HERBXX

Hi, What did you use for the split shims in your stack ? .1 s ? What O.D Thanks Herb

I think a f4 and 929 weight close to the same . The shaft and the shock valve body(piston) seem to be identical, though the shims stacks are quite different. I have a 1100 lb spring and i revalved the shock my self. It's valving is close to he stock XX stack with allowances for the heavier spring. The ride is stiffer then stock, feels better , a little more controlled. Just putting in fresh oil can totally change the feel of the shock. I going to take some more compression damping out of the valving if i get a chance before spring. I'm thinking of trying more of a two stage compression stack but im not sure i want to deal with the complication. I just may remove one more shim from the valve face and give it a try. My xx shock wasn't worn out when i took it off. I was able to buy 3 f4i shocks for about 20 buck each off ebay last year. I have one as complete spare, one on my bike and one i nicked the air bladder on (losts of good parts left though) . You can't even by a new seal head for a shock for 20 bucks. I not claiming its better then a ohlins or penski or anything but i like it. YOu can still find almost mew f4i shocks around. The 900r shock are getting pretty old. If you use a 900rr shock it should be revalved and have the oil changed anyway.

Search under my handle, im running a home modded f4i shock ! http://www.cbr1100xxforums.org/forum/viewt...6625&highlight=

My traxxions 1.1s that just showed up are 315 mm long . My notes show that i am using a 130 mm spacer with the ractech springs so im sure there is room for the 315 long ones in there. I believe the longer spring will be straighter in it real rate (less progressive) then a shorter spring . Herb

I had heard the same thing, though they may vary from one run to the next .

What i meant to say was that the length of the spring has nothing to do with how much preload you need, assuming the long and short springs are the same rate. If you cut coils off of the spring the ratr goes up and this does effect the amount the preload you need (you need less preload) I think in practice cutting fork springs would not be that good of an idea as the flatning of the last coil would be an issure. If you use heat you will effect the rate of the other coils. You might be able flatten the last coil with a hammer and dolly if you really wanted to try .

Not all after market springs are longer, but if they are longer they will work for more applications most likely. I'm not really recommending cutting springs in a bike, but i was just trying toillustrate how they work. If they cut the spring they would also have so have to add preload or it would be softer. So lets say they do, where it becomes stiffer is near full compression? The length of the spring doesn't really effect the amount of preload needed , it does significantly effect the length of spacer your need to get that preload. As long as your still within the operating length the spring the rate of the spring wont increase that much when its getting close to fully comressed. Of courcs if the spring is too short and coils actually start touching the rate be infinit and then u have a problem. I found getting rid of some of the compression damping made the most improvement in ride quality. As for the merits of staight vs progressive rate springs that being going on for decades . Noe if cpould just find a way to 25kg of the rider part of my system everything would be good! :? I find this discussion much more interesting then dealling with my flooded laundry room. :helpsign:

traxxion has 1.2kg/mm in stock

As long as the spring has enough coils to not become coil bound (coils close to touching ) in the required distance of movement the length dosen't really matter as the spring is rated as whole not by each coil. BUT . If you take two identical springs, material ect. and put one on top of each other (end to end) the rating of the whole system will be halved. So if you put 2 1.0kg.mm springs end to and apply 1 kg load the system of 2 springs will move 2 mm as each spring still sees a 1kg load so you end up with a 1kg/2mm system = .5kg/mm system . So if you do something to a spring to decrease ist effective coils the rate goes up. One way to do this is cut coils off if there is stilll enough movement left. I have aways wondered about the use of some thing like the 'spring rubbers ' use by stock car racers to change the spring rate the pit stops. I'm thinking some thing could be machined ot out plastic or cast out of urathane that would fit inside the springs (between the damping rod and springs and extend into the space between the coils) , to effective eliminate a coil or two from the system and raise the rate of the spring. any thoughts ?????

I think somewhere with the race tech stuff it will give you an idea of the spacer length. The race tech springs may be a different length then the stock ones so the stock spacer might not work the best for you . My race tec springs came with 4 washers and there are washers already in the bike that sort of bracket the spacer. So just with the extra washers you can add about 6 or 8mm of preload if you cut the spacer short. (you could always get a few more some were they dont need to be anything that special) . Pulling the spacer out and changing should be a big deal as long as you have a way to take the weight of the front end. The race tech instructions that came with my valves were for an older bike so you should be fine. The compression bleed hole was moved from the valve to the shaft some where between the earlier and later models( i think it was changed with the fuel injection but i dont really know) If you have a newer bird you most likely don't want to drill the hole race tech tells you too in the gold valve. (i epoxied up the holes in the shaft as i had already install drilled the valves before some on on here set me straight). Make sure you get the extra parts from the racetech kit back and the stock parts as the shims can be hard to find in small quanities if you ever want to change your stacks later .

