Suspension Upgrades

Hey, what projects are you planning or preparing for? CBX, other motos, workshop, WHATEVAH!
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Syscrush
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Re: Suspension Upgrades

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steve murdoch icoa #5322 wrote:Phil, where are you getting the anodizing done?
Kreater is sending it to the shop that they use - somewhere out near Pickering, I think. I'll find out.
Phil in Toronto
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Syscrush
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Re: Suspension Upgrades

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Chainguard and caliper adapters have been powdercoated, chainguard mounts are out being polished, rotor adapters are going to the anodizer with the next batch of stuff they send there, LED voltmeter is installed (nestled between the speedo and tach on a little custom mount), and GPS mount is in place.

We're getting there! It's amazing how much of my waking hours are spent daydreaming about the slightly improved ergos and drastically improved suspension & brakes on that bike. :D
Phil in Toronto
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Pics of Perry, my '79.

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Syscrush
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Re: Suspension Upgrades

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:D I RODE THE BIKE HOME TODAY :D

It was a pretty limited shakedown/test run, about an hour in almost all stop & go traffic (I don't believe in hitting the highway on a bike that's had so much changed at once with no testing along the way).

The short story is that I'm pleased with every single mod that's been done, it feels like a different bike. I'm not gonna say that it feels like a CBR1000RR, but I do think that it handles at least as nicely now as something like a CB1000R, FZ1, or Bandit 1250. The drastically improved front and rear suspension, small front end geometry changes, and slightly relaxed ergos are all doing what I want to the riding experience. It also helps that it's now holding on to all of its oil and keeping its temps under control (even in today's cool weather, the amount of stop & go I did today would have caused some scary smells and rising idle which I never observed today).

There are definitely some kinks to work out still, but I feel like we're on the right track with everything. I'll look for chances to let senior members of this board ride the bike and share their impressions, which may be more objective than mine. Once the weather warms up a bit and the dyno tune is done, I wanna finally get it out to St. Catharines.

Pics to follow once we've had some nice sunny days and I've had a chance to give it a proper clean.
Phil in Toronto
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wyly
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Re: Suspension Upgrades

Post by wyly »

Congrats to you, your mods are impressive.
Now all we need are pictures!

And here I am a month into great riding weather and I'm still waiting the return of my engine :(
CBX a work in progress, still improving...GS1150EFE completed and awaiting modifications.....RD350, remnants in boxes scattered throughout the garage

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Re: Suspension Upgrades

Post by NobleHops »

wyly wrote:Congrats to you, your mods are impressive.
Now all we need are pictures!
What Wyly said! Congratulations Phil, nice to see your vision all the way through. Post pics!
Nils Menten
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Re: Suspension Upgrades

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Now, Phil: By mid June, you should be confident enough to ride that bike for a little tour to North Carolina. Make it a leisurely two-day trip down and two-day trip back and join us for the rally in Fontana. I promise, we will all drool over the thing! :lol:

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Re: Suspension Upgrades

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NobleHops wrote:
wyly wrote:Post pics!
OK, I'll share some better ones when everything is 100% sorted and the bike has had a proper cleaning, but this is the 95% complete look at what was done for this latest round:

Image
Pro-Link forks with AK-20 cartridge internals in custom triples. Rake has been decreased by 1-1.5° and trail has been decreased by ~10-15 mm. Steering is much quicker but still feels stable up to at least 80 mph.

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GSX-R1000 rotors and Brembo 4-piston 65 mm axial calipers. Rotor adapters are anodized gold for a pretty good match with the wheels, and the caliper adapters are powder coated black for a perfect match with the fork lowers.

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Spacers were also powder coated. Those stickers have to come off the fork.

Image
I'm not generally sold on the idea of a SuperBrace, but I felt like it's more likely to help than to hurt given that the forks split compression & rebound duties which will result in imbalanced forces in the two forks. If I had a big 25mm hollow axle like on USD forks I wouldn't worry about it, but as it is I think the SuperBrace makes sense, and it looks fine on the bike.

Image
New electronic gauges, including a clock to replace the factory voltmeter. The single LED nestled between the tach & speedo is a voltmeter.
http://www.signaldynamics.com/heads-up-voltage-monitor/

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LSL FatBar Superbike bend handlebars in KTM Duke 690 handlebar risers work well with the KTM GPS mount.

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Oil cooler detail. Fitting it required giving up a bit of steering lock, but I feel like the tradeoff is worth it. I'm very pleased with how the finished product looks on there with the black A/N fittings.

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Chain guard is cut from 1/8" wall thickness square aluminum tubing. I wanted the substantial look of the guard and its mounts to go with the beefy swingarm.
Last edited by Syscrush on Sun Apr 12, 2015 10:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Phil in Toronto
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Syscrush
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Re: Suspension Upgrades

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EMS wrote:Now, Phil: By mid June, you should be confident enough to ride that bike for a little tour to North Carolina. Make it a leisurely two-day trip down and two-day trip back and join us for the rally in Fontana. I promise, we will all drool over the thing! :lol:
Mike, believe me when I say that I would really love to do that. I love that area and I really enjoy the ride from here to there (with the sole exception of the overzealous cops in VA & WV) - I've done it on every bike I've owned except for my old CBR125R (long gone), and my CBX. The guy who revalved my shocks is in Fletcher, NC and I'd love for him to get to see the finished product.

