sun's out, forks dialed

Two days of sun after weeks of drizzle n crap. Got the forks from Mr Roper (Thank you Mr Roper) and spent a wet day fitting them. A couple of adapters for the front mud guard made up and in place, and 500 odd K's of test flights.
A bloody huge improvement over the showas.
Ripples at the apex?....meh..
So much more forgiving and less time weaving around the shitty patches in the goat tracks we have for back roads. Bliss..
Finding I am able to dial in the Wilbers at the rear more precisely as well.
Not a suspension expert but I have 10.5 turns from 15 of preload and 38mm dynamic sag, so maybe next spring up required...? or I lose some of my 100kgs   Having said that I haven't managed to bottom them out even under hard brakes so..    


[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Excellent. Glad they work well!

Were the Showa's you pulled off completely stock?  Or had they been tweaked a bit?

For the shock, when I did my research I came up with:

Source 1 - Bike sag = 11mm;  Rider sag = 27-33mm
Source 2 - Bike sag = 10mm;  Rider sag = 30-35mm
Source 3 - Bike sag = 3-5mm; Rider sag = 33-35mm
Source 4 - Bike sag = 10mm;  Rider sag = 30 mm

So if your rear sag is 38mm (you on bike vs. bike with no load) then yes that is too much.  Do you know the bike sag (or static sag) (weight of bike vs. bike with no load) ... basically how much it sags from it's own weight?  

You need both of those to figure out if the spring is a good range for you.

yeah sorry usedtobefast. Meant forks.
Ohlins FG8903's..I think from memory. Cant find them listed as a part number on the Ohlins site. I'm not certain which year they come off but they from a Tuono 1000, 2005ish. Possibly later models too. Managed to find a user manual with a pic that looks very much alike and the ex-factory settings are comp/rebound 12 click from closed and preload 8 turns.
8 turns preload is even more sag for me. Would like 25-30mm just for the extra travel potential. I think but without cranking the pre load up to max that ain't gonna happen. However seems 40mm is the upper limit, depending on where the advice comes from. 38mm seems to work on the road OK.
I have 8 clicks rebound and 10 compression set with 10.5 turns pre load gives me 35-38 rider sag front and feels balanced confidant.

Oh, duh! on my part! You are talking fork sag numbers.

If fork sag is a bit more more then "ideal" I think that is less bad than the rear. Sounds like you could go to a stiffer fork spring, but if the action is nice and the bike is handling great, why tweak it further.

Does it move around a bit too much? Meaning, you accelerate fairly hard, fork extends out, then you roll off throttle, squeeze brakes, front compresses down ... is that up & down motion "a lot"? Or seems normal?

To be honest it now feels good. Bike feels ..balanced.. if that makes sense. As I said, I haven't bottomed out and over long stretches of ripples in the road it doesn't seem to squat or stand up. Front certainly hasn't topped out under acceleration either. I Think I got rebound/damp pretty good. For my fat carcass anyway. Guess the test for the springs will be fully loaded with luggage etc. But then again, if I'm loaded up like that I tend to not use afterburners anyway, so..  

FG8903 was on my (RIP) '07 Tuono Factory...

A great fork, I miss not having them on the GRiSO, though the Showas aren't so bad.

Nice upgrade!

Just as an addendum to this if you want even more bling it appears that the adapters you made for the mudguard are identical to the ones I had to do for mine when I fitted the Sachs forks I use off an RSV4 with Matris inserts.

I found you can get an RSV4 front mudguard made from Carbon Fibre. Sure it's the ultimate 'Lipstick on a Pig' but who cares?

Pete

hi Leone, yeah they are a good fork. I think they were used on the RSV as well. I remember reading they were used on the 2010 model during my attempt to find info on them. Much more tune-able than the Showas. I found the Showas to be harsh and hard to get right. Unrefined..as they came from the factory. Seems a lot of folk drop cartridges into them or other modifications to get them right. I was considering Matris inserts before these came along.
Pete, funnily enough I did consider Aprilia front guard for a bit. Then gave myself an upper cut and made the adapters..besides, the wolf is starting to sniff around the front door again so I need to attend to that..must be my turn to win lotto by now surely..

It's just a bolt on right?
I was looking into that and talked to the US importer from NY at bike week a few years back.
He said they did a few swaps from Tuono twin bikes before they swapped to the V4 mills (pre 2011?) and I think he said they'd fit the GRiSO without mods.
Can't go wrong with Olhins product.

hi Grisonut,
No mate, not quite a straight fit. Need to machine out bottom yoke and shim top to suit Ohlins fork OD.  Not anything a competent machinist cant do. I got these from Mr Roper who had the work done. Looks pretty straight forward.
Also a small adapter for the rear mudguard mounts. Or obtain mud guard off a Tuano.

Damn it! Was hoping it'd be a straight shot...
The Tuono mud guard (non carbon fiber) was $320 US last time I checked...I'll pass.
Glad you have yours sorted.