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Raising forks internally?


shinyribs

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I run RaceTech's Goldvalve in the rear of my XR4. Man, what a hassle fighting through their customer service ( old part number package, updated part number valve inside), but they're good at suspension! There's magic in them there shim packs, I've you got the patience to find it. 

 

I know the 07 forks aren't state of the art. I'm just very curious why my stock springs hold my 240 lbs perfectly well while sub 200lb guys are struggling. Maybe the quality control of these spring rates are just that horrible and I lucked in to a stiff pair? Really, at 35mm laden sag that's actually saying I could use LESS spring rate, but I brake hard and late so it works out ok for me...I think. 

 

I really thought my forks had a lot of dive under braking when I first got the bike, but the bike didn't feel soft any other time. Didn't add up. The stock rear shock was abysmal, though. I had a suspicion that the fork dive I was feeling wasn't really fork dive at all, but the result of the ass end rebounding wildly on hard breaking. I replaced the rear shock and defeated the floppy handlebar mounts and the "forks" felt much better. No more dive under braking and no more disconnected feeling from the front tire. 

 

Gaining confidence in the bike with a proper rear shock, I started pushing the bike harder. The front felt wallowy under hard cornering, but I wasn't feeling any pogo'ing or damping issues. There was an obvious lack of planted-ness, but no glaring damping problem.  I decided I was gonna upgrade the forks and started shipping around on here for all the different options. But again, it just didn't add up. The forks themselves felt ok, the bike in general was just loose. 

 

So I decided to ignore the super low tire pressures printed on the swingarm and stuck proper sport bike pressures in these sport bike tires. 36 psi front, 42 psi rear. The bike immediately lost all wallowy and vague feeling. 

 

Yeah, the forks aren't super duper plush. With 12w oil there's some harshness on severe compressions, but I expect that on anything that's not designed to cruise like a Harley or GL. Zero complaints on typical road imperfections.  They're much more compliant than your standard super sport, but the bike feels very planted now. I know I don't have the best of the best on this bike, but low tire pressure was really killing the bike in stock form, I believe. 

 

All the journalists who reviewed the 07 and complained of soft suspension, I'd love to hear their thoughts after riding one with a proper shock and tire pressures. But I'm just rambling now...

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"You're not senile yet! Yes the hair-spring is to yield to the pressure of fluid going down the channels cut lengthwise down the inner bore of the white plastic fluid lock."

Thank god for that. I was beginning to get very worried at my age. I remembered it because it was so unusual.

Go forth and modify my son...go forth and modify...

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Shinyribs, it may well be that there are some quality issues with the suspension parts. I think we've seen people measuring everything from 0.8 to 0.9 kg on the stock fork springs. I found the stock springs to be just fine - I'm 200 lb net, 220 geared up. I also found the stock for a bit harsh, likely from too much rebound damping. With the DDC valves, the forks work better with the much thinner oil, but compliance is still much less than on my old Virago and KZ650. Control, however, is definitely better with the MT07 by a noticeable margin.

 

The stock rear shock was way oversprung, and comfort was poor on both small and large sharp bumps and dips. Rolling bumps were dealt with much better. The Nitron race shock is substantially better while also offering a lot more control, but the XT600 shock at the rear of my Virago as well as the Ikon stereo shocks on the KZ650 both give a lot more cruising comfort, but less high speed control.

 

Still, those old bikes perform quite respectably under a variety of conditions. For instance, we have a set of insane speed bumps near my home where many cars will crash the front spoiler/bumper into the asphalt if you try to pass them doing 20 mph, and comfort is south of 15 mph. (My former car, a Volvo S40, would smash into the ground doing 15 mph). I went over doing 35 mph the other day on my 1982 Virago and other than the rear wheel momentarily leaving the ground while going over the crest, there were no ill effects. A current BMW 1200 Scrambler would have bottomed the fork hard enough to rattle your eyeballs in their sockets. 

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