The Widowmaker

This bike is my 1990 Suzuki DR800S, also know as a DR BIG. Its an exciting bike to ride, a lot of fun.

There's a story about how I came to be the owner of this bike

In 2010 my wife, Karen and our boys Benjamin and Daniel were sitting at the dinner table discussing tax returns - we have a family business. Karen told us what we could expect and a said "great, I'm buying another bike". I had been looking up earlier in the week a mint condition 1989 Kawasaki GPz 900 Ninja and this would cover it nicely.

Anyhow Karen said nothing and so I started to look into the Ninja. The following Saturday we when out for tea for our 20 wedding anniversary. Karen, raised the question about buying another bike saying, "I didn't say anything last week because if you want another bike that's fine; but you should know that ... I've already bought you one." How cool is that! Karen knew that I wanted a big dual sport and had bought the DR back in November and kept it a secret until then.

Stock the bike is a bit tall for me and scared the daylights out of me; thus the name. However I've taken the pre-load of the rear shock, dropped the front forks by 15 millimetres and had the seat re-shaped. Pivot pegs have been added and the handlebars raised. The bike fits me better and now its just plain good fun.

14 August 2012. Time for an update on the Widow-maker.
This bike has been a handful over the last four months. Being 22 years old, it does have some wear and tear issues. I've replaced the fuel lines twice. The first I did the job was not so good and I learnt that Suzuki fuel lines are much better than SuperCheap Auto. The rear tyre has been replaced with a Mitas E07 and whilst the wheel was at the tyre shop - Tyres-4-Bikes in Brisbane, they also fitted a new tube and straightened a ding in the rim at an exceptional price.

On the weekend gone by I created a new Perspex windshield that replaces the standard windshield and headlight cowl. Pictures to follow. I also created a new Perspex cover that goes over the standard tacho and speedo that allows me to wire in separate switches. The separate switches are required as the standard right-hand block switches were just falling apart and I wanted something more robust. It all seems to work well but I do need to take the bike our for a day to test it.

The week before that I was able to take the front forks out and change the oil without breaking anything. The old oil was black and the replacement oil was more translucent than honey which makes me wonder how long has it been since that was done. The front rebound is definitely better but I'm not sure about the dive yet. Also managed to replace the brakes fluid in the rear brake and will do the front brake fluid in the weeks to come.

I also need to note that the CDI unit was replaced in Mary 2012 and that the link balancer chain has been tensioned correctly. in 2013 I hope to purchase a pair of aftermarket carbies which should make the bike go ever better ( not faster ... sorry Officer ).



7 September - Carburettor Clean-up.
The last time I took the Dr out, I noticed that a slow leak from the float bowl on the left-hand side carbuettor had developed. So again I took the back half of the bike apart and pulled the carbuetters off. The Mikuni BST-33 units are not the best metal and I've stripped on of the threads. Given that the bowls have only two bolts each, I've decided to use longer bolts and additional nuts. Whilst they are apart, I am do the following:

Giving both carbuetters a good clean out. I don't have an ultrasonic cleaner yet, and so this will be by hand with carburettor cleaner and time.

Fit new seals, gaskets etc.

Replace the idle mixture screws with custom screws that protude from the bottom with external knobs.

Replace the choke cable with a little knob that come out of the left-hand carburetter thus removing another silly little cable. 

Replace as many mild steel screws with stainless steel bolts wherever possible.

In the long term, I will replace these carburettors but for now, the whole exercise is a great learning opportunity. I am amazed by how dirty they are and how much crud actually comes off. I'll post some photos before I bolt them back on.

Throughout all this, I found that my de-compressor unit shaft is broken; clean split in half. That probably explain some of the hard-to-start days! A replacement is on order.

5 November 2012 - Arrgh!
This bike has played up on me for the last time - well I wish. After cleaning the carburettors, replacing the decompressor shaft I put it back together. After a bit of trying it ran well for about five minutes and then stopped and stayed stopped. What to do, I am out of ideas? Fortunately through the forums ADVRIDER.COM and DR-BIG.INFO I have met a bunch of guys who actually know what they are doing and I've arranged to trailer my bike down to Bathurst and leave it with one of the guys for a while. Rob has three DR Bigs at the moment and does all his own work. I'm confident that Rob can not only get it working, but also set the bike up for my style of riding and I'm looking forward to the end result. I'm equally just as certain that I'll learn a lot from Rob which to me is just as important. My goal for the bike is to be able to enter the 2014 APC Rally and finish or if I'm not up for that, to be able to do a solo tour through New Zealand for three weeks, so some proper, experienced workmanship is needed. Watch this space.

