suspension upgrades b1250 do it once do it right

First topic message reminder :

a topic overed many times but im finding I have to wade through lots of posts.
issue is I have a 07/8 b1250s 21,000km that is a daily rider but will also use it for two up riding on weekends.
everyone agrees the stock suspension is poop and can do with upgrading.
question is what do I do so I only have to raise a spanner once to upgrade it and only open the wallet once to buy the parts needed.
im largely happy with the height of the bike, even maybe raise it a little as I stand at 198cm tall and have no issues with reaching the ground.
I take it that a k7 or k8 gsxr1000 rear shock is a direct replacement for the stock shock.
and a set of racetech springs and a set of gold valves for the front. is this the consensus?
specifications of riders...
rider weight 100kg
pillion weight 70kg
riding style touring

for 5 days of the week its only me onthe bike and any given sunday its two up.
weight going from 100kg to 170kg obviously the suspension has to be different.
how do I deal with this?
I hate skinning my knuckles with the shitty c spanner method of the stock rear setup.

cheersin advance!

I can verify what you are saying with the spring, but I'd be concerned the spring doesn't flatten out where you cut it.

Here's a pic of mine apart when I upgraded the springs and installed gold valves with new valve stack. I should have done a post on it as there is nothing on this site to help others with the process as it is not difficult, just dirty



Here's the Racetech valve stacks on the bottom and the stock on the top. You can see stock it's valved far too light

reddog wrote:I can verify what you are saying with the spring, but I'd be concerned the spring doesn't flatten out where you cut it.

Here's a pic of mine apart when I upgraded the springs and installed gold valves with new valve stack. I should have done a post on it as there is nothing on this site to help others with the process as it is not difficult, just dirty



Here's the Racetech valve stacks on the bottom and the stock on the top. You can see stock it's valved far too light

That had been my thought also but I would be grinding it flat If I were to go down that track. Also you cant compare the stacks as the stock piston is far more restricted than the Gold Valve. So the stack on the stock piston is in fact a very firm one. Did you drill a 1.3mm bleed hole in your Gold valve? Is that a C33 stack build?

And yes, its way easier than its made out to be.

Yep 1.3mm bleed and that's a c34 stack from memory. The weathers been crap here so I haven't ridden much since the upgrade. But I am pretty impressed with it so far.

BTW here's the old oil versus new after 37000kms and 9 years

reddog wrote:Yep 1.3mm bleed and that's a c34 stack from memory. The weathers been crap here so I haven't ridden much since the upgrade. But I am pretty impressed with it so far.

BTW here's the old oil versus new after 37000kms and 9 years

Did you know the service limit for fork oil is 10,000ks? Bring back drain ports in forks I say.

Yep and guess what? Like most people I didn't care because the shop never does it at 10k unless you want to outlay $600. Was a good learning experience, the last bike I did was an rm80. Still the same idea though being right way up forks. Anyway it's all good now. I'll do up a post shortly to give people an idea on how to do it

reddog wrote:Yep and guess what? Like most people I didn't care because the shop never does it at 10k unless you want to outlay $600. Was a good learning experience, the last bike I did was an rm80. Still the same idea though being right way up forks. Anyway it's all good now. I'll do up a post shortly to give people an idea on how to do it

Problem is as its never done people complain their forks are to rough, they pop seals or the fork just locks up because the fluid has turned to treacle. Not many shops even know how to lube the seals so they dont pack up.

The couple of shops I went to wanted anywhere from $250 to $600+ to do the work. My seals were still okay, but the dust seals were starting to perish. I never felt any harshness, however the diving under brakes was what made me want to fix them. There was a little sludge starting to appear, so everything was cleaned with brake cleaner before reassembly. The biggest thing with fork rebuilding is cleanliness and inspecting the fork tubes for damage

NZspokes wrote:

 Bring back drain ports in forks I say.

Yep, taking the forks out, turning them upside down, refilling them and putting them back in is not hard but does take a few hours.

Half an hour with drain ports

reddog wrote:The couple of shops I went to wanted anywhere from $250 to $600+ to do the work. My seals were still okay, but the dust seals were starting to perish. I never felt any harshness, however the diving under brakes was what made me want to fix them. There was a little sludge starting to appear, so everything was cleaned with brake cleaner before reassembly. The biggest thing with fork rebuilding is cleanliness and inspecting the fork tubes for damage

Toilet brush works a treat for cleaning out fork lowers.

I'll keep that in mind next time or buy one of those bottle brushes from the baby isle

@#tag if I wasn't doing good valves I would have done similar. I agree with the bleed screws as pulling the whole front end off is a bit time consuming. I did regrease the steering stem bearings whilst it was all apart. A couple of grease nipples would make that job easy too!

