Did The 5mm Mod Today

FZ1riderNY

FZ1riderNY

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I'm off tomorrow and finally got a break from 13 straight days of rain here in NY so I figured I'd go downstairs and bring the forks up through the trees. I've been wanting to do it for a while but kept putting it off. I brought down my digital caliper to get an accurate reading and brought them through exactly 5.5mm's. I'm going to try it out tomorrow up to the Bear Mountain Wednesday night show. Believe it or not but tomorrow is the last of 2 nice days here. The weatherman is calling for rain from Thursday through next Monday. What the heck!!!

On a second note, I was checking out the front today and the 021 shows signs of light cupping. Lucky me! I have no vibrations or ill handling but I am going to keep an eye on it. I am looking to get a set of BT-016's soon anyway. It may be sooner than later.
 
FZ1riderNY said:
I'm off tomorrow and finally got a break from 13 straight days of rain here in NY so I figured I'd go downstairs and bring the forks up through the trees. I've been wanting to do it for a while but kept putting it off. I brought down my digital caliper to get an accurate reading and brought them through exactly 5.5mm's. I'm going to try it out tomorrow up to the Bear Mountain Wednesday night show. Believe it or not but tomorrow is the last of 2 nice days here. The weatherman is calling for rain from Thursday through next Monday. What the heck!!!

On a second note, I was checking out the front today and the 021 shows signs of light cupping. Lucky me! I have no vibrations or ill handling but I am going to keep an eye on it. I am looking to get a set of BT-016's soon anyway. It may be sooner than later.
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5.5mm additional? or total? Total recommended is 7mm from Traxxion Dynamics....

and on the cupping.... what pressure you running? A normal fix for taking care of cupping is to up the pressure a little bit.. either that, or quit braking so hard going into corners....
 
Can you please explain what the benefits are of doing this? How does it change the dynamics of the handling? Thanks!

I wish I had more vacation time... I'd head down there myself!
 
FZ1inNH said:
Can you please explain what the benefits are of doing this? How does it change the dynamics of the handling? Thanks!

I wish I had more vacation time... I'd head down there myself!
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I don't know if the measurement is same for the Gen 2.... you might have to look around on that one... but on the Gen 1, raising the fork tubes 7mm in the triple clamps effectively lowers the front of the bike, making turn-in faster... a little chance of weight distribution, and just a very very slight change in wheelbase... it's amazing the difference it actually makes on a Gen 1.
 
what about the GenII? Anyone got an answer? Now if I loosen all the bolts will the front just drop or will I have push it down through the triple clamps?
 
Don't loosen them all and you'll want the front off the ground. If you loosen them all the tubes will stay put and the bike will slide down them.
 
va_rider said:
5.5mm additional? or total? Total recommended is 7mm from Traxxion Dynamics....

and on the cupping.... what pressure you running? A normal fix for taking care of cupping is to up the pressure a little bit.. either that, or quit braking so hard going into corners....
Click to expand...

I went with 5.5 total. I have read posts that say at least 5mm and not more than 10mm so I wanted to start a little bit towards the lower limit. Now that I have a new set of hex sockets, changing higher or lower is a breeze.

Your right about braking hard in the corners. I have a bad habit of that which I really need to address. I run 36 up front all the time and 42 in the rear. At just under 240lbs. and also with my son, I keep the tires at their max psi.

One last question for you while I am at it. I just set up my suspension a week or so ago. Static sag first, followed by the basic setup according to Pat's Page. I went with the 240lbs + setup. The bike handles excellent now and I couldn't believe how far off it really was. My question is : Do I now have to set up for sag again or roll with what I have??
 
FZ1inNH said:
Don't loosen them all and you'll want the front off the ground. If you loosen them all the tubes will stay put and the bike will slide down them.
Click to expand...


Thats correct. I had the bike on the centerstand. I loosened the lower clamps first, alternating between one screw and the other. Once they were loose on both tubes, I just loosened the top clamps a little at a time. As you go from tube to tube, you'll see the tree start to lower on the tubes. I kept my hand on the top until I got to within range and then tightened the top and measured. It was tight enough to be able to adjust them correctly without having to hold them. Once the caliper read the correct measurement, I tightened the bottom clamps first, each screw a little at a time. Once both sides were tight, I checked the height again and then tightened the top clamps down. It takes longer to explain in writing than to actually do it. I don't know why I hadn't done it sooner. I'll give my observations tomorrow evening when I get home from the show.
 
FZ1riderNY said:
One last question for you while I am at it. I just set up my suspension a week or so ago. Static sag first, followed by the basic setup according to Pat's Page. I went with the 240lbs + setup. The bike handles excellent now and I couldn't believe how far off it really was. My question is : Do I now have to set up for sag again or roll with what I have??
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at 240 lbs, and if you ride with your son on a regular basis, you'll want to look at new springs at the very least. I'm betting if you're 240# without gear... fully geared up, you're looking at about 255-260#. I'd recommend some 1.05 kg/in springs up front, and probably a 650# spring in the rear... That'll make things a bit better...

