Continuing - So what did you do to your bike today...?

[Phill P]

35mm lift kit fitted, cheers Stepdoug
Negatives
Centre stand usless unless I use a block of wood under it.
Bike leans a little further on side stand.
A little bit more tippy toe when manuvering around, only 5 feet 8 inch
Seat slides me forward, although was wearing jeans not my normal leathers.
Bit more weight on wrists.
Positives
Looks awesome.
Rides nice,was worried it would flop in.
Holds a tighter line  doesn't run wide as it did before.
Feels more like my old xjr for handling.
I'm getting the seat redone so I could ask for an inch of the padding and maybe level it out a bit.
Could try higher renthals (I have a gold set in the garage)😁

All in all it works for me .

[dave55]

Well took delivery of the new YSS shocks, must say Brooks Suspension were on the ball and good to deal with.
Ordered Monday , delivered Thursday lunchtime , Very well packaged and First impressions very Good , they appear to be very well made using quality materials.
Shocks come with understandable instructions giving some Basic settings to adjust them to as a baseline to work from.
After setting the shocks compound and rebound , fitted the shocks to the bike this morning and went out for a play
After 20ml pulled in for a cuppa , So from the box they worked ok but room to make better, started with compound and increased another 4 clicks and did another 20 miles, noticeable improvement  and i will tomorrow increase the spring stiffness and take out the wallowing feel when coming out of corners under a bit of throttle .
So far very pleased with them and feel with some minor adjusting and tinkering they will be as good as or better than the original standard ones they have replaced !

Did you start from the base of static sag first ?
Give that a go before you stat adjustments & note your adjustments in note book because you'll forget believe me 🥸

Well Mystery is , thought i answered this yesterday but must have forgot to press send button  there had been a pub involved prior to that 
No i assumed and should know better that because the new shocks were same length as original and instructions from box did not mention sag , it just gave settings for comp and rebound to key in as a base setting.
So after measuring 1. with me and wife on seat and measuring from floor to bottom of registration plate it it 655 mm
Then after removing both bodies and lifting from grab handle upwards and then allowing bike to settle the measurement is 600mm

Should i now increase spring pressure ? 

[dave55]

Morning folks, so am i correct or not in thinking i need to get the difference in those two measurements to somewhere around 30mm by increasing the spring pressure ?
The instructions supplied do not say what the maximum you can amount you can wind the screws down is without the springs being coil bound and bottoming out.?

[grog]

No expert Mate but 35mm seems what they say. From memory, think mine is around 30 both ends. Dont know if good or bad but works fine. Yeah, spring load sets it, youre not that far off.More experts than me will come along.

[GSXKING]

Never assume Dave she is the mother of all f..k ups.
Static sag and rider sag diff is 30-35mm then you adjust rebound (how quick wheel bounces off the ground) and compression (the comfort factor if you will) to suit.
It's a dark art but once set and you're comfortable keep the settings from your notebook & reuse them.
I'll be interested in your feedback.
Im getting new fork oil next week so I'm sure the feel will be different 🫣

[Andre]

At the risk of sounding grumpy (I am):

You don't measure sag that way. The instruction manual (at least the one I have from YSS) as well as other sources on the net, tell you how to do it right. If you measure correctly, 40 mm should be in the ballpark. No, that is not the difference between static sag and rider sag. It is the difference between no sag (rear wheel in the air) and rider sag. Static sag (bike sitting with both tires on ground) 10-15 mm. So the diff between static and rider sag 25-30 mm.


Get rid off the idea that adjusting pre-load changes the stiffness (spring rate).

[Eric GSX1400K3]

At the risk of sounding grumpy (I am):

You don't measure sag that way. The instruction manual (at least the one I have from YSS) as well as other sources on the net, tell you how to do it right. If you measure correctly, 40 mm should be in the ballpark. No, that is not the difference between static sag and rider sag. It is the difference between no sag (rear wheel in the air) and rider sag. Static sag (bike sitting with both tires on ground) 10-15 mm. So the diff between static and rider sag 25-30 mm.


Get rid off the idea that adjusting pre-load changes the stiffness (spring rate).

Andre is 100% correct, spring rate is fixed during design and manufacture of the spring, determined by wire diameter, coil overall diameter,  number of coils, steel grade and geometry of the overall spring system.  Adding pre-load just compresses the spring and adds additional tension force to the system, the spring constant K stays the same.

[dave55]

Hi Andre, Eric and GSXKing what i cant get is why then put another 35-40mm of thread on where the spring looks to adjust ? Must be the thicko in me  I understand that it cant be slackened off and there is no MANUAL supplied just a sheet of paper in English and foreign, and yes it does say that spring is pre set in factory.But when i sit on the bike i can tell it is like the springs are softer than originals so tell me later about that and maybe need other springs as i believe someone said he got?

