My new FZ8

**Maha** · 5th October 2011, 15:43

Originally Posted by Robert Taylor

Nice play on words guys using terms used in suspension speak. Earlier today I apologised for my devoid of diplomacy first post on this thread, but it wasnt accepted.
But I still forthrightly maintain that the rebound control in the front forks is seriously deficient on this model ( every bike has deficiencies whether we put up with it or not) and Id lay money on it that worldwide more than a few of these have already made it to a suspension shop for rectification.
In spite of all the abuse and ridicule I am prepared to put my money where my mouth is and prove the point. Perhaps as early as late next week I will be recieving our new state of the art shock and fork dyno and will be busy theronin accumulating a graphical database of known excellent compression and rebound damping force curves. At that point I am then offering to cure the rebound issue on Mahas forks COMPLETELY AT MY COST AND IN MY OWN TIME. Once proven I will then happily accept apologies from the naysayers in the same spirit that I offered an apology.

Thank you for the generous offer but I wont accept something that is offered for free and comes with a proviso.
I will however apologise for a few choice words used in a previous post.

**Pussy** · 5th October 2011, 16:20

Originally Posted by nodrog

Depends on how far you would like to take your apology?

Mmmmmmmfffff..... slurp!

**James Deuce** · 5th October 2011, 16:24

Originally Posted by Maha

Thank you for the generous offer but I wont accept something that is offered for free and comes with a proviso.
I will however apologise for a few choice words used in a previous post.

If you don't want it, can I have it? I have a project that needs some work.

**Maha** · 5th October 2011, 16:31

Originally Posted by James Deuce

If you don't want it, can I have it? I have a project that needs some work.

Fill ya boots...
Let me tell you something Jim.
My riding of late is not exceeding 100kph.
At times, I will get up 110-120 and when I feel like and its nice and straight I may hit 150 for about 5-6 seconds..
Thats my style of riding.
The suspension on the Yamaha can well cope with that wouldn't you agree?
I get the feeling that most on here assume that everyone rides outside thier comfort zone thus the need for race spec everything bla bla.
I dont need it...I have said time and time again but it falls on deaf ears.

**sil3nt** · 5th October 2011, 16:51

Originally Posted by Maha

Fill ya boots...
Let me tell you something Jim.
My riding of late is not exceeding 100kph.
At times, I will get up 110-120 and when I feel like and its nice and straight I may hit 150 for about 5-6 seconds..
Thats my style of riding.
The suspension on the Yamaha can well cope with that wouldn't you agree?
I get the feeling that most on here assume that everyone rides outside thier comfort zone thus the need for race spec everything bla bla.
I dont need it...I have said time and time again but it falls on deaf ears.

You seem to be under the impression that Robert only does race spec suspension or suspension for riding over 100kph on twisty roads.

But your bike you do whatever you want. Looks bloody awesome i wish i could afford one.

**nallac** · 5th October 2011, 16:58

i'd take up the offer Maha....even for just the off chance it may save your ass. never hope it has to but shit happens.

**Robert Taylor** · 5th October 2011, 17:24

Let me elaborate and also more detail of what I would have proposed, as I have been refining the nuts and bolts of it in my head through the day, instead of responding quickly with less refinement.

1 ) It is a common misconception that our focus is to solely build suspension for people to ride faster. I guess that is a fair enough misconception given that we have a huge presence in road racing in New Zealand and our parent company ( Ohlins ) is the leading company in technology and success with upper echelon racing worldwide.
BUT, in fact the very greatest part of our business is to re-spec and tune suspension for everyday road riders who dont ride at warp speeds everywhere and in fact are seeking both improved suspension control and ride compliance. I.e better ability to absorb those nasty bumps that our roads serve up with some regularity but without the suspension also acting like a ''wobbly jelly''.
In fact the greater part of Ohlins business is to build shocks for everyday road bikes such as Bandits, Hornets, Harleys, metric cruisers etc etc to deliver those benefits. As the NZ distributor our job is to make those products available to the general public but also to refine the set-up to best suit local road conditions and customer preference.
For the most part I believe we are successful in doing so and have sincere intentions to keep our customers happy beyond just accruing income from the initial sale

2) Simplistically if you have damping that is too fast (e.g rebound return) it can in some ways actually be more noticable as a problem at regular speeds because there is more elapsed time occuring between each obstacle in turn that is compressing the suspension and thereafter having a rebound cycle. If you travelling forward at a higher velocity you need faster recovery time anyway, back to standard dynamic ride height.

