be a proper rate for you, and that means you'll be able to establish proper spring preload for your weight. What cutting the spacer does is "Add" travel to the preload adjuster so you can lighten up on the spring to match your weight. The spring rate will still be a little high but you'll be able to set your initial sag. The fluid height change effectively changes the spring rate some. What it does is change the head space, as forks compress the head space gets smaller, the air pressure goes up, the effective spring rate of the fork goes up. Think of it as a progressive spring assist. Raising the fluid level makes it stiffer, lowering it makes it softer. | ||
| Dcmortalcoil |
Amazing. A pair of fork springs (part no. J8113.1AMB) retails for only $6.22 and a pair of spring collars (part no. J8135.02A8) goes for $4.15. These are the parts you need to go from 1 to 0.95. I had to pay $100 for replacement springs for my RC51. | ||
| Moosestang |
Race tech springs are $100, so $6.22 doesn't sound even close. I'll wait and see what EBR is going to offer. | ||
| Dcmortalcoil |
really hard to believe. yes I got race tech for $100 | ||
| Moosestang |
So what's the part number for .85? Do you need new spring collars? Where did you see the $6.22 for springs? Just the material has to cost more than that. | ||
| Dcmortalcoil |
I checked the prices at different HD places in the internet. Anyone know for sure this is the correct pricing? I checked two places and they both show the same retail prices. | ||
| Jmr1283 |
can u tell us where? like ________.com | ||
| Tbowdre |
" 140 lb rider " just checking.... thats with gear right? todd (Message edited by tbowdre on December 12, 2009) | ||
| Moosestang |
" 140 lb rider " just checking.... thats with gear right? No, i'm about 150 with gear, probably 155 in the winter, but I still can't get 35mm of front sag with no preload set. I imagine i'd need to be 170 lbs to get the proper amount. That's probably why the manual only goes down to 170. | ||
| Moosestang |
Alright, I got my service manual. I'm looking at the fork disassembly pics and i'm wondering why I can't just strap the the front forks to compress them, instead of removing them and buy the compression tool. | ||
| Sportryder |
There are easy and hard ways of doing things. Experience lets you know what is easier and what is more difficult. At TD, we pull the forks off the bike to work on them. The oil mess is controlled away from the bike and there is no risk of scratching or damaging anything by working with more tools than what is necessary around the bike. That being said, you can surely work on your forks however you want to. You also might find yourself cussing a heck of a lot by trying to compress the fork springs with straps so the caps can be disconnected from the cartridge rods while the forks are on the bike. (Message edited by sportryder on December 12, 2009) | ||
| Red93stang |
Moose that's what I did, I made my own tool with a ratchet strap. Bent the hooks out so they are both 90 degrees and then notched them so they would stay on the tube. It's easier to work with off the bike. |