You could , but the oil runs out the bottom of the forkleg when you take out the bolt. I' m not that confident of not oiling my front wheel and tire and maybe brakes in the process. I have heard of it being done like you suggested using shields or something to keep the oil off of the wheel

Could it be done by working with the 2 triangular plates ? Maybe by redrilling them or making new ones . I think a link would cost more then a spring if you had to by one .

The thing is that someone could be the best tunner in the world, but the bike they are working with is 200 lbs more than that they are used to , and you don't have external adjuster s to fine tune the damping. they may not hit it right the first time either. I don't have any place local i trust and cann't be bothered taking the forks off and shipping them somewhere so i really didn't have much choice but to do it myself. The first time is took us about 6 hours to do the gold valve install, then after that i can alter the stack in about 2 hours. Half the work is taking off the front wheel, take out the bolt in the bottom of the fork leg, take off the cap and yank out the cartridge. (its messy but not hard)

But maybe not this time ..I just checked the 1997 fich , part number 12 called a damper is commonly refered to as a cartridge. Inside the cartridge is a rebound valve atached to the rod and compression vavle in bottom of the cartridge. you can't see them on the diagram because honda doesnt't want you you to take it a part . There is a couple of identations you have to drill out to get it apart and some peening to deal with to actually take the valves apart. There are some pics of valves in the useful threads section. The rod coming out of the cartridge is called a damper rod. This is totaly different then a damper rod fork where oil is forced through holes in a hollow rod also called a damper rod. The only sport bike i know that still uses a damper rod type suspension is a sv650 . I hope this helps a bit

Mabe im wrong , :oops: let me rephrase that .my 2002 has cartridges ...

I will keep you in mind when/if i decide to get rid of them. I kind of like having lots of parts around im not using just in case , it makes me feel ..um :? special or something

First off, the XX forks are cartridges. They are not damper rods.! Installing the gold valve or changing the shim stack for that matte is not the complicated if you follow the instruction that come with the valves. I had never done it before and i hadno trouble with the install, other then not sorting my shims correctly before i started. :? The complicated part is knowing what shim stack to use. The gold valves intructions give you good starting place for this . But what you want you bike to feel like to make it right for you might be totally or slightly different what your buddy the same weight wants/needs. I have changed he stacks in my front fork 3 times and i like it now but with the 1.1 kg springs im gettting i may need to add some more rebound. I want to be able to adjust the stacks myself so i have control . I think i can do a change in less then 2 hours now , that my forks have been apart and the peening and dimples have been removed . I like my goldvalves but if was doing it again now i would most likely change the springs and revalve using the stock valves. It would only cost a few bucks fo some shims to try and to revalve with the stock valves but you have to know what you want to change. The concept is simple, more damping add shim, less take one out. Getting to work like you want is an ART !! or Science mabe a bit of both !!! I don't pretend to know what im doing but i get by and everytime i work on my forks or shock i learn more . That my 2 cents anyway .... :banghead:

fixed measurements !

Right now 270 without gear , but usually by the summer i'm about 260 or so, hopefully 250 this year .. When I got the 1.0 thats all i could find , they seemed fine but once i got a stiffer rear spring set up last spring they started to feel soft .(I have racertech valves so i have less compression damping then stock) I almost bought the 1.2 this time them i could use 1.0 in one leg and a 1.2 in the other to get 1.1, But with the 1.1 i can get 1.05 with one 1.0 and one 1.1 . ( I know the what the 'armchair experts' say about unmatched fork springs , but road racers do it all the time) Herb

Traxxion dynamics has 1.0 ,1.1 and 1.2 kg/mm forks springs in stock if any of you 'big guys' are looking for em. I just ordered me a set of 1.1s I will most likely have my set of racetech 1.0 for sale in the spring once i verify i like the 1.1 s better Herb

Hey Mitch the dimension for the top od looks wrong sto me , it might be a typo, dont use ths numbers for anything till i check again tonight !!!! MY vernier fell apart !!!!!

top 51 id 76 od bottom 57 id 83 od free lenth 220 all in mm

What do you want to know about it ? I have one lying around i can measure if you like ? BTW what is the rating of the stock one ? Im using an 1100lb/in one now.

You are looking at the the real Viscosity of various suspension oils. The lower the number the thicker the oil. (the Viscosity index) columns. For example Silkolene Pro RSF(7.5) is 322 not much thiner then some of the 10w oils. It just tries to show how various fluids compare to each other .(look at the difference of all the oils of a given weight) . There is also stuff about temperature in the chart to that I don't really understand

Just to add to the mix the visocusity of oil is not he same across brands. 7.5 in one brand may be thicker then 10 for another brand. It might be a good idea to stick with oine brand when making changes so that at least your sure your actually going thicker or thiner. http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?for...7043&topicPage=