3) If anyone that is genuinely interested in this thread ( beyond senseless ridicule ) can go and find an FZ8 push briskly on the front end ( without applying the brake ), watch it return and note the fact that it aftercycles quite noticably, rather like an old Cadillac car. No bike should do that, nor any vehicle. If the rider is ok with that then thats fine but there are positive benefits in sorting that out and absolutely no negatives

I guess like the phrase used in some TV ads of recent ''know me before you judge me'' Like anyone Im not perfect and a character flaw is an occassional tendency to be tactless but with no intention to get peoples hackles up.

The intention of offering a FOC upgrade is to put my money where my mouth is, to prove the point of what I asserted.

As follows

1)The owner either sends me the forks to upspec or if amenable to the idea he rides to New Plymouth so we can do it inside the space of 60% of a working day. Perhaps combined as a stopoff with a trip that passes through that part of the country in the near future. Having the bike ensures we can optimise and set it up to the nth degree and completely to the customers satisfaction.

2) Whilst he is here we can convey him into New Plymouth which in recent years has become a destination as its a really great place to visit. The ride here through the Awakino valley and further southwards offers some of the very best motorcycling roads in the country. We pick him up as the bike is nearing ready. In fact we do this for every customer that comes to our workshop and we have had customers from as far north as Northland and from Christchurch

3) We then get the customer to ride the bike to note the difference in stability. If he is dissappointed with it ( highly unlikely ) we revert it back to the standard setting. Thats no big deal on the FZ8 as it only involves one fork and is very easy to do

4) We as part of the job do a measure and setup on the stock rear shock

5) As our new shock and fork dyno will be fully up to speed at that time we will dyno the forks before and after to record a graphical representation

6) Very transparently the whole process will be published here on Kiwibiker so that all those genuinely interested can see what its all about

ALL COMPLETELY FOC.

Provisos? I said apology but in fact I see that has been taken care of and I had a couple of far worse abusive statements from a couple of circling sharks involved in the feeding frenzy! The customer just posts his own findings exactly as HE sees it.

**Maha** · 5th October 2011, 19:02

Thank you Robert..
The time and energy you have spent on this issue is to be commended.
That is a pretty awesome post.
It shows integrity.
Hopefully my pm to you spelled out my current position.

**geoffm** · 5th October 2011, 20:34

Originally Posted by Maha

Fill ya boots...
Let me tell you something Jim.
My riding of late is not exceeding 100kph.
At times, I will get up 110-120 and when I feel like and its nice and straight I may hit 150 for about 5-6 seconds..
Thats my style of riding.
The suspension on the Yamaha can well cope with that wouldn't you agree?
I get the feeling that most on here assume that everyone rides outside their comfort zone thus the need for race spec everything bla bla.
I don't need it...I have said time and time again but it falls on deaf ears.

I am an Olde Pharte on the road, but in conjunction with some work across the road (so work paid for the gas for the trip), RT did the fork springs in the SV. I would have considered the shock, but budget cuts and having the Missus in the camper stopped that :-)
I promised RT a proper review but haven't gotaroundtuit, but in short, it is a budget upgrade well spent, and if anything (on this bike) it is more noticeable at low speeds than high. It won't turn you into Rossi, but it was a noticeable difference.
Hint for new players - if you don't want a frosty look, don't let the missus hold onto the receipt while you load the bike...

Geoff