12 November 2012 - Call the DR Doctor!
I'm happy to report that the bike is now at Rob's place and I'm sure that Rob after a suitable respite for rehabe I'll end up with a bike that will be fun all the time and not a gamble as to whether it will go for me.

January 2013 - Back from the DR Doctor!
After an nice drive down to Bathurst and a very hairy drive back, the bike started and ran very well. Rob did an excellent job. However after a short while it developed an electrical short. I'm sure it is nothing serious but it will require removing the tanks and troubleshooting which I did not have time prior to leaving for my trip with no name. So this will be a task upon my return and I'm sure the bike will be sorted during April 2013.

21 March 2013 - The Frankenstein Monster is alive.
 Last Friday I took the right-hand-side tank off and found the electrical short. On most electrical circuits the power flow goes something like this: Power - Switch - Device - Ground. On the DR's horn it went power - horn - switch - ground and the power lead had a short on the body. The erratic nature of this issue was that when the handlbars were turned left there was no metal to wire contact but when you turned the handlbars, the de-compressor cable moved against the power lead, pushed it to the body and a short ensured. So I moved the cable, re-insulated with both heat shrink and tape. Yesterday I rode it to the Bellbird Cafe at Kenilworth and back; a round trip of 250 kilometres and the bike ran like a dream. Next week I'll do a few rides through the Lockyer Valley and get the helmet camera working.

A few other things worth noting about the DR. Its now running a Lazer ProDuro exhaust and larger main jets. This has given the bike better and smoother power throughout the revrange and makes it much easier to ride. The saddlebags clear the ProDuro much easier as well but to be sure on the right-hand-side saddle bag I've added two strap-on heat guards from Giant Loop and inside the saddle bag I've placed some manufactured insulated wood. This seems to be working well and will hopefully avoid the hassle of pannier frames or stand-offs.

15 April 2013 - 390 kilometres across Lockyer Valley.
Today the Widowmaker took me across Lockyer Valley on a ride with two friends from Church. It behaved very well. The rear Mitas E07 grips well on the tarmac and I need to test it off-road. It is an air-pressure sensitive tyre and I need to be sure that it is up to 32 psi when riding on tarmac. Otherwise it walks and wallows like a penguin walking on a floor of peanut butter. Tonight I added the extra start button and tomorrow I will also re-install the side-stand cut-out switch. I've been riding the DR now as a daily rider for about three weeks and it is going very strong, very easy to jump on and off and manouvre around. With the daily reliability sorted, I hope to be able to clean up the looks and also look at what is needed to enter the Endeavour Foundation Cannonball Run in 2014.

18 April 2013 - Rear brake footpeg extension.
One of the occassional frustrating things on the DR800 is the small contact area for the footbrake. When riding on the road it is not such as issue, although for emergency braking it may become a problem. When riding off-road though, you tend to use the rear brake a lot more to settle and brake-steer the bike. There is no aftermarket product available but after a clean up of the shed, I think I found a fairly suitable bracket. After bolting in with two high-tensile 6 millimetre bolts to the main leg of the pedal and some paint, this is what I ended up with. 

 

The paint that I used is a cheap chassis paint, just to keep the rust away. In the future if the bracket is just right, I'll strip it back and repaint with epoxy enamel. Just looking at the footpegs and brackets, I'll think I'll do those as well, in a stock blue that matches as closely as possible to the tank and plastics.


26 April 2013 - Sheepskin seat cover.
So what is a guy to do once he has cleaned out his shed and found all sorts of goodies he has forgotten about - including the lower part of a big 4WD sheepskin seat cover? That would be to unpick it all and make a custom seat over for his motorbike.

As it was, the customised seat already worked well with a gripper seat cover and clayered foam etc. However after about three hours on the bike when road riding I was looking for a bit more comfort and so hopefully the sheepskin will allow that extra movement when on the road. For off-road, it takes about 5 minutes to remove.

For this project I used stuff in the shed that was not in use at all. Alternatively, cost if I purchased new would be between $150.00 and $400.00. So off for a road test in the next few days and if it works, I'll take this bike to Inverell next week I hope.