Okay i got rid of any old ideas and have watched the set up on Australian Motorcycle Gassit Garage front to back set up of suspension , it explained things clearly and i am now armed with 3 measurments at front forks and 3 at back.

Front forks measured from top of seal to bottom triple yolk.
Wheel off the ground hanging           177mm
Wheel and bike lowered on the ground   145mm
and with me in all bike gear off stand 128mm

Rear wheel hanging down off ground measured from top of swing arm to frame loop      345mm
Rear wheel on ground, off the stand                                                  320mm
Rear wheel on ground, off the stand with me in full bike kit sweating my nuts off    260mm

Am i getting nearer

[Andre]

Rear wheel hanging down off ground measured from top of swing arm to frame loop      345mm
Rear wheel on ground, off the stand                                                  320mm
Rear wheel on ground, off the stand with me in full bike kit sweating my nuts off    260mm

Something is not right here.

How much do you weigh with all the gear?

What is printed on the springs?

[dave55]

Fully kitted with gear helmet boots n gloves 17st
On the springs in white lettering  YSS-46-20-30-200
 
Front forks new seals and fresh oil for MOT and still set on MCN settings and dont feel to be any different in terms of how much they go down when i get on the bike but back feels to go down a lot to original just sat on it.

[Speedy1959]

On Sunday I will have owned my bike for 1 year (and 10,366 miles)..
Within 2 weeks of owning her I decided to remove all the stainless allen bolts from the exhaust headers to treat them liberally with aluminium anti seize..
After a struggle I managed to remove 7 of the 8 bolts and fit a NEW set (7) and treated them VERY liberally.
Over the past 10 months I have tried many times to remove number 4 bolt.
Ive tried Heat.. Freeze spray.. Hot engine with freeze spray.. Cold engine with MAPP gas heating the bolt till it glowed orange/yellow.. Nothing worked.
It creaked and moved maybe a half turn but I could feel the shaft flexing.. It would creak a half turn clockwise then a half turn counter clockwise but that was all it would give!
It was seized in the threads and NOT in the flange bracket!
Obviously I was very worried about snapping the bolt shaft..
In the end I decided to leave it and not risk it!
I have to admit its always bugged be that there was 1 that I failed with..

Long story short...

The forks are off at the moment  (Not replaced them yet after doing an oil seal)..
The other night I had an idea in bed..I had tried to whack the allen bolt but there is no room due to the Radiator / forks.
At work I have some old Cello end pins which are 8mm in diameter..
I reduced the end half inch down to about 6mm and rounded the end. I had taken one of the new allen bolts to work so I could fit it accurately.
Tonight after work I thought well its now or never..
Forks are off so I removed the top radiator mounts and that single bolt that attaches the hose support bracket.
The radiator now easily swung forwards and down and I rested it on an upturned bucket , so no strain on the hoses/fittings.
Obviously the engine is cold. I carefully sprayed the allen bolt head with some "Crack it" made by "Arctic Hayes"..
I applead this slowly and carefully for about 10 mins.
The idea is to freeze the bolt and NOT the engine alloy.
I then uses my work made steel rod and gave it 5 or 6 hefty whacks with the hammer (Obviously NOT over hitting)..
To my massive joy and relief the EFFING bolt came right out..
I cant tell you how chuffed I am that this bloody bolt is at long last free..

In the scheme of things its no big deal.
But for me it was a minor miracle!

S.

[GSXKING]

Well done persistence pays off 😂😂😂

[hard road]

I can't remember how many times ive had this problem with seized header bolts over the years, some of my bikes ive bought but mostly with customers bikes     

[Andre]

Fully kitted with gear helmet boots n gloves 17st
On the springs in white lettering  YSS-46-20-30-200
 

After consulting my favorite anthropologist, who specializes in the Stone Age, I now know that one Scottish stone weighs 6.350293 kg 

YSS-46-20-30-200 are definitely to soft!

YSS-46-25-35-200 should be the proper ones for your weight. Standard (out of the box) pre-load is 10 mm. I recommend 13 mm pre-load.

I'd set compression and rebound each to 15 clicks out.

That should be an acceptable setup for the rear.

For the occasional two-up, adjust the compression damping for that time. Maybe 10 clicks out (means all the way in - then 10 out) is where I would start. Leave rebound and pre-load alone!

The fork could use a spring and oil upgrade. But that is another construction site.

Edit: Can't believe YSS doesn't have a nice 32-pages manual in English (as they do in German). But apparently they don't - I couldn't find one anyhow.

[dave55]

  Me and your Anthroman would get on , i would live in the stone age if possible life was a lot simpler 
Today i spoke to Brookes Suspension about these springs and i can only say TOP MARKS TO THEM !
Chap i spoke to checked all my measurements i posted on here and agreed the springs are too soft.
Apparently there are 4 springs with different ratings and from my weight and kit and my wifes he recommended the strongest rated one and if i take shocks to them they will supply and even fit them to my shocks for £30pebbles so when i know more will let ya know