upgrade fork springs or no?

[det5lonewolf]

My front end is hella squishy and the fork seals are leaking. The oil hasn't been changed out in 7 years.

Other than oil seals and dust seals, do I need to order slide bushings? Anything else?

Where is the cheapest place to buy said parts?

Where is the cheapes place to buy OEM brake pads?

What is the best way to go with oil? Weight? Brand?

Also, are aftermarket springs amazing or should I stick with stock?

Are 2004+ forks amazing?

Thanks in advance for answering my questions.

Unrelated questions:

How much are my Sato CF cans worth?

How much is my PC# USB worth?

Oil questions:

I was in a bind and had to buy Castrol motorcycle oil. I hate it. Shifting feels clunky and the bike went in between fifth and sixth twice yesterday. Gonna try Rotella. Hopefully i's as good as Motul or I'm gonna have to return 7 gallons of it LOL.



Thanks in advance,
Mike

[nd4spdbh]

Originally Posted by det5lonewolf

My front end is hella squishy and the fork seals are leaking. The oil hasn't been changed out in 7 years.

Other than oil seals and dust seals, do I need to order slide bushings? Anything else?

Where is the cheapest place to buy said parts?

Where is the cheapes place to buy OEM brake pads?

What is the best way to go with oil? Weight? Brand?

Also, are aftermarket springs amazing or should I stick with stock?

Are 2004+ forks amazing?

Thanks in advance for answering my questions.

Unrelated questions:

How much are my Sato CF cans worth?

How much is my PC# USB worth?

Oil questions:

I was in a bind and had to buy Castrol motorcycle oil. I hate it. Shifting feels clunky and the bike went in between fifth and sixth twice yesterday. Gonna try Rotella. Hopefully i's as good as Motul or I'm gonna have to return 7 gallons of it LOL.



Thanks in advance,
Mike

OK.... first thing... your PC3 USB is worth 20 bucks shipped... ill send you the money paypal ASAP naw you could get 250 +- 25ish.


As far as your front and new springs.... how much do you weigh... if your 165ish lbs or less... you might consider running with 25-30 more millimeter fluid height than stock spec... this will stiffen up the front to just about the right amount for up to a 165lb rider.

As far as the bushings, you will need to take apart the forks (which are VERY simple) to inspect the bushings.

As far as Oil i would go with maxima RACING fork oil (NOT the standard maxima fork oil)... 10w stuff.

And for buying parts... mrcycles.com or shop.thumpertalk.com .... looks like mrcycles has a slightly lower price.

And lastly... good choice on OEM brake pads... the stock honda OEM pads are the ONLY think i ever run on my honda motorcycles front... the rear ill price stuff out but the front oem pads have always provided the best stopping and life.

Oh and... rotella t pretty much kicks some seroius ass... both the 15w40 standard oil... and the 5w40 synthetic... once you go tella u never go back .

[andrewebay1]

If you have an 02 or 03, you might want to consider forks from a 04+ or F4/F4i ones to get some adjustments. You could buy some racetech or Traxxion springs for around $100 (specific for your weight, there's a calculator at racetech's site), which would be ideal. If you have the spending, get some valves too. But definitely go with a quality fluid at least (like Ohlins or similar) @ 10w if you just swap the seals.

Rotella is good stuff. The new bottles have the certification for use in wet clutch motorcycles (the old bottles were moto friendly also, but it wasn't official). Too bad it went from $13 to $14 for the gallon.

[beefsalad]

I moved to 10w when I did my seals, good schtuff. Now if only I could soften that rear up...

[det5lonewolf]

Hey guys thanks for responding. I weigh 180. I will add 30mm more fluid per fork and I will buy the Maxima 10w racing fork fluid tonight. If that doesn't make me happy I'll get either new springs or forkies...

More input. NEED MORE IMPUT!

[det5lonewolf]

oh, will one quart be enough if i add 30mm per fork?

[zaq123]

There is no easy or cheap fix for that.
If that would be so easy, all those Ohlins, Traxxion, RT, Dan Kyle and 100s of other suspension pros would be out of business.
Do it right the first time:

1)springs
2)if you can afford it, replace valves
3)oil height to fine tune your springs (3 mm at a time). As said above #1 is correct spring, 2nd - damper tuning (valves). You do not want a bogus oil height to effect the spring and damper tuning. In the last step in the general tuning of the fork, oil height will be raised, to support the bike under hard braking, only if necessary. Try to focus on how well the wheel tracks while hard braking. If it feels like the wheel is going ridgid, you may have to actually add oil. Like I said before, 3 maybe 5 mm at the time. I'd start with 130 mm.


To answer your other question, Stock is 155mm and uses ~31.6oz. You will need about 1L to go with 130mm oil height for both forks for a complete fluid change. Get 2qts just in case

[brian]

Originally Posted by det5lonewolf

My front end is hella squishy and the fork seals are leaking. The oil hasn't been changed out in 7 years.