31 May 2013.  DIY "Factory" handguards.

My DIY extended hand guards. Protection for wind, rain, rocks, roost and wrecks. When coming home from the farm a week ago in 10 degree ( celsius ) I felt an ill wind across my hands. The Barkbuster VIP handguards are great but a bit more protection from the wind and rain would be nice. Barkbuster do sell an extended size handguard called "Storm", but being an el cheapo, I looked through the spares box and found my old stock Suzuki guards. I also believe that it is more socially responsible to re-use where possible; everything should have at least two lives. The Suzuki hardguards were already damaged with deep scratches through them; they offer protection from wind and rain only and no protection from rocks, tress or falls. Inspired by a famous RTW traveller, Greg Frazier, who has done a similiar thing on a KLR 650, added them to the VIPs and the combination should provide the best of both worlds. The Suzuki guards required a lot of sanding to remove some of the scratches and I cut off the original mounting points with a rotary tool. The black paint was applied to the parts individually first and then another two coats after assembly. Hope to see more of these sorts of things at the Horizons Unlimited Travellers Meetings in Dayboro, Cavendish and Perth this year.





Saturday 3 August 2013. Bringing it all together.

Just some photos to document where the bike is at. On the rear seat is an expandable Motodry seat/rear bag. The guys at Crazy Dogs Kawasaki got this in on special order for me. I normally keep a spare jumper, waterproofs, jacket liner and so on. On the rear rack is a cheap, fake pelikan case and on the handle a couple of snap hooks to hang the helmet on. I've got a Enduristan dry bag for clothes ( not pictured ) that goes on top of the case and held on ROK Straps and these I bought after a chat to Ron and Judy at Motorcycle Adventure Products. The clear windshield is old cheap perspex and needs to be replaced but at the moment I'm experimenting with the shape and think I'm getting close to the right setup. All up, this setup is working well; the bike is comfortable and well set-up for small rides up to four days away.




Thursday 17 April 2014. DIY Tooltubes.

In the last week I added the DIY Tooltubes and tested them, they came up well but need repainting. 




Today I replaced the stock clutch lever with a MCS brand LCS14S clutch lever. This is normally used as a 'shorty' lever for the Suzuki DRZ400, so this was a bit of an experiment. It seems to fit just fine and if it works well, that means I can use the clutch only use two or three fingers. It is silver, not black, but some paint should fix that just fine. It also means that should I be so inclined, I can fit aftermarket levers designed for the DRZ that have adjustable pull and fold up/out/back capability on the standard perch.

Saturday 17 May 2014. Rebuilt rear brake caliper.

The rear brakes had been making a terrible noise from time to time. The rear piston in the dual piston caliper was not moving freely and that meant that the pads were not contacting the rotor properly. So the rear caliper was removed, stripped, paint stripped off entirely, repainted and rebuilt with new seals and wipers. The wipers are also called dust seals by some. Certainly the old wipers were gone and the swelling was contributing to the pistons not moving freely. There was also no brake grease/lube on the pins and probably hasn't been any for quite a few years.

Anyhow, the job went very well. A bit of research beforehand with the University of Youtube and the Internet of the Interweb really helped. I used VHT caliper paint. Three coats of satin black and two coats of clear. Bendix brake lube from Repco was really easy to work with. Cleaning out the internals of the caliper showed me how much rubbish can get built up there and brough home the importance of flushing the brake . lines and replacing the fluid every year. Here is the final product:



Friday 11 July 2014. Wiring harness failure.

The widowmaker is down!Yesterday after work the bike wouldn't start up. I could see fairly quickly that there was no power getting to the key barrel/switchblock. Various parts of the wiring have been failing for a while now, with a few shorts and so on that I have just soldered back together and taped or heat-shrinked back up. Given the fact that the bike is 24 years old and age, vibration, heat and cold would by now taken its toll I've decided to build a new wiring harness. This will include capacity and relays for heated grips, additional lights perhaps and auxillary power. Perhaps GPS as well, not sure on that yet.

I'll pick up the bike with the trailer and then pull the tanks off and see how we go. The longer term view is to get the electrics, along with the rest of the bike, to a standard where I can do a desert crossing on it.

Tuesday 26 August 2014

The last few days have seen some progress on the Suzuki DR800. The pickup coil is fixed and I've painted the crankcase cover. Before painting though, I modified it slightly, marking where No 1 bolt should go so as to ensure that I always put them back in order. I also increased the space for the wires to come out of between the crankcase. The wires I used are a thicker guauge than stock and will not bend as easily. This spot is after the seal and so should not affect oil leakage. Wiring around the instrument cluster is coming along well but photos of that for another day.


