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StealthAu

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Everything posted by StealthAu

  1. Traded the tracer in today. It was a good bike, a bit of a hooligan machine as it eggs you on to give it a little more...
  2. For inflating the rear wheel, get an angled valve at the next tyre change as mentioned. In the meantime, you will notice there are large holes through the hub of the wheel. These are there for a reason. Feed the air hose through the holes to the valve, makes it a lot easier. Same on the tracers and a bunch of other yamahas.
  3. 105n/m is about as far as you can go on the stock shock. With a 105 I set my rebound at 4 clicks out, 10,000+km later I'm at 2. I'll likely replace the shock before it hits 20,000km. To replace the spring - Compress the spring. The collar falls down, little piece inside the collar comes out. Hard to describe but easy to see once the spring is compressed. If you don't have the tools/your tools aren't suitable, take the shock and spring to a shop. It is a quick and easy job with the right tools so wont cost much. Replace fork springs too. You might think you don't need to now, you'll realise you should have pretty quickly.
  4. +$400 over the base model makes it an easy decision. That's awesome value with the ohlins shock.
  5. I feel with the mt09 the base model and upgrading the suspension is a better choice. The MT10, I'd rather the sp model. The semi active ohlins setup is great and worth the extra. It all comes down to the individual. Ride them both and decide from there. Is the sp right for you, or could you have a better ride buying and upgrading the stock variant.
  6. I haven't gotten around to it yet, but as mentioned in this thread, adding a time delay relay to the circuit will result in traction control defaulting off.
  7. Get new springs. Even if you can get the bike into the right sag range, it doesn't mean it is sprung right for you.
  8. Yes, this too. I don't really think much of this point as the temperature variance is minimal winter to summer here.
  9. As you ride i, fork oil breaks down. Oil gets thinner, both rebound and compression damping effects reduce. This results in suspension behaving differently over time. With external adjusters, you can increase damping over time to compensate for this. Or, you can change fork fluid more frequently. I have one bike with no external hydraulic adjustment. I find myself replacing the fork oil every 5,000km to maintain the performance I want. Bikes with external adjusters, I'll let go up to 20,000km (max) between fork services, making adjustments periodically between services.
  10. The Pierelli Angel GT ang GT2 are way better than the ST were. ST were good tyres with pretty ordinary mileage, I think they were a single compound from memory. The GT's will get you twice as far between changes and have great grip in the dry and wet.
  11. Your diagram is right for marking bottom out. Forks need to be fully extended when doing this. The zip tie is more for measuring how much suspension you are using. Get a friend or two to help you set your sag. with you on the bike, you want both the front and rear to be compressed around 40mm from fully extended.
  12. Your old bikes could still be adjusted, just need to open the forks to do so. For the Tracer... you have 137mm of fork travel available, as per the manual. For those wondering how fork preload effects total travel, it doesn't. You would need to compress the springs a hell of a lot more than the preload adjusters can to limit total travel. Anyway, back to you, and others working out how to setup the forks. Lift the front wheel off the ground and measure 137mm down from the fork seal. Mark the fork tube here with a sharpie so you have a visual representation of where bottom out is. Chuck a zip tie on that fork leg so you have a visual representation of how much fork travel you are using. Set your sag, front and rear. Around 40mm (+/-5mm) is good. Keep it consistent front to rear. If you can't get it in this range, you need to look at new springs immediately. Not after the new exhaust or whatever else. Set your sag before you do anything else! Set your rebound front and rear. Push down on your forks and release. it should come back up and stop. If it bounces, add more rebound damping. Do the same to the rear. You want the least amount of rebound damping that prevents it from bouncing. Go for a ride with a small flat head screw driver. find a road with some bumps, rough surface or the like. Open the compression damping and see how it feels. Close it and see how it feels. Know what bad feels like so you can find the right setup. Set it back in the middle and decide from there, do you want to try two clicks less or two clicks more? Find where you want it. Now you need to see if that setup works. Each time you take a break, get where you are going, note where the zip tie is and lift it back up. Start by taking it somewhat easy, check where the tie is. Ride a little harder, check the zip tie. If the zip tie isn't approaching bottom out, it is safe to try some hard braking, really lean on them. After some hard braking, you want a good 10mm or more gap between the tie and the bottom out mark. If confidence is preventing you from braking harder, allow for a 20mm gap instead of 10mm. If you don't have enough of a safety gap between it and the bottom out mark, add a couple clicks of compression damping. If you need to add so much compression damping that it poorly effects ride comfort, you need stiffer springs. Check the zip tie regularly. Check the rebound regularly. As the fork and shock oil age, you'll need to increase damping.
  13. Bottom out is something like 18mm up from the bottom of the tube. Meaning, they'll bottom out internally while some fork tube is still showing.
