Front Suspension Upgrade - FZR

something I noticed also was the fact that the front end is downright soft.

When I rebuilt my forks, afterwards I noticed if I have the brake on and shove them down I get a clack clack noise with the spring flicking the inside the upper stanchion.

Putting thinner springs in there would possibly make the forks noisy/noisier...

BTW they wont fit onto the damper rod upper cleanly - there is a perfectly matched contact patch - same width and diameter and you may find the same for the washer in the upper end between the spring and the spacer

Personally I'd fit stiffer springs altogether, I did read somewhere the higher spring rates that make the 400 handle better - those recommended upgrade springs were also linear, not progressive

 

Most Jap domestic market bikes are sprung and damped too soft.
I have used springs slightly smaller diameter (1mm to 2mm) without problem.
Linear rate springs are best for race track. Progressive is best for the road.

 

quick dirty solution is thicker oil as the oil hole is probably weak.also add some teflon. standard fork oil is either 5w or 10w.

 

Yes. Emulator valves work very well too.

 

XS1100 heavy duty. You won't need any oil because it will not move.

 

XS1100 weighs 250kg. I used to assemble them for the Cycle Spot in Sydney.
They were very very heavy.

 

The truly sad thing is I disassembled mine an entire second time thinking something was amiss with my re-assembly the first time - till I thought about the possible causes.

It's not your headstock bearings as mine are completely free of any play or any notchiness.

One less ting to worry about, good practice to check your headstock bearings, but they're not noisy - be happy

 

Yes just the spring and spacer.

I didn't measure my springs either as I considered that I would likely replace the forks entirely at some stage.

Murdos concept of using some valve springs seems interesting and worth condiseration

 

Also the Japanese market likes very soft, underdamped suspension.
I have compared damper rods from the TZR250 but the Japanese domestic model had 4 compression damping holes instead of two and also larger rebound holes.
When I fitted the Gold Valves in the FZR250 3LN forks in my R1-Z I welded up the rebound holes and redrilled them smaller.

 

Just a quick note on the Yamaha part numbers - I've found that using any part number as a search string without the model prefix will yield erroneous results because the numbers by themselves designate that particular part across many (every) different model(s).

It's only when you put the prefix in front that you get meaningful results, because then it becomes that particular part for specific model(s).

peace out

 

I bought fork seals yesterday thinking that the soft front end just needed oil / rebuild not knowing the bikes history, but sounds like it's probably ok, she does handle pretty good & the rear matches the front for soft, the whole bike depresses evenly the way it is, I'd expect stiffening up the front end youll overpower the rear & lose rear grip, nasty in the wet.