When finished painting, the crankcase will have three coats of VHT case paint, three coats of VHT caliper black satin and three coats of VHT caliper clear. When I put on the cover, I will use some 6 mm rod as guies so that it slides on perfectly in place. With a new gasket, permatex no2 gasket maker and an outside bead of RTV oil resistant there should be no more oil leak as well.


Thursday 5 March 2015

The DR800 has been back on teh road now for about two months and is going well. I believe that I have fixed about six different oil leaks and had one last leak to go. The output shaft has had some wear and would not make a proper seal. I have bought a Speedi-Sleeve, which is a very thin tube of metal that goes between the shaft and the seal. Installed the Speedi-Sleev but I am not let convisnved that the issue has been solved as there were several drops of oil after a ride to Virginia. Of course, these may be residual oil that I had not yet cleaned off and so we shall see. For those interested, here are the parts I used:
 Also it may be worth noting the very easy way to remove old seals. Simply tap in an 8 guage self tapping screw enough to pierce the seal, use a screwdriver to turn in the screw further and it will hold enough to pull the seal out. It this case I used two and it was easier still:


At this stage, except for the oil leak, which may be solved (we shall see) everything is running fairly well. The electrics are better than ever; the battery doesn't drain, the lights and bright, the tacho doesn't bounce (a sure sympton of the magneto/coil pick up wire being loose) and the bike is getting at least 21 kilometres per litre. Previously it wold only get 18 on average. So we have moved on from what needs to be done to get it going to what I would like to do to make it go better! I'll keep it for now.

Friday 17 April 2015.

Nothing too dramatic. Changed the rear Dunlop Trailmax for a Mitas E07. The size is slightly smaller than stock, being a 120/70 17 inch in lieu of the 130/80 stock tyre size. This should give me a chance to experiment with how the bike feel with different sizing to be prepared if the day cames when there is no choice. Also completed a few little jobs like an extra bracket to hold down the exhaust tighter, closed cell foam cushioning on the bottom of the tool tubes, wrapping wet weather gear and first aid kit in plastic bags and rubber bands to shrink them down. It all worked quite nicely




 Sunday 19 April 2015

Experiemented with a no frills, low cost exhaust heat shield that started of as a drainage great. Cost to date is $3.00. Replacement with aftermarket heat shields would have been in excess of $60.00. I am pretty confident that this ghetto fix will actually work better than the store-bought itm. The $57.00 saving is also a bonus.




 Sunday 3 May 2015

In the last week I've fitted re-furbished oil cooler hoses and they seem to be working AOK. Really need a good hour or so test ride but that won't happen until I go to work or finish some assignments and take a few hours off to go over Mount Mee. In the meantime, I had to replace the brackets holding the left-hand-side tool tube. They got a bit mangled during a ride over Duck Creek Road when I carried some extra luggage that applied pressure on the existing saddlebags. No matter, they only cost $4.85 a pair and it gave me a chance to play with the positioning and the saddlebags themselves. I think the final result will be much better. Here some photos of the re-furbished oil cooler lines:


They should last another 25 years I hope.

September 2015. Wheel bearings and puncture.

With the upcoming HU meeting I was scheduled to run a wheel bearing workshop. I wanted to be sure that I could show a range of techniques and tricks removal and reinstalling bearings and so ordered a set of bearings for both front and rear wheels. As I was getting the gear together I picked up a flat on the rear wheel.

A great tip for ordering parts is to find the parts fiche or Illustrated Parts Breakdown (IPB) on a website such as cmsnl.com, take a screenshot of the parts you need and then send off emails to the various suppliers. Here as example:





 Here are the products supplied by the great staff at Brisbane Motorcycles' Caboolture store:




You may notice that I have packed the bearings with grease, good and proper. I also had them sitting in the freezer for weeks whilst I waited for the time to install them. There is no doubt that freezing the bearings helped them shrink ever so slightly and make them easier to fit. I found that the old ones were easy enough to knock out using a 20 cm long punch with a 8 mm face and that the same punch was fine for knocking the new ones in using the 12-6-3-9 (and repeat slowly many times) method. The 12-6-3-9 refers to the points on a clock. You place the punch on the top of the bearing at 12 o'clock and hit it with a dead blow hammer, then 6 o'clock, the 3 o'clock and finally 9 o'clock. Repeat as needed. If the bearing is going in askew, a few extra blows on the side sticking up should be fine.

The tube repair was fairly standard but I would like to remind everyone that a great hint to avoid hassles is to cable tie the sprocket to the wheel spokes.






