Fork Question for FZR 1000

pacer · Post by **pacer** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 3:32 am

I have a 93 FZR1000 that I just had resprung. I sold the bike to my cousin who is 260lbs. He had springs for his weight and RaceTech Emulators installed. The guy that resprung it has a good name in town, and a long line to get in the door. He gave me attitude once about my 87 not being worth his time to work on it, so I have decided to look elsewhere. The place I found seemed decent enough. OK name, and the main guy maintains a bike for a guy with AMA aspirations. Well I have him respring the forks, and when he gave them back to me he said he was not impressed with the damping, or actually the lack of. He just pulled the old springs and droped in the new. He did not change oil level or anything. He just made sure there was no air bubbles or anything obviously wrong. It ticks me off that he didn't call and ask me what I would like to do about it, but that is a none issue now. My question is, could repair dude #2 have a point? I have never been inside forks, and didn't want to learn on this set. Would the oil level be the difference?

Yoniboi · Post by **Yoniboi** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:12 am

Oil weight and height both have a dramatic effect on damping. Most guys on the forum seem happy enough with stock settings, it's just that the oil goes off over time, like the springs if you like, and needs changing.

John

Post by **Hooligan** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 2:36 pm

hmm, i instantly blacklist any shop/vendor that says my bike isn't worth their time due to the age. i'm sorry, but that is total bullshit.

i called traxxion dynamics for some price quotes for my 1994 forks after reading nothing but good comments about the company. guess what the first thing out of the owner's mouth was? "why waste your money on those, you would be better off getting a newer bike." can you believe that?

so, i decided to use gp suspension after talking to the owner. before i even sent my forks in i was told that i might want to consider upgrading the internals with items that would perform better on track and street OR i could just have my springs and oil changed to better match my weight and needs.

that's the way it should be done.

i think your guy #2 could have asked you what you would like to do, informed you if he had the ability to do it, then allow you to decide how to proceed.

dragracer1951 · Post by **dragracer1951** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 2:58 pm

Jason.....
Think about this for just a second. How many FZR's are there out there? How old are they. What percentage of the riding public do we represent? You can't fault a suspension shop owner for not working on a bike that's 12 years old. You can't . I know you feel that's not right, but the guy would go broke doing what you want him to do. Do you think he ought to work on my 58 BSA too? These bikes hold a dear spot in our hearts because of a lot of different reasons, not the least of which is they didn't cost a lot of money like a new bike would. We look at them through rose colored glasses
Sorry....

pacer · Post by **pacer** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 4:17 pm

He said he wouldn't jet the 87 750 for me. Shop time is shop time. I see your point jim, but a mans hourly rate is what his time is worth. Anyway would you find another guy to just check oil weight and level?

Post by **Hooligan** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 4:27 pm

i sure can fault the shop jim. and in this instance, absolutely will.

pacer wasn't looking for some unobtainable part for his bike to be installed, he wanted suspension work. even if his bike is twelve years old, the suspension isn't that different from today. granted, his bike might be lower tech than my 94 internals, but a basic service isn't going to force this guy to close his shop if he takes the work. do i think he should work on your bsa suspension? if he can do it, why not? why turn down a job out of a snobby attitude or because you only want to work on current litrebike parts?

this is a service industry. the sooner some of these vendors realize that, the better off customers will be no matter what they are riding.

sickle44 · Post by **sickle44** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 4:37 pm

Hey Pacer,

On shops insulting your machine, I'm kindof with Hooli here.

On shops in general, time is money and all that, blah, blah. Because it is a very rare gift when and if you can find someone who will passionately work on your machine like it was their own, I would say, start turning wrenches man. Even if you do find a guy who cares, you're still going to have to open your wallet deep!! The amount of satisfaction I derive from knowing that I built something, and built it well, is priceless. For the most part, it's pretty fun too. If you screw up, I gaurantee you won't make the same mistake twice and parts are plentiful and not to pricey.

Finding anyone who's worth their salt in regard to jetting carbs is even more unheard of as it seems to be a long lost black art that is quickly dying with FI. All these mech's are snagged up by racing teams. Even if we could figure out who they were, we(well maybe you could, but I can't) could never afford them.

Seems like you've got some sort of rapport begun with guy#2, don't throw the baby out with the bath water and just go back to the guy and talk to him. I'm a little choked because of..... do you think you could?

On oil: stock oils I find are always too light and you can usually firm up damping by changing fork oil weight. This is something you can easily do yourself for cheap. Fork oil level is best left probably about 10ml shy on these machines, otherwise you risk helping to blow your seals. Give maybe a 5 or 7 weight oil a try and if I remember correctly, it's 457ml per leg, so go about 420 if they aren't completely dry.

Hope this helps.

pacer · Post by **pacer** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 3:09 am

Hey sickle I agree about doing your own work when you can. I had just rebuilt/bored the top end on my bike before I sold it to my cousin. Then of course I got an insurance deal to help build an engine that hopefully should be here in a couple of weeks. Problem is I have never been inside of a fork, and I have a buddy who did his forks and they were fubar. I guess I just need to step up to the plate. As far as jetting I bought a set of carbs of Yamacati, and he is going to teach me what to do.

I guess I will give these forks a shot.

ps
I know how to jet, but never worked with flatslides before.

sickle44 · Post by **sickle44** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 3:47 pm

The USD's pose a bit of a challenge with the special tools required but I've always been able to get around special tools it seems. Good luck, and good idea I think.