  14. You could likely find a stiffer spring that will fit the stock shock, but you are limited by the stock valving. 105nm/mm is probably as far as you want to go. Rebound damping won't do anything with a 130nm/mm spring.
  15. I bought mine from Brooks Suspension in the UK. It is a Ktech spring, you will likely have a Ktech dealer closer to you. Yamaha Tracer 900GT K-Tech Shock Spring (18>) Yamaha Tracer 900GT K-Tech Shock Spring (18>) from the UK's leading...
  16. Do you mostly ride two up? 750 lb/inch equals 130nm/mm. That is a serious spring, even for you at 300lbs... They are definitely right regarding rebound damping on stock shock, it won't do squat with that spring. I got a 105nm/mm for mine, I'm 220lbs. No preload for just me. Me and a passenger, 400lbs total, it feels real nice. Rebound damping works with this spring, but will likely run out of adjustment around 20,000km. Issue with only doing the front is, it will emphasis how shit the rear is.
  17. Have you considered getting just a spring for the rear shock? It is cheap and will give you 20,000km or so to look for a new shock.
  18. Changing oil frequently is a good thing, yes.. I tend to do it every 10 - 20,000km. 10,000km is the better, I wouldn't exceed 20,000km, it really has to be changed by then. I could maintain the stock oil and force myself to change it within 10,000km intervals, though if it becomes necessity to change it this frequently, you're really running the wrong fork oil. You're spot on the weight and cst. 5w Yamilube (obviously) or Motul is good for my application, haven't checked the others. Best to pick a brand and stick with it. I use motul as it is most readily available option where I am. I did see that. I asked if it were necessary to change oil viscosity if you were due for fork service. But if you are due for service in winter, 3- 6 months away, you probably need to review your oil choice or valving. What path did you decide on? Springs are relatively cheap. Less than $200USD (from memory) front and rear would cover it if you do your own work. Chuck a zip tie around one of your fork legs, loose so it can easily slide up and down. Mark where bottom out is on the tube with a sharpie, it somewhere around 20 mm up from memory, check for yourself. With the wheel off the ground, measure down 137mm from outer fork tube and mark a dot there. This will give you a visual representation of how much fork travel you are using. If it is bottoming out, or even getting too close, it becomes a safety issue.
  19. As oil ages, it gets thinner. Hence, over time you progressively dial in more damping. With the heavier springs, 2.5w oil is fine in the left leg. In the right leg, fresh 2.5w I set my rebound 3 clicks out. 10,000km later, I'm at the last click. No where to go now, have to replace the oil. 5w doesn't have a longer life in general to 2.5w, it is an application thing. Right now at ~10,000km I need to replace the oil in my right leg, yet the left would still be good for another ~10,000km. If I had replaced the oil with 5w in the right leg when I installed the springs, my rebound would have been set further out to start with and I'd have more adjustment available now.
  20. If you pay someone else to do the spanner work, get them to change the oil in the right fork to 5w. With springs for your weight, stock 2.5w oil the rebound will be towards the limit of adjustment, good for a bit over 10,000km. 5w oil will move your settings towards the middle of the range, extending your service intervals.
  21. I weigh the same as the OP. I set the preload on the forks to max and still had 50mm or a little more of sag. Set the rear to match the front. Had a few extra clicks in the rear, but rather keep it balanced. Set the rebound front and rear to where it needs to be, push down on the bike and it comes back up without bouncing. Kept dialing in compression damping to try and stop the forks bottoming out every ride until it became uncomfortable to ride. Just couldn't get it to work. Installed new springs, to my weight, front and rear. Made all the difference. Enjoyed riding the pants off it for the last 10,000km.
  22. I've got the givi one. Similar sort of disclaimers with weights and speed. Exceed both regularly.
  23. 1 to 3% slack at point of maximum tension is the requirement from an engineering perspective. The measurements in the book are a reference point derived from this. Sometimes there are translation errors or whatever else resulting in the info in the book being wrong. As per your example. The specs for the GT are right, but I wouldn't know this if I didn't check. When I change the oil, I don't just poor in the specified amount and assume it is right, I check the sight glass..
  24. It might change a bit on the later models with longer swingarms. I checked mine a while back, when I changed the shock spring. I can't find a record of the numbers, but stock specs on the centre stand were right. When doing this, I set the slack to 3% with everything lined up. Put the shock back in, let the rear wheel hang and measure slack. this value becomes the point where you would adjust your chain. Next, remove the shock again and line it all up. Set to 1% and reassemble. Measure the slack again with the rear wheel hanging. This value is what you set it to when adjusting. It sounds like a lot of work, but if you already have your shock out, it'd add 5-10 minutes to the job and provides accurate reference points.
  25. You want 1 to 3% of the distance between front and rear sprocket centres. Not a fixed value.
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