November 2015. Windshield #4? and Toolbox/frame protection.

I really enjoy playing and experimenting with acrylic sheets as it is such as flexible medium to work with. So I have built another cowl/protection to try. Its not perfect but I made it out of scrap and it works well. It has given me clear ideas for the ideal unit which will be out out clear acrylic the whole way with black paint blocking out reflections.

The other modification is one that has really worked out well. Previously I had bolted on a ABS moulded plastic case to the front of the plastic bash guard. This is basically a cheap, knock-off version of a "Pelican" brand case and I keep the chain breaker/riveter tool as well as spare links in it. It also worked as an additional guard. The shortcoming was that it was a bit low and vulnerable. As the size was bigger than it needed to be, I was on the lookout for a smaller box but could not find one. No matter, some time with a rotary tool, some silicon and four M4 bolts and this is the result:


Perfect size, heaps of clearance and sitting about four centimetres higher than previous. The cost: $0.00, nada, zip; the right price.

A word about mirrors

I have played around with a few different mirrors from the stock Suzuki DR mirrors to after-market copies of older GSXR mirrors. The best setup I have found to date is a pair of the late model Yamaha Tenere and a set of mirror risers, available from Adventure Bike Australia. This setup provides excellent rear vision and reduces buffeting dramatically. I would expect that the BMW GS 650/700/800 mirrors, or the aftermarket copies, would also be excellent in reducing buffeting. You do have to be careful with the aftermarket mirrors though as they sometimes to not have a convex lens and as a result have a smaller field of view and show a lot more vibrations.

Feb 2016. Wheel spoke tension

Wheel spokes need to be kept to a certain tension and that tension needs to be consistent across all spokes. This ensure the ability to transfer the energy of a hard hit on a wheel across the entire wheel, the rim, the spokes and the hub. In turn, this increases the resistance to dings on the rim. The consistent tension also helps prevent broken spokes.

So the next question is, how do you do this job properly. I've seen this done before on TV and read about it but to be sure I watched a number of YouTube clips. Here's one that explains the process fairly clearly:


Some people do this process just using a spoke spanner, hitting the spokes and listening to the sound. I am not confident that is very consistent and several years ago I bought a proper spoke tension wrench. Mine is a Pit Posse brand but there are plenty of others:


Armed with the correct tool, empowered with YouTube knowledge I did the front wheel first and then the rear wheel. The number of spoke that were loose on the front was a surprise and I think I ended up doing about five passes to be sure that everything was nicely tensioned and secure. The most important points of doing this job are:


  • Be sure to set the tension to the manufacturer's setting.
  • You do not tighten each spoke one after the other. Start at spoke number 1, next to the valve and then skip two or three and do the next one. Continue in this pattern all the way around and then move to spoke number 2 and proceed in the same fashion. Weather you skip two or three spokes on an individual run depends on the total number of spokes in the wheel. The DR800 has 36 spokes and as 36 can be evenly divided by either 3 or 4, I could have done either option.
  • Only turn the spoke a maximum of a quarter of a turn each run. If that is not enough to reach tension, then keep doing the process until all spokes reach tension. This may take a while.
  • Your final run is when all spokes click the tension wrench.


According to everything I have read, the wheels should transmit a more solid feel through the frame and handlebars. I'm not sure I am a good enough rider to actually sense that but I am looking forward to trying it all out.


Feb 2016. Cush drive maintenance

Unfortunately I haven't given this much thought since owning the bike, some six years now and so now is the time. Servicing quite often involves inspecting and if necessary, replacing the rubbers. The cost involved in replacing the rubbers would be getting close to $100.00 and if they are very worn or have hardened this cannot be avoided.



However, if the rubbers are a little bit worn and have not yet hardened, there is an alternative. Simply shim the rubbers with rubber from a tyre tube. You can use a bicycle tube, a motorcycle tube or a car tyre tube. If fact, if you do this regularly and properly, you can easily prolong the life of the original rubbers dramatically. Here's how this job went:


  • Whilst the rear wheel is still on the bike test to seen if there is any movement between the sprocket and the rim. In this case, there was a tiny bit.
  • Remove the rear wheel and separate the sprocket carrier from the hub. If the cushions are still very good this may not be too easy.
  • Inspect the rubber cushions for hardness and wear. In this case they were still quite soft and a small amount of wear and so therefore good for shimming, no need for replacing. Essentially I followed the idea as per this YouTube clip:



However I would like to point out some differences with what I did. The first is that I used a car tube, which is slightly harder and thicker rubber. This allowed me to cut a single piece that wrapped around the outside left, bottom and right edges with just the one piece per cushion. Just a bit neater and I suspect a bit easier to fit in.

