gabefzr6 Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 I finally pulled the trigger and called Traxxion last month. I had been thinking about The Penske 8987 shock and revalving the forks since I purchased the bike in December 2014. I think the FJ-09 is a great bike albeit with BUDGET suspension. The last three motorcycles I've owned all received a 4-way adjustable shock and revalved forks, but this time I went for the AK-20 cartridge kit. The cost jump for the AK-20s is big, however I feel it is justified by the relatively low initial cost of the bike and that I intend to keep the FJ-09 for at least 7 years. Also, I'm worth it! The fork internals arrived first, and let me tell you, I don't think I've ever enjoyed an install quite so much. I have done fork seals and oil changes before but this was a couple steps deeper into forks than I'd been. I had a blast! Dan at Traxxion was wonderful at answering all of my questions. Their service and customer support is great! The shock was a pretty straight forward install. I took the opportunity to remove the linkage to clean and lube all the joints. There were small amounts of corrosion on some of the bolts. While the shock was out, I also took the opportunity to check chain tension at the tightest point of travel. With the new shock set longer than stock I have a new chain slack requirement. (If any of you have reason to remove your shock I suggest you take the opportunity to do this.) This week I finally had a chance to put some miles on the new suspension. I started with the setting recommendations from Traxxion. 35mm of sag front and rear. (I usually use a percentage of travel but I thought I'd give their expertise a try.) Although the recommended damping settings didn't quite match my riding style, I was easily able to adjust them to my liking throughout my 200 mile ride. The handling is AMAZING now. Whereas the fork used to get easily overwhelmed by mid-corner bumps, even to shake the bars a worrisome amount, it is rock solid stable now. (I guess I can stop shopping for a steering damper.) Although the overall feeling is firm, the sharp bump(high speed compression) absorption is wonderful. This is definitely the best fork set up I've had on one of my motorcycles. The shock handles its duties beautifully as well. The preload is so easy to adjust that I don't think I'll miss the hydraulic preload adjusters I've had in the past. The whole bike, front and rear, moves in unison making it feel like a totally new motorcycle. I am really going to enjoy this riding season! 2008 Street Triple G 2015 FJ-09 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2whltuner Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 I to have just installed my AK-20 cartridges and Penske 8983 shock. What I am curious about is, what was the fork spring rate and shock spring rate that Traxxion spec'd out for you. Yes Dan at Traxxion does everything he can to make sure that his customers have the best and goes out of his way to help fine tune the suspension. My fork springs spec'd at 1.0kg/mm and the shock came with a 650lb spring, good for me, but required WAY too much preload required on the shock for -2- up, sooooooooooo, Dan has supplied me with a 675lb and a 700lb spring to test, I have installed the 700lb spring and am in process of testing. To elaborate on the subject, I weigh 217, solo with the 700lb spring, I have 38mm of rear sag w/8mm of preload on the spring. That being said, the way I am setting up my suspension is by "installed spring length". So, the installed spring length for me at 38mm of sag is 145mm (Hyperco springs from Traxxion are 153mm in free length) with 8mm of unladen sag. (I set my sag with my compression and rebound adjusters to full soft) After sag is set, I then tune my compression and rebound. My base is what Traxxion recommended, but I have now varied from those settings to my "personal feel". So now when I set up for -2- up (217/139) I will set the spring up for the same 38mm of sag and then measure the installed length of the spring. So when I go solo all I have to do is set my installed spring length to 145mm, and then when I go -2- up I will then set my spring installed length to what ever that is (haven't done -2- up sag yet) and then set my adjusters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
checkereddemon Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 That's GREAT news to hear from both of you (2WhlTuner and GabeFZR6) and I'm stoked to hear such positive news from a suspension swap. As Gabe noted, the FJ comes with a budget suspension. And for many folks, the stock setup is more than adequate. But, as you've stated, the suspension is the weak point on this bike. Now that you've gotten the suspension sorted, you can make full use of the monster motor Yamaha graced us with. I just bought my bike a month ago, and it came with a very nice suspension setup courtesy of the previous owner. I haven't had much time to ride it due to personal circumstances. But your posts give me encouragement that I made the right choice. I have a meet-up coming in April at Tellico Springs, TN and I can hardly wait to unleash this bike upon those fabulous roads!! Keep up the reports fellas, rest assured they are being read.... -CD- 2015 Yamaha FJ-09: RaceTech Gold Valves, RaceTech Rear Spring, Arrow Full Exhaust - black with w/Carbon Fibre endcap, ECU Flash, Lowered 20mm front, 15 mm rear, Denali driving lights, Fenda Extenda, Tail Tidy, Corbin Seat, Madstad 22" Windshield, OEM heated grips, Woodcraft frame sliders, Grip Puppies, BadAss Cover (Large).... