Observations on the Fork Mod

FZ1riderNY

FZ1riderNY

Moderator
i180.photobucket.com
Well I hope everyone had a great Father's Day. I myself had a blast. I got a call this morning from CanonFuji looking to get out for a ride. I checked the weather and although it was cloudy, it was pretty dry, so off we went. I have been wanting to get out solo to try out the bike on some twisties since lowering the forks. He wanted to try out his new Bridgestones. We got up to Bear Mountain about 11:45am and after a pit stop at the circle, we headed up the mountain. The bike handles like a completely different animal. Steering into the turns is effortless. I had to watch myself as I found myself correcting myself in mid-turn. I was still pushing as I had been doing before the mod, causing the bike to turn in too much. After about 6 turns, I got used to it and was fine from there on. Now I am no road racer by any stretch but Ray with his new Bridgestones and me on my 021's with just over 6,000 miles on them, couldn't pull away. I consistently stayed within 6 bike lengths the entire ride up to the peak. I really can't wait until I have my new set of tires in a couple of weeks. I highly recommend this modification to anyone looking to wake up the steering characteristics of the FZ1. I almost forgot to mention that unfortunately we had to ride 45 miles home in a torrential rain storm. Luckily we had already gotten a couple of runs in so it wasn't a total washout. So get out there and DROP THEM FORKS!! You'll Love It!
 
well, I almost put my raised links back on, which would give a similar feeling to what you are experiencing with the raised forks. But after putting the Pilots on, I'm gonna stay in the stock position a tad bit longer until I get used to the tires.

All I've wanted to do is get on the bike and ride.....guess I have to wait for Monday to do it.

Adam
 
BroHay said:
well, I almost put my raised links back on, which would give a similar feeling to what you are experiencing with the raised forks. But after putting the Pilots on, I'm gonna stay in the stock position a tad bit longer until I get used to the tires.

All I've wanted to do is get on the bike and ride.....guess I have to wait for Monday to do it.

Adam
Click to expand...

I hear ya Bro, with us now having rain probably 20 out of 22 days, I too just want to ride. Tomorrow is iffy, but the rest of the week looks good. I have a March Of Dimes Ride with Dee Snyder (Twisted Sister) on Sunday the 28th. It will be my second ride with a large group. Should be nice. An hour and a half ride, and then a BBQ and concert by Dee himself over in Haverstraw, NY. It's for the kids. I'll take video and pictures to post.
 
Glad you're enjoying it... I've actually forgotten what the bike used to handle like... I'm tempted to go out and change mine back to stock height... or... make it stock height in the front, and raise the rear 7mm or so (Really easy to do on the Penske... it's ride height adjustable...) .... make the change that way... which would give me a little more ground clearance.... but... I dunno... I might wait... it supposed to be sunny all week... I've got a Diablo Rosso on the rear with about 4k on it... I need to finish that thing off... will be tire # 5 so far this year!
 
Thanks VA, theres so much info here that one finds themselves drowning in it. I remember you mentioning it before somewhere around here, but after a fiew searches, not much popped up with numbers. I distinctly remember now you mentioning the magic #, but ....well thanks...
 
Lowering front vs raising rear

Hi Guys,

Just got on this site as I've purchased an '04 Gen 1. Flying to Vegas to pick it up and will be driving back to Ontario...can't wait!

Just a note to remind all that lowering the front is not the same as raising the rear. Although you may have the same affect on rake and trail raising the rear will also give you the beneift of increasing swing arm angle whilst lowering the front will do the opposite and reduce it. The stock FZ1 SA angle is a little on the flat side out back so raising the rear is a good thing.

Too flat a swing arm will cause the bike to squat under hard acceleration and the bike will push wide exiting a corner. Too steep an angle will cause the shock to practically lock out under hard acceleration causing the rear wheel to spin up exiting a corner hard.

At street pace this isn't really noticable however once you start turning up the wick you will notice the difference.

Note also that different diameter tires front and rear vs OEM (regardless of the size on the side) canhave similar affects on rake trail and SA angle.

Also recall that changng the dog bones out back will change the leverage ratio of compressing the spring making it a little more exponential when raising the rear, more linear when dropping the rear via this method.

Again raising the rear 25mm with aftermarket dog bones doesn't make a big diff on leverage ratio but it will change it a bit.

Just my two cents..

AB

PS If anyone knows of good routes from Vegas to Duluth Minnesota please pass on. Tx!
 
So I'm gonna make it clear ahead of time that I don't know much about suspension...

Now that that's clear, here's my stupid question...

What do you mean when you say Lowering the front?

Does that refer to lowering the triple clamps with regard to the ground (making the difference between the triple clamp and the top of the forks larger). OR is it lowering the forks with regard to the triple clamp (making the difference between the triple clamp and top of the forks smaller).
 
dodger06 said:
So I'm gonna make it clear ahead of time that I don't know much about suspension...

Now that that's clear, here's my stupid question...

What do you mean when you say Lowering the front?

Does that refer to lowering the triple clamps with regard to the ground (making the difference between the triple clamp and the top of the forks larger). OR is it lowering the forks with regard to the triple clamp (making the difference between the triple clamp and top of the forks smaller).
Click to expand...

Lowering the forks means to loosen the hold down bolts on the triple and let the forks rise up through them just about 5 to 8mm's. Then you lock them back in and your done. So your actually lowering the front of the bike by doing this. It seems to make "turn in" a lot quicker than having the forks level with the top triple tree. It doesn't take much and you have to make sure that you don't go too far. Definitely not past 9 or 10mm's. It seems that 5mm to 7mm is the going rate. Mine is set at 5mm and I like the change. Make sure not to over tighten the bolts.
 
FZ1riderNY said:
Lowering the forks means to loosen the hold down bolts on the triple and let the forks rise up through them just about 5 to 8mm's. Then you lock them back in and your done. So your actually lowering the front of the bike by doing this. It seems to make "turn in" a lot quicker than having the forks level with the top triple tree. It doesn't take much and you have to make sure that you don't go too far. Definitely not past 9 or 10mm's. It seems that 5mm to 7mm is the going rate. Mine is set at 5mm and I like the change. Make sure not to over tighten the bolts.
Click to expand...

Thanks! It makes sense, I just didn't understand the lingo. I think mine was lowered a little by the previous owner then, since my forks do not sit level with the triple clamps. I'll have to take some calibers out there and measure it once...
 
dodger06 said:
Thanks! It makes sense, I just didn't understand the lingo. I think mine was lowered a little by the previous owner then, since my forks do not sit level with the triple clamps. I'll have to take some calibers out there and measure it once...
Click to expand...

Also make sure that they are both lowered the same amount. I don't think 1mm off will make a difference, but more than a couple could lead to some "weird" handling.
 
NJFZ1 said:
Also make sure that they are both lowered the same amount. I don't think 1mm off will make a difference, but more than a couple could lead to some "weird" handling.
Click to expand...

Checked it last night with the calipers and they are both around 3.5 mm (measuring something like 3.47). Don't think I can drop them farther without changing my handlebar though. The adjusters are about to hit the bottom of the bar since it has a GYTR riser and Gen II bars on an 03. Think I'll look into that after my next bike payment (should only have 1 left after that!). Lookin at getting the Renthal Street Low bars.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top