The next difference is that I did use some grease. I have read arguments for and against using grease and had to think this through a bit. I ended up using a slight film on Bendix Brake Grease on all mating surfaces and fairly happy with that decision. Here is my thinking:
  • I wanted it all to go back together easily and I recall the first time I tried to separate the sprocket carrier from the hub. It was not easy. With the grease, it slid back together firmly but smoothly.
  • Everything I read suggested that the rubber hardens due to heat. Heat is caused by friction and so anything that safely reduces friction will also reduce heat and prolong the life of the cushions.
  • Bendix Brake Grease is a high temperature grease and thus will not easily melt and weep out over the wheel and tyre, one of the main arguments for not using grease. It is also very thick and perhaps contribute to the cushion effect; perhaps not though as I used just enough to lubricate the area and it will get squeezed out over time anyhow.
  • Bendix Brake Grease is used for both metal-to-metal and metal-to-rubber and so is perfect for this application. Increasing the opportunity for parts to move without friction and wear also increases the cushioning effect. One of the arguments against using grease is that many greases contribute to premature failure of rubber parts that have not be designed to come into contact with oil and grease. Bendix Brake Grease is a ceramic based product that does not attack rubber. That is possibly why it is a bit more expensive than many other products.
  • The grease is very sticky and acted as a mild adhesive, keeping the rubber strips in place whilst I placed the rubbers cushions back in place.
  • Finally, I have a thick tube of it in my workshop from when I rebuilt the rear brake caliper and so I did not have to go buy something else. That appeals to me greatly.



When it was all back together that small amount of movement was definitely gone and I am fairly certain that I should be able to feel the change whilst riding. We will find out soon enough I guess. For the amount of time  about 30 minutes, the minimal cost and potential savings it may offer I think that this is a job that I will do every time I change a rear tyre, which is about twice a year.

June 2016

I have changed the front headlight setup and screen to match a DR650. The original headlight reflector was in terrible shape and cost a fortune to replace. The purists will not like it but I do. Far more practical.



July 2016

I've started to put together a list of spare parts for an engine rebuild. This is a huge thing for me and I must admit to not being confident. I swing between, "she'll be fine" and wanting to get someone else to do it for me. For now though, I will keep working on building the tool kit and spare parts and see how I go. Here is the spare parts list as of 16 July 2016:



July 2016

Nothing special. Just wanted to show the DR650 headlight and shroud that I have grafted on.



November 2016.

Added a set of these to the grips:


Bought from Biker Bitz Australia ( https://www.bikerbits.com.au/index.php ) . These add width and padding to the grips, making them about the same comfort level as the Yamaha V-Star. You can use proper grip glue, hairspray or even quick dry clear paint to glue them on. I really rate these for longer rides.

January 2017. Adjust front suspension pre-load, replace fork oil.

The last trip out I had felt that the front suspension was a bit too soft. Checked my records and it was well past two years since I last changed the oil in the front forks. I used 15 weight oil for that change and recalled that I felt it transmitted to many bumps in the road when on the Old Woodenbong Road. So this time I made a few changes:


  • First checked that the stock fork spring were within spec. The manual says to change if they are less that 55.3 cms long and they were exactly 56.0 cms, which I believe is stock.
  • Total volume of oil per fork 475 mls. Stock is 469 and last change I used 480, so this time have a slightly larger air gap/air spring.
  • Switched to 12.5 weight oil in lieu of 15 weight. So that is more viscous than last time but less viscous than stock of 10 weight.
  • Switched brands to Lucas oil, merely out of interest. Used one 500 ml bottle of 10 weight and one 500 ml of 15 weight and mixed them together. Measured the bottles to 475 each and have marked them.
  • Increased pre-load from 10 cms to 10.95 cms using custom spacers. Should have been 11.0 cms but had to remove a small amount of metal due to not-straight cuts. Need to work on that.

Initial test in the workshop indicates good stiffness and rebound. The old oil was a disgusting black colour and smelt a bit off too. Hopefully I will be able to repeat the same most recent ride and enjoy a plusher ride with better handling.



1 comment:

  1. hey bud ive got the same model Yes in blue, mine is a minter and stock except exhaust,I live in Brisbane, Yours is the only other one ive seen......EVER 0488463222

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I'll be sure to read your comments as well.

Thanks,

Shane