HOWEVER, this year it's not meant to be. If all goes to plan, I'll have a 6 week old baby at the time of that rally and will be just returning to work after some parental leave. Neither my wife nor my customer are gonna be cool with me taking off down to NC at that time. Nor would my own heart if I'm being honest. :-)
Phil in Toronto
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Pics of Perry, my '79.

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Re: Suspension Upgrades

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A quick update based on continuing shakedown/test rides:

The steering is so much quicker at 25-35 mph that I was a bit concerned that it might be somehow unstable at highway speeds. Yesterday I braved some pretty cold weather to do a few quick bursts up to 80 mph and it feels perfectly fine. I feel like the updated geometry and drastically improved suspension are working together as they should. The chicken strips visible in the above pics show that I'm pretty conservative on the street, but I can attest that hitting rough pavement when leaned over on highway on/off ramps and hitting the gas or brakes has gone from a harrowing near-death experience to a non-event.

I still have the instinct/impulse to unweight the seat whenever I see a bump or pothole coming, but the reality is that it just is not necessary anymore. My knees are thanking me already. I think that the front and rear ends will work a bit better together if I add a click or two of rebound in the front and take out a click or two of compression in the rear.


The brake pads are of unknown provenance and are definitely not bedded in to the rotors - I do intend to put some EBC HH pads on there, I have had them on every bike I've owned and have always been pleased with them. So far all I can say is that the lever effort is a bit higher than I expected, but it's rock-solid and the brakes have plenty of power and modulation. The proper cartridge fork internals also mean that I have much less dive on the brakes than I used to. There are some improvements to be made still, but overall I feel like everything is working together as it should.
Phil in Toronto
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Pics of Perry, my '79.

steve murdoch icoa #5322
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Re: Suspension Upgrades

Post by steve murdoch icoa #5322 »

It must feel great to finally get some seat time after all the work that has gone into your beauty. So many nice bits.
Besides not being used to the bike there is still so much crap on the roads that being hard on the gas should wait for a while.

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Re: Suspension Upgrades

Post by Jeff Bennetts »

Looks like everything is coming together nicely Phil, you have one of those builds that the more you see it the more the little details reveal themselves. What are your plans for the pipes and motor as far as the color scheme, black or silver?

I do have one suggestion though, a train light (9 inch) would look killer VS the small diameter OEM headlight, it just looks out of porportion with the heavier triple clamp you have now.

Congrats on the new baby on the way!

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Re: Suspension Upgrades

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Jeff Bennetts wrote:Looks like everything is coming together nicely Phil, you have one of those builds that the more you see it the more the little details reveal themselves. What are your plans for the pipes and motor as far as the color scheme, black or silver?
Thanks Jeff.

Motor will stay silver. Pipes will be getting black ceramic coating sometime and I'll probably revisit the muffler mount at that same time. Other planned aesthetic changes are: covering exposed wires with chrome-look braided sleeve, and replacing those awful over-long red plug wires with braided stainless wires & black caps. I think I want to rework the front brake lines a bit, too. The key is that the bike is way more rideable now, so I'm OK with taking my time on those smaller things.
Congrats on the new baby on the way!
Thanks!
Phil in Toronto
A cool guy deserves a cool bike, a dork needs a cool bike...
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cross
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Re: Suspension Upgrades

Post by cross »

That's one beautiful bike!
Can you give us a more info on that oil cooler and what it took to do it?
Thanks
Sasha
Sasha

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'99 Triumph TBS
'01 Honda Valkyrie

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Syscrush
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Re: Suspension Upgrades

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cross wrote:That's one beautiful bike!
Can you give us a more info on that oil cooler and what it took to do it?
Thanks
Sasha
It's an Earl's 13 row wide oil cooler, I ordered mine from Jeg's, along with the relevant plumbing. The stock oil lines are close to AN-10, but that hose is very inflexible and the fittings are so large that it wouldn't work with a thermostat plumbed under the tank. The thermostat is from Thermostasis.

It's not a bolt-on upgrade. The work was done by a machinist/mechanic while doing a bunch of other mods, too - here's what I'm aware of:
  1. Source AN-6, 190° thermostat from Thermostasis (comes with AN fittings but not hose ends): http://thermostasis.com/products
  2. Source 13 row wide Earl's oil cooler, AN fittings, and AN-6 hoses & ends (keep in mind that the ports on the cooler are AN-10, so your fitting has to go from AN-10 to AN-6): http://www.jegs.com/p/Earls/Earls-Temp- ... 2/10002/-1
  3. Cut and weld an appropriate fitting onto the inlet and outlet ports from the engine so that the AN-6 lines can be attached.
  4. Mount the oil cooler such that it clears the tach cable below and the plumbing finds its way into the frame without interfering.
  5. Modify steering stops to ensure that the forks or triples don't contact the cooler at full lock.
Info in my other thread here.

I'll post more pics and details when I get the bike back and have a chance to clean it all up.
Phil in Toronto
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Pics of Perry, my '79.

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cross
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Re: Suspension Upgrades

Post by cross »

Great info, thank you.
Is there really a need for 13 row cooler in Toronto?
Sasha

'82 Honda CBX
'99 Triumph TBS
'01 Honda Valkyrie

:auto-sportbike:

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