650 V-Strom forks

[Snails pace]

Yeah Scott from Mr Motorcycles Pukekohe said to have a chat with you. Do plan to get round to it

[TimeOut]

Mine does it as well though not that often.

Could it be that they are dual purpose and it needed to be a bit softer at slow speed for off road.

I'd be interested in the cost for the upgrade.

[Robert Taylor]

Mine does it as well though not that often.

Could it be that they are dual purpose and it needed to be a bit softer at slow speed for off road.

I'd be interested in the cost for the upgrade.

Actually its often counterintuitive or to put it another way soft isnt always soft! If it is too soft at low speed fork movements and also undersprung ( which it is ) the forks both ride too low in their stroke and blow through their stroke too readily. Thereby arriving at the more compressed part of spring travel too readily where there is also rather less travel available, when in fact there should be more travel left, given effective damping control. Ally those shortcomings with another, too much high speed damping. You then have a recipe for a harsh riding set of forks when you ride over bumps that attempt to deflect the forks at high velocity. In the end event those forks are very much built to a price ceiling, as are many makes and models within such a market sector.
God I hope that didnt say too much like an excerpt from ''Yes Minister''
PM me for pricing.

[V-Stromer]

Right, I've had the work done and I'm very, very pleased with it!

Crown Kiwi and Robert Taylor supplied my Suzuki dealer, McIver and Veitch in Dunedin, with the necessary parts and very detailed information about how to set the forks up.

The good news is that the crashing and clanging is completely gone- yippee! Although I hadn't been critical of the forks' performance previously (just the noise) I now realise just how poor the OE spec forks were. I have ridden the bike over familiar roads to allow a direct comparison. The forks now give me much greater confidence on poor road surfaces. It holds a line much better with less crashing into potholes or over corrugations. It now seems that bad road surfaces would overwhelm the OE spec whereas the RaceTech upgrade is on top of the job. I found myself riding quicker over these roads than with the OE spec yet felt much more comfortable- a sure sign that the front end is performing much better.

The bike seems less prone to moving round under a strong side wind too. Someone may be able to explain how the fork upgrade would effect this aspect.

The only downside is that the forks are less plush at slow, tootling round town speeds and you tend to feel surface irregularities more at these speeds. But that is a small price to pay for much superior performance at open road speeds and much more confidence-inspiring control on poor roads.

I thoroughly recommend this upgrade. I have yet to receive the account for the work but doubt I will be seeing much change out of a grand. However, I believe it is worth it to significantly improve the handling (and therefore safety) of the bike. Much better value than spending the same amount on, say, an aftermarket muffler too.

[Dino]

Nice write up there V-stromer, fantastic that you have seen such a big benefit out of the work you had done.
.

[Robert Taylor]

Right, I've had the work done and I'm very, very pleased with it!

Crown Kiwi and Robert Taylor supplied my Suzuki dealer, McIver and Veitch in Dunedin, with the necessary parts and very detailed information about how to set the forks up.

The good news is that the crashing and clanging is completely gone- yippee! Although I hadn't been critical of the forks' performance previously (just the noise) I now realise just how poor the OE spec forks were. I have ridden the bike over familiar roads to allow a direct comparison. The forks now give me much greater confidence on poor road surfaces. It holds a line much better with less crashing into potholes or over corrugations. It now seems that bad road surfaces would overwhelm the OE spec whereas the RaceTech upgrade is on top of the job. I found myself riding quicker over these roads than with the OE spec yet felt much more comfortable- a sure sign that the front end is performing much better.

The bike seems less prone to moving round under a strong side wind too. Someone may be able to explain how the fork upgrade would effect this aspect.

The only downside is that the forks are less plush at slow, tootling round town speeds and you tend to feel surface irregularities more at these speeds. But that is a small price to pay for much superior performance at open road speeds and much more confidence-inspiring control on poor roads.

I thoroughly recommend this upgrade. I have yet to receive the account for the work but doubt I will be seeing much change out of a grand. However, I believe it is worth it to significantly improve the handling (and therefore safety) of the bike. Much better value than spending the same amount on, say, an aftermarket muffler too.

Thanks for that, As the saying goes ''ignorance is bliss'' and many are skeptical about just how much well executed suspension mods can effect to motorcycles ( and cars ) That is until they experience it firsthand.Those that knock such expenditure and committment usually do so from a position of either no experience of same, less than perfect execution of such work or for their own perverse pleasure subscribe to knocking those who aspire to improving things. ''The best youve ridden is the best you know'' and frankly a lot of what people are riding around on is abysmal, often bordering on dangerous and unacceptable in this day and age of supposed progress.