onearmedbandit
9th January 2011, 20:29
I've had my K2 thou for a few years now, and over that time it's slowly had some 'modifications' made to it. Nothing too major, replaced the 6 pot calipers for some 4 pot Brembo's, Ohlins rear shock and steering damper, Yoshi EMS, adjustable rearsets, fancy levers etc etc. It's always kept me happy, more than enough bike for the road and a heck of a lot of fun on the track. After recent dyno work tuning the EMS with Red from Triple-R Superbike on St Asaph St, I was chuffed to have seen a 15hp gain, taking it to 159rwhp, and a huge dip in the torque curve at about 8000rpm obliterated. While there I talked to Red about getting the forks done, as it was an area I had so far missed. I was keen, but as far as I was concerned, there was nothing really wrong with them. Oh how wrong was I.
Red replaced the standard fork springs with Race Tech .95 springs, installed Race Tech compression valves, and fitted higher flow rebound valves. He also increased the air gap, and dumped the watery excuse for fork oil with nice new oil. We then set up the sag on both the front and rear, and from his experience adjusted the external clickers on both ends to give me a good base to work from.
And so today I took it out for it's first ride. The forks have been dropped 5mm further through the triple clamps to speed up the steering slightly, and with this and the other changes I noticed the bike definitely sat lower. With new rubber fitted about 60km ago (Pilot Pures) and pressures set, I along with my girl on her 600 and imdying on his thou headed out to a spot 30mins out of town. What a transformation! It now feels eager to enter corners, not that it didn't so much before but it took convincing, however now there is a definite eagerness. And when leant over, it asks for more, and feels rock solid. It's hard to explain, but suffice to say in comparison it feels like the front end was 'fighting itself' previously, whereas now it appears to be just left up to it's job, keeping the front wheel in check.
I talked to Red as I left his shop the other day about keeping this bike, but that I'd look to buy a new model some time soon. Forget that, I now look at this bike in a completely different light. So, if you're in Christchurch and riding an older bike, or even a newer one on stock suspension, you'll do yourself no harm by calling in and talking with Red. I only wish I'd done it earlier.
Red replaced the standard fork springs with Race Tech .95 springs, installed Race Tech compression valves, and fitted higher flow rebound valves. He also increased the air gap, and dumped the watery excuse for fork oil with nice new oil. We then set up the sag on both the front and rear, and from his experience adjusted the external clickers on both ends to give me a good base to work from.
And so today I took it out for it's first ride. The forks have been dropped 5mm further through the triple clamps to speed up the steering slightly, and with this and the other changes I noticed the bike definitely sat lower. With new rubber fitted about 60km ago (Pilot Pures) and pressures set, I along with my girl on her 600 and imdying on his thou headed out to a spot 30mins out of town. What a transformation! It now feels eager to enter corners, not that it didn't so much before but it took convincing, however now there is a definite eagerness. And when leant over, it asks for more, and feels rock solid. It's hard to explain, but suffice to say in comparison it feels like the front end was 'fighting itself' previously, whereas now it appears to be just left up to it's job, keeping the front wheel in check.
I talked to Red as I left his shop the other day about keeping this bike, but that I'd look to buy a new model some time soon. Forget that, I now look at this bike in a completely different light. So, if you're in Christchurch and riding an older bike, or even a newer one on stock suspension, you'll do yourself no harm by calling in and talking with Red. I only wish I'd done it earlier.