I think I'll enjoy my bike a lot more now.
Posted 10-26-2010 at 05:58 AM by beefsalad
After replacing the fork seals, per the factory service manual, I have been pretty much happy with the bike with the 15w vs 10w oil, but things still felt a bit soft to me. I turned an adjuster here or there and tightened up the front a bit and loosened up the rear to make it handle and feel better to me. Alas, the front end just seemed like it was really soft. In hind sight (as I'm working on the bike) I never bothered to reset the front to factory settings. Holy crap, how did I ever ride this bike with any confidence in it? I can't say I ever bottomed out the suspension, but I certainly came close a few times. I was all the way loose on the front pre-load, and mostly soft on the dampening. I whipped out TFM a little while ago and went to work setting it back to 'stock' settings. Before I could leave the driveway I could tell already that the front end was a lot closer to where it needs to be for my style of riding. I look forward to the day (this weekend?) when I get the chance to really dial things in. I suspect my hooliganism in the corners will improve considerably with the changes already made, might as well go full-hooligan and get it dialed all the way. Unfortunately I've got 3 months until I get off of probation for my most expensive oil change.
Total Comments 3
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I'm a lot more happy with the way she handles these days (got in a couple hour spirited ride today.) The only thing that's seems to bother me now is since I moved the rear pre-sag up a click (how it comes from the factory) it seems I break traction in the back a lot easier .When I'm breaking traction in the back I think I should be getting the front wheel up with my riding position, as I'm back all the way in the saddle, back is straight, slightly hunched over with bent wrists. I've tried leaning back all the way but the back still gets squirrley. Granted, when I tried leaning back my tires were still "cold" and probably a bit dirty at that point. Regardless, it's probably a good thing that I'm only sliding instead of popping the wheel up, I'm a lot less likely to turn full hooligan that way
I'll put another couple tanks of gas or so in the hill country before I decide to change anything else. The only exception will be if I check the sag and it's not where it needs to be. It certainly seems as though the 9er was built for 2 in the back, or atleast 1 fat person. Certainly not my lightweight ass.Posted 10-28-2010 at 05:50 PM by beefsalad 
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Wondering now if dropping the forks 10mm has anything to do with the lack of getting the front end in the air. Maybe I'll undo that mod and see how she behaves.
Some cager tonight was nice enough to wave me through a stop sign even though he had the right of way, as I start to take off he gives the 'pop a wheelie' sign, I gave it a whack and once again just tail-spin.Posted 10-31-2010 at 12:17 AM by beefsalad
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I dropped the back spring to the lightest possible setting yesterday, took it for a bit of a spin this afternoon to blow of some steam (work event had me fuming fuckin mad to say the least.) I took it to a nice fresh parking lot by one of the new football stadiums where there was little in the way (other than the insane amount of curbs they put up) and played around a bit. No squirrelly ass for a change. Unfortunately I was wearing my cool weather gloves that are a bit too big for me, so clutch control sucks. I managed to get the front end up a few times, but that was more the gloves fault than my intention (gloves pulled away from fingers, lever slipped out, front end came up.) I also noticed that, as I expected, my body position for hooliganism sucks. When I either get a wrist full or dump the clutch I'm leaning forward. What can I say, looping my only running ride scares the shit out of me. Hell, even if I had 2 running bikes the last thing I need is 500lbs of bike (and however much force it takes to loop 500lbs) landing on top of me. While I have yet to break a bone, I have a feeling it'd easily crush me.
Posted 11-13-2010 at 09:02 PM by beefsalad
