CKT Racetech fork overhaul/upgrade

[Robert Taylor]

I'll try it with less preload first, see if that helps. Before the commute this morning, I wound it off one turn and it felt a little more supple, unless I was imagining things. If it's not too wet at lunchtime, I'll do a quick loop in the country and see how it goes.
It doesn't help that I've got a random misfire I'm trying to track down, so I'm having to work out what is suspension and what is engine, but yesterday the lurchy ride was definitely suspension.
Heh... gave some tard a nice wakeup call yesterday. I was on the motorway at Spaghetti Junction, and he stuck his indicator on to change lanes, but didn't do a head check. So... there I was, right next to his door, leaning on the horn button. The Fiamms gave him a hell of a fright.

I have just twigged what is going on here. When you sent the forks to us it already had Race Tech springs in it ( .95s ) that you had obviously selected off the Race Tech search but very often their recommendations are too aggressive. But everyone is different, a rider of the same height and weight as you may hop on the bike and love the feel of it.
But given what you say it is almost certain that you need to go down in spring rate to 9s to get the extra compliance you are looking for. Send me an e-mail, we may be able to do a friendly exchange as whats in it currently will be useful to me.
There is a message here that I am happy to brazenly state, local puchase, local backup....

[vifferman]

I have just twigged what is going on here. When you sent the forks to us it already had Race Tech springs in it ( .95s ) that you had obviously selected off the Race Tech search but very often their recommendations are too aggressive.

Actually, they're Sonic Springs, but their spring rate calculator seems based on the Racetech one, and I thought at the time maybe 0.95s were one grade too firm. I'd hoped the overhaul and revalving would somehow miraculously fix things.
Before the overhaul, I'd been running with less preload to compensate for the shitty front end.

There is a message here that I am happy to brazenly state, local puchase, local backup....

It's one I'd endorse too, now that I have the wisdom that comes from experience, after taking the seemingly more expedient/cheaper route of giving in to the lure of the goodies on offer over Teh Interdweeb.

I must make it perfectly clear (which it probably isn't from the last couple of posts) that I have no beef with Robert Taylor or CKT. They've done a sterling job with my forks. I opted for a budget approach, and bought a rear shock as part of an American VFR forum group buy, which 'saved' me $250 on what it would have cost if I'd purchased a custom-fettled Ohlins from CKT. The 'savings' were then spent on springs and fork oil.
If I'd been able to justify taking my bike to CKT and getting Robert to sort the whole thing (which I may have to do anyway), I'm positive it would be perfectly set up for me and the riding I do.
Now I'm having to backtrack a bit and get Robert to sort stuff I could've got him to do straight off.

[vifferman]

Got my forks back yesterday morning, after them languishing for nearly a week at CKT from when I rushed them down by courier to get them fixed before Robert went to Sweden.
Threw a few more ShekelDollars at them, and they now have 0.90 kg/mm Ohlins springs, rejiggety shim stack and valving (I'm just guessing here - I have no idea), and new SuperDuperSpecialSlippery Ohlins fork oil to replace the fortnight old stuff. The new oil is presumably made from the finest Afghani Lesbian Baby FurSealPenguinWhales (cold pressed, of course). It'd have to be, wooden tit, at more'n $50/litre ?

Alas (alack!) I'm so freakin' tired this morning that I couldn't trust my increasingly crappy mechanicking skills to a wet-weather communt in Friday traffic, so I've no idea how the New! Improved! Now with fresh oil and added Ohlins! forks comport themselves, but I will report back when I get a chance. (I know you're all waiting anxiously for the next exciting instalment....)

[Owl]

Yeah, so hurry up!

[vifferman]

Awrighty... so I hurried (albeit in a languid sort of way, giving the impression there was no haste whatsoever).
Today I couldn't stand being stuck inside, and the Mutant Toglodyte Spawn + SemiRetard Friend all talking loudly at the same time, so I gridded my lions and hastened forth (fifth, even!) into the world.
"Crikey!" thought Myself (or non-word thoughts to that effect) "This is a rather soft-feeling feeling these here New! Improved!! Now with Extra Plushness and 3 vitamins!! forks have.
Comfy but. (And comfy butt).
Feels a bit more vagurerer than they did - less "sharp edeged weapon" like, and more "blunt trauma weapon in a sock".
Well... not treeely. But definitely different.
After a few killer meters, I got used to it, and headed for somewhere I was sure there'd be Shitty Roadsurfaces, and sure enough, there were.

Good, goood...
Yup, muchly improved, and More Betterer.
But (however!) the rear shock needed some dialing in, so I picked a length of road, and rode it 5 or so times, each time adjusting this thing or t'other, until I thinked it was better, but mostly got more confused.

Ach wheel...

So I retraced my path from the other week, albeit in reverse fashion, and discovered that things were indeed Much Improved. Not at all tiresome or annoyingly jiggly.

Many thanks to the techs at CKT.

Now... I've just gotta work out how to calibrate my arse so I can use it to dial in my rear shock, properly.
Or, alternatively, borrow someone else's calibrated arse.

[Robert Taylor]

Awrighty... so I hurried (albeit in a languid sort of way, giving the impression there was no haste whatsoever).
Today I couldn't stand being stuck inside, and the Mutant Toglodyte Spawn + SemiRetard Friend all talking loudly at the same time, so I gridded my lions and hatened forth (fifth, even!) into the world.
"Crikey!" thought Myself (or non-word thoughts to that effect) "This is a rather soft-feeling feeling these here New! Improved!! Now with Extra Plushness and 3 vitamins!! forks have.
Comfy but. (And comfy butt).
Feels a bit more vagurerer than they did - less "sharp edeged weapon" like, and more "blunt trauma weapon in a sock".
Well... not treeely. But definitely different.
After a few killer meters, I got used to it, and headed for somewhere I was sure there'd be Shitty Roadsurfaces, and sure enough, there were.

Good, goood...
Yup, muchly improved, and More Betterer.
But (however!) the rear shock needed some dialing in, so I picked a length of raod, and rode it 5 or so times, each time adjusting this thing or t'other, until I thinked it was better, but mostly got more confused.

Ach wheel...

So I retraced my path from the other week, albeit in reverse fashion, and discovered that things were indeed Much Improved. Not at all tiresome or annoyingly jiggly.

Many thanks to the techs at CKT.

Now... I've just gotta work out how to calibrate my arse so I can use it to dial in my rear shock, properly.
Or, alternatively, borrow someone else's calibrated arse.

Thanks for that! As illuminated via e-mail I think its likely that the Elka shock is overdamped or oversprung or both. When they first entered the market they built ATV shocks only and they suffered from over aggressive settings as delivered. The ''bones'' of these are not too bad, but like any shock absorber ( including my beloved Scandinavian brand ) they are only as good as the settings are for the road conditions they are used in.Thats where a full understanding of the local market and local backup comes into play. Although given that a lot of the technology in these shocks is a close copy of Ohlins recalibrating the settings should not be too difficult ( I have the inside story and have spoken to the guy that started all this )
An interesting reason why these are built in Canada is that they get financial assistance from the Canadian Government, the Elka project first hatched in the USA.

[vifferman]

After doing more riding, the Elka doesn't seem too bad (although I've a suspicion you may be right about oversprung/overdamped - if so, it's not humungously so). I'm also starting to get used to the front end being more plush and less precise as far as steering input is concerned, than it was in its previous incarnation.
Might have to go for a blat this afternoon and see how it fares.