Mmmmm, nipples.

i had my suspension serviced at shock treatment a few weeks ago - they disassembled front and back and changed seals etc.  not cheap but they do a good job

If they are OEM seals it's over $100 right there. OEM parts are ridiculously priced

Hit a pothole on my 1250FA yesterday. Bike skipped offline. Nasty. Valving is waaay out. 

Re-valve is a priority now. Probably fit my Gold Valves.

NZspokes wrote:Hit a pothole on my 1250FA yesterday. Bike skipped offline. Nasty. Valving is waaay out. 

Re-valve is a priority now. Probably fit my Gold Valves.

So have fitted the GVs now. Huge improvment. Still skips a little but Im going to re-check tyre pressure and get a fork brace. Bike is far happier on rough roads.

Am going to drop my crowns 5mm to help turn in and get more weight on the front.

Good news @NZspokes The valving does help. I reckon if you had some extra shims left over you could probably get the stock valve to work, but it'd take a fair bit of testing to get it right

reddog wrote:Good news @NZspokes The valving does help. I reckon if you had some extra shims left over you could probably get the stock valve to work, but it'd take a fair bit of testing to get it right

Well the stock Bandit pistons are not bad at all. I only went GVs because I had them. If you run a lighter speed sensitive stack and drill a bleed in the cart it would work well. 

The pistons that came out will be going into my Honda as thats going to be a track specific bike. Plush is not needed.

I'm in Point Cook Victoria and need to get my suspension looked over/upgraded, I'm 115 KG and just picked up my 2012 FA and it just doesn't feel pleasant on the road, hard to turn in etc.

Need to find a shop that wont charge the earth to get the front and rear suspension overhauled/resprung/replaced etc.  Bike has 33k on the clock.

So any suggestions (bearing in mind my knowledge of such matters is quite poor) would be helpful.

cheers

Cheazdad wrote:I'm in Point Cook Victoria and need to get my suspension looked over/upgraded, I'm 115 KG and just picked up my 2012 FA and it just doesn't feel pleasant on the road, hard to turn in etc.

Need to find a shop that wont charge the earth to get the front and rear suspension overhauled/resprung/replaced etc.  Bike has 33k on the clock.

So any suggestions (bearing in mind my knowledge of such matters is quite poor) would be helpful.

cheers

Hard to turn in will be the front tyre. What's it like and what pressure is it (cold)?
There's a few places in Melb that do suspension and at 115kg you're about 30kg (like most of us) over what the bike is designed for.
I was taking my VFR to www.promecha.com.au/ before I ran out of time and money last summer.

If you are finding it hard to turn in you could always try lowering the front.  ie.  raising the forks in the triple clamps.  Try half an inch,  should make a world of difference.

What you are actually doing by doing this is changing the rake and trail.

Ironman wrote:a topic overed many times but im finding I have to wade through lots of posts.
issue is I have a 07/8 b1250s 21,000km that is a daily rider but will also use it for two up riding on weekends.
everyone agrees the stock suspension is poop and can do with upgrading.
question is what do I do so I only have to raise a spanner once to upgrade it and only open the wallet once to buy the parts needed.
im largely happy with the height of the bike, even maybe raise it a little as I stand at 198cm tall and have no issues with reaching the ground.
I take it that a k7 or k8 gsxr1000 rear shock is a direct replacement for the stock shock.
and a set of racetech springs and a set of gold valves for the front. is this the consensus?
specifications of riders...
rider weight 100kg
pillion weight 70kg
riding style touring

for 5 days of the week its only me onthe bike and any given sunday its two up.
weight going from 100kg to 170kg obviously the suspension has to be different.
how do I deal with this?
I hate skinning my knuckles with the shitty c spanner method of the stock rear setup.

cheersin advance!

I'm 110 Kg and my suspension was upgraded by proMecha in Melbourne, huge difference for $800 and the big advantage, is after the new valves, anti squat valve in the rear etc not only is the ride now fantastic, but when my wife hops on I don't have to adjust the preload.

palexxxx wrote:If you are finding it hard to turn in you could always try lowering the front.  ie.  raising the forks in the triple clamps.  Try half an inch,  should make a world of difference.

What you are actually doing by doing this is changing the rake and trail.

This ^^^^^

I dropped my crowns 10mm on the fork tubes. With the valves and Holeshot brace it turns well. Not heavy at all.

I am following the path of Cheazdad and have just posted mine to promecha in Melb. if my result is near as good as Cheazdads then I will be a happy chappy indeed.
I will let you know the results.