KTM exc 250 clicker settings for heavy rider?

[Furyos J]

Hi all,
ive just replaced my cr250 with a exc250 and am taking her out for its first ride this weekend. I can see that at over 95 kgs i am too heavy for the stock suspension. I have purchased a racetech p30 rear spring that i will install tonight, and i see from racetechs website that i need .48kg front springs, but i cant afford to order the front springs untill next months payday. Is there any thing i can do with the clicker settings to make the stock fork springs perform better for my weight untill i can afford the new springs? Will having the heavy rear spring transfer weight onto the forks?? I also see in the WP booklet it says to ONLY use WP fork oil, is that true, or can i use any brand fork oil??
Thanks
J

[Robert Taylor]

Hi all,
ive just replaced my cr250 with a exc250 and am taking her out for its first ride this weekend. I can see that at over 95 kgs i am too heavy for the stock suspension. I have purchased a racetech p30 rear spring that i will install tonight, and i see from racetechs website that i need .48kg front springs, but i cant afford to order the front springs untill next months payday. Is there any thing i can do with the clicker settings to make the stock fork springs perform better for my weight untill i can afford the new springs? Will having the heavy rear spring transfer weight onto the forks?? I also see in the WP booklet it says to ONLY use WP fork oil, is that true, or can i use any brand fork oil??
Thanks
J

Clickers slow down or speed up the ''rate of change of position''. The danger of going inwards on the clickers to compensate for ( effectively ) too light a spring rate is that you will make the forks lazy and non responsive.
What I would do as a temporary ''fudge'' is to raise the oil level a wee bit so that you get a more progressive action. It will firm up more so in the last 50% of the stroke and give you better bottoming out resistance. To make this interim quick fix as cost effective as possible just get a 10ml syringe, loosen one top cap at a time and inject 20 mls of oil into each leg. This will give a decent interim result and save you spending any more money than you need to until you can afford the full fix.
With respect to oil absolutely stick to the WP oil which I believe may be Putoline. If you give Mark Patterson at Patterson Oconnor motorcycles in Rotorua a call he will verify what it is and which viscosity oil to use.
Unless you start with a COMPLETELY dry rebuilt fork set ( including the cartridges ) it is very wise not to mix different brands of oil. If you pump all the oil out without stripping the forks it is very surprising how much oil is still left inside the forks, trapped inbetween the inner and outer tubes and many entrapping pockets inside the cartridges.
Different brands of oil and therefore chemical composition often react against one another and can leave a gummy residue that is difficult and time consuming to remove. We of course rebuild forks day in and day out and see this issue more than frequently.

[Furyos J]

Thanks heaps for the advice. I will get new springs as soon as i can