paullavery wrote:Now I've managed to get hold of a spare '79 front end I was thinking of upgrading the stock internals, just posting up on here for advice really from members who have a lot more experience than me with the CBX & was wondering is it worth putting the money into a mod like this on the CBX ?? They are also coming back to me with options on the rear shocks as well & again trying to retain as much of the classic look.
Following up on the original question here, I'll say that from my limited experience:
Upgrading the suspension on the CBX (or any bike with bad suspension) is absolutely worth it. Money and effort spent on suspension will change the character of a bike for the better in a way that no other mods can - it helps you get more out of everything else.
If you're doing any mods or restoration, I would not suggest starting with the 35mm forks. Some people worry about flexing, and that makes sense, but my reason for advising against them is that it's very difficult to find good internals for them. The 39mm forks are such an easy swap and they open so many opportunities for upgrades of the internals that this is the smallest fork one should consider IMO.
If you want great damping with external adjustability you can get it with the 39mm forks, but if you want adjustable preload you'll have to find a 41mm fork that will fit. Any 41mm solution that I'm aware of is going to be more than bolt-on, requiring customization to mount the forks and/or brakes & wheels.
If you upgrade the shocks, have a good shop (like Maxton) valve them for you and test them on a shock dyno. It adds cost, but it's surprising how many manufacturers will sell you a shock with high-quality internals but a poor choice of shim stack - and almost anything you put on there will work better than 35 year old OEM shocks, you might not realize that you're not really capitalizing on your shock investment. I am very happy with my gas-charged YSS shocks now that they've been re-valved, but the way they were set up from YSS was ridiculous.
Phil in Toronto
A cool guy deserves a cool bike, a dork needs a cool bike... Pics of Perry, my '79.
Syscrush wrote: [*]If you want great damping with external adjustability you can get it with the 39mm forks, but if you want adjustable preload you'll have to find a 41mm fork that will fit. Any 41mm solution that I'm aware of is going to be more than bolt-on, requiring customization to mount the forks and/or brakes & wheels.
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Easiest way to mount 41mm forks is to have someone bore a 39mm CBX triple tree to 41mm. There is enough meat in the clamps to do that. I had that done to put a VF1000R fork into a CBX.
Only problem is the front wheel/fender area. The VF1000R had a 16" front wheel and the fender mount may need attention.
EMS wrote:Easiest way to mount 41mm forks is to have someone bore a 39mm CBX triple tree to 41mm. There is enough meat in the clamps to do that. I had that done to put a VF1000R fork into a CBX.
That would be quick & easy, and I did the same thing to put 43mm forks in my SV's 41mm triples & clip-ons.
My concern about doing it would be that what you gain in reduced fork flex you may lose in increased triple clamp flex. This was pointed out to me after I did the conversion on my SV and it made sense to me. If the intention of going to 41 is to reduce flex, then boring triples might not be the best way to go. If the intention is to open up the options for better damping (as it was in the case of me and my SV), then it's definitely an effective solution.
Phil in Toronto
A cool guy deserves a cool bike, a dork needs a cool bike... Pics of Perry, my '79.
I don't wanna clutter this thread with stuff about my bike, so I'll just say that the short story is that it's awesome, and the longer story can be found in my suspension thread here.
Phil in Toronto
A cool guy deserves a cool bike, a dork needs a cool bike... Pics of Perry, my '79.
The VF fork has an integral brace at the fender mount.