Other than oil seals and dust seals, do I need to order slide bushings? Anything else?

Where is the cheapest place to buy said parts?

Where is the cheapes place to buy OEM brake pads?

What is the best way to go with oil? Weight? Brand?

Also, are aftermarket springs amazing or should I stick with stock?

Are 2004+ forks amazing?

Thanks in advance for answering my questions.

Unrelated questions:

How much are my Sato CF cans worth?

How much is my PC# USB worth?

Oil questions:

I was in a bind and had to buy Castrol motorcycle oil. I hate it. Shifting feels clunky and the bike went in between fifth and sixth twice yesterday. Gonna try Rotella. Hopefully i's as good as Motul or I'm gonna have to return 7 gallons of it LOL.



Thanks in advance,
Mike

Say word?

[nd4spdbh]

Originally Posted by zaq123

There is no easy or cheap fix for that.
If that would be so easy, all those Ohlins, Traxxion, RT, Dan Kyle and 100s of other suspension pros would be out of business.
Do it right the first time:

1)springs
2)if you can afford it, replace valves
3)oil height to fine tune your springs (3 mm at a time). As said above #1 is correct spring, 2nd - damper tuning (valves). You do not want a bogus oil height to effect the spring and damper tuning. In the last step in the general tuning of the fork, oil height will be raised, to support the bike under hard braking, only if necessary. Try to focus on how well the wheel tracks while hard braking. If it feels like the wheel is going ridgid, you may have to actually add oil. Like I said before, 3 maybe 5 mm at the time. I'd start with 130 mm.


To answer your other question, Stock is 155mm and uses ~31.6oz. You will need about 1L to go with 130mm oil height for both forks for a complete fluid change. Get 2qts just in case

the maxima racing fork oil comes in a 1L container... should be enough to do 2 full forks with 130-125mm of fluid height i had just a lil left over.

[mcromo44]

Originally Posted by det5lonewolf

oh, will one quart be enough if i add 30mm per fork?

From a previous post :

It's really a matter of stages :
1 Do nothing.
2 Make sure front end is straight and both sides squared up and parallel.
2 Set sag and adjust rebound adjustment as best possible.
3 Change fork oil to higher grade, not thicker, better quality.
4 Respring to suit your particulars, 919s being notoriously softly sprung.
5 Modify stock internal compression and rebound valving.
6 Fit aftermarket valves, be they Ohlins, Racetech or Traxxion
7 Fit aftermarket cartridges by Traxxion, one leg has external Compression adjustment, the other has external Rebound adjustment.
8 Graft on an upside down fork off another bike, likely an RC51. (some have put on 600 Honda SS front ends, but there seems to be way more interest in RC51 fronts on 919s than anything else on the basis of what I have seen so far on WT)

My 919 is Stage 6. (Racetechs)

The above is typical from lots of posts to different threads.

It wouldn't take long to sketch out a range of stages for the rear, then the entire matter is nicely framed and things can stem from that.

Back to your extra 30 mm of oil level height.
Depending on your particulars, this could be an improvement.
It won't make up for woefully inadequate front springs, if "stock" and "sporting" describe your situation.

[nd4spdbh]

Originally Posted by mcromo44

From a previous post :

It's really a matter of stages :
1 Do nothing.
2 Make sure front end is straight and both sides squared up and parallel.
2 Set sag and adjust rebound adjustment as best possible.
3 Change fork oil to higher grade, not thicker, better quality.
4 Respring to suit your particulars, 919s being notoriously softly sprung.
5 Modify stock internal compression and rebound valving.
6 Fit aftermarket valves, be they Ohlins, Racetech or Traxxion
7 Fit aftermarket cartridges by Traxxion, one leg has external Compression adjustment, the other has external Rebound adjustment.
8 Graft on an upside down fork off another bike, likely an RC51. (some have put on 600 Honda SS front ends, but there seems to be way more interest in RC51 fronts on 919s than anything else on the basis of what I have seen so far on WT)

My 919 is Stage 6. (Racetechs)

The above is typical from lots of posts to different threads.

It wouldn't take long to sketch out a range of stages for the rear, then the entire matter is nicely framed and things can stem from that.

Back to your extra 30 mm of oil level height.
Depending on your particulars, this could be an improvement.
It won't make up for woefully inadequate front springs, if "stock" and "sporting" describe your situation.

ya for your weight OP... its optimal to get new springs as adding oil wont get you to the right spring rate.... in my case being that i weigh 160lbs + - 5lbs adding the 30mm of oil height along with some good quality 10w oil made things MUCH better up front... now if only it was so easy for the rear.

But if you have to replace the seals, and dont feel like spending the money on new springs... replacing with 30 more mm good quality 10w fluid will definitely be better than leaving it stock.