You really can't use the guidelines from Pat's site... use this sheet: http://shaunsaxon.com/suspension-worksheet.pdf

set the sag again, and I think that you'll find that your stock suspension won't be within spec on the rider sag.... those crazy folks at Yamaha have the suspension set so if you're over 200#, it won't be right.... it's no big deal to replace the springs, and it's relatively inexpensive.... if you ride with a passenger the majority of the time, I'd go with a 700# spring on the rear, and 1.10's up front .. this'll give you a little adjustability for when you're carrying a passenger, and then you can just turn it back down when you're riding solo....

With stock suspension, you should have the front preload all of the way up, the rear preload all of the way up, and probably, to make it feel right, the front compression damping is cranked up, as well as the rebound... and same on the rear... it's a common mistake to use compression damping to take care of spring problems, but it shouldn't be done. If you're having excessive brake dive, or if the rear is wallowing... it's a spring problem... Unless you've ridden a bike with high-end suspension in the past, you might not know any different on this bike... but properly sprung, this is a very potent machine, with rather good suspension.
 
Thanks VA, I am actually going down now to the garage. The sun is bright and I don't want to waste the "day off" doing nothing. I already printed out the suspension page, thanks. Gonna see if Canonfuji(FZ1OA), can pass by to help with the sag settings again. I know he's got his BT-016's coming today so he may be busy with mounting. Thanks for all the spring and tech info. Gonna definitely look into the heavier spring for sure in the rear. As for the fronts, gonna have to wait for some cash flow. Gotta hit the road! Be back later. Thanks again. You Da Man.
 
Okay, I took the bike over to the Car/Bike show this evening. I wasn't able to reset the Sag setting yet but I'll give my results thus far. I was also riding two-up with my son.

My initial feeling was that straight line was a little quirkier than usual. Thats what I noticed right off the bat. I figured that something would be different anyhow so I was prepared. It wasn't a bad thing, it was just more noticeable than usual. I have to take into account that my son is figitty too. He can't stay still. Okay, now for the good parts. Steering is absolutely effortless now. And I am not just saying that. Slow sweeping turns, tight right and left handers, just touch the bars and she drops right in. Even changing lanes you can feel the difference. Push the right grip, your in the right lane in a snap. The number one change was the fact that after 120 miles with my son aboard, my forearms have absolutely ZERO discomfort. That in itself is a testament to this small modification.
Going up the mountain was a snap. The bike always felt planted on the road and it was wonderful to be able to push a little harder on a road that I know so well. Turns that I normally take at 40mph were now a breeze at 5 to 10mph over. Only because before I was always hard on the brakes at the entrance of the corner because I needed time (seconds) to muscle the bike over whereas now it turns much quicker, so that time is made up with additional speed, if you could understand what I am trying to say.
The best part is that this change is all happening with tires that are at just under 6,000 miles. I can't imagine when I have my new 016's on in a couple of weeks. All in all it was a great mod and I may go with VA's insight and even try 7mm's just to see how that works. The nice thing about this mod is that if you don't like it, you can just go back to what you had before.
 
and it's free.

but the 7mm isn't my recommendation... it's the recommendation of Lee at Traxxion Dynamics... they tried a bunch of different heights... and 7mm is what they found to be the best.
 
FZ1inNH said:
Can you please explain what the benefits are of doing this? How does it change the dynamics of the handling? Thanks!

I wish I had more vacation time... I'd head down there myself!
Click to expand...

Just like on the FZ6 with stock forks and Race Tech springs, if you slide the fork legs up in the triple clamp your bike will steer quicker; steeper rake mainly, lessor factors, lower CG, shorter WB.

The beauty is you can do this in a few minutes and then change it back to stock if you don't care for it. :Rockon:
 
So, would you recommend the same mod for a GEN II? I'm having the Busted Knuckle Garage Mod Fest in NH this Sat. We have several bikes appearing for various reasons.... Ought to be a great time and the grill will be searing animal flesh. (I didn't get to the top of the food chain to become a vegetarian.)
 
FZ1riderNY said:
Damn! I wonder how far New Hampshire is from the Bronx!:D
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Depends on how hard you twist that throttle. ;)

Come on up! :D This weekend's special is a Racetech Spring install, All Balls head bearings, dual headlight mod, fender hack job on an FZ6R, inner fairing powerlet install, and possibly a few others.

Garage opens at 10:30am and the grill starts at 12:30pm. :Rockon:
 
All for the mods, not the busted knuckles though.

I'll have to set static sag and then see what I can get away with b/c with the lower risers and SM2 bars, I don't have much room to play with before I hit the bars.

Adam
 
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