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gabefzr6 Posted February 12, 2016 Author Share Posted February 12, 2016 I to have just installed my AK-20 cartridges and Penske 8983 shock. What I am curious about is, what was the fork spring rate and shock spring rate that Traxxion spec'd out for you. Yes Dan at Traxxion does everything he can to make sure that his customers have the best and goes out of his way to help fine tune the suspension. My fork springs spec'd at 1.0kg/mm and the shock came with a 650lb spring, good for me, but required WAY too much preload required on the shock for -2- up, sooooooooooo, Dan has supplied me with a 675lb and a 700lb spring to test, I have installed the 700lb spring and am in process of testing. To elaborate on the subject, I weigh 217, solo with the 700lb spring, I have 38mm of rear sag w/8mm of preload on the spring. That being said, the way I am setting up my suspension is by "installed spring length". So, the installed spring length for me at 38mm of sag is 145mm (Hyperco springs from Traxxion are 153mm in free length) with 8mm of unladen sag. (I set my sag with my compression and rebound adjusters to full soft) After sag is set, I then tune my compression and rebound. My base is what Traxxion recommended, but I have now varied from those settings to my "personal feel". So now when I set up for -2- up (217/139) I will set the spring up for the same 38mm of sag and then measure the installed length of the spring. So when I go solo all I have to do is set my installed spring length to 145mm, and then when I go -2- up I will then set my spring installed length to what ever that is (haven't done -2- up sag yet) and then set my adjusters. My fork springs are 0.95 and the shock is 625 lb. I gave Dan a weight of 210(190+20) lb. to account for a tank bag and tail bag that I always ride with. For long trips my hard bags and racks add another 35 lb. I never have a passenger. I still need to set up full luggage to set sag and do a test ride. 2008 Street Triple G 2015 FJ-09 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattonme Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 My fork springs spec'd at 1.0kg/mm and the shock came with a 650lb spring, good for me, but required WAY too much preload required on the shock for -2- up, [span style=font-size:12pt]So now when I set up for -2- up (217/139) I will set the spring up for the same 38mm of sag and then measure the installed length of the spring. [/span] wow, 1.0 up front? I personally wouldn't have gone any higher than .95. you posted rear sag. What are you getting on the front? What was "WAY too much preload" to get back to '38' with the passenger aboard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2whltuner Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 1.0kg/mm is what was spec by Traxxion, a little on the stiff side, so I use less preload on the forks so that the front doesn't ride too high. I am used to .90's on my sportbikes. I was aiming for 41mm of front sag, sitting at 40mm. Way too much preload on the rear shock, the Hyperco springs free length is 153mm (regardless of rate) so with the 650lb spring on with me solo I ran 143mm spring length,(10mm preload) with -2- up (217/139)using the 650lb spring I had to crank in 18mm of preload to get sag. The unladen sag, well their was no unladen sag due to the spring being so tight that the back end just popped up when we got off the bike. So -2- up with the 650 no good, hence the 700lb spring. Now with me on the bike, with the 700lb spring, I now run 8mm of preload and have 38mm sag with 8mm of unladen sag. The suspension is taunt for me solo, using the comp/rebound circuits I have been able to tune the suspension more for my feel. I haven't set -2- up sag or -2- up sag with bags yet, but that is more of the reason I went stiffer on the springs is for -2- up w/bags for weekend excursions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2whltuner Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Well I have put on 120mi. going back and forth to work using a combination of smooth freeway, city streets and one not so good city street, smooth freeway, smooth ride wanna go fast, city streets, wanna be a hooligan (square off the turns), not so good city street, like my '99 Dodge Dakota with sway bars, taunt but not teeth jarring (my wife has learned not to put on make-up while I'm driving my truck so while not teeth jarring it is make-up smearing) and I still have a lot of adjustability. Now, my preload settings on both the forks and the shock are on the lesser side of preload. As for so much spring, all to often bikes are way undersprung (the Mfgr's must think we all weigh 150lbs)and as such, so much preload is cranked in to get sag that, A. sag # cannot be achieved or B. sag is achieved but rebound cannot control the spring. So by using a stiffer spring with less preload, sag and unladen sag can be achieved and then the suspension can be controlled and fine tuned using the rebound and compression adjusters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattonme Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 yes the Mfrs do build their shocks to 155-170lb male. It must be an unwritten industry standard. From your numbers it seems there is a 1.45x multiplier. If the 650 needed +8 turns, I expect the 700 will only save you a turn or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2whltuner Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 Ok, one thing I omitted from my previous post about using the 650lb rear spring is that I also had the bottom preload adjuster at full hard adding an addition -4-mm of preload onto the spring making it a total preload of 22mm way to much preload. Now that being said, I went out and did more testing on the 700lb spring, a couple of clicks here (less rebound) and a couple of clicks there (less compression) and the now the rear suspension has come in. But now the front has raised its head, Yes pattonme, 1.0 springs are to stiff for the front, and yes I am trying to get in touch with Traxxion for .95's. Soon as I get those fork springs it will be on to, what round is it in the tuning of this suspension?? aah who cares, when the springs are installed, I'll get back with you'all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattonme Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 depending how ornery you want to get I would suggest you ask for a 0.9 and 0.95 for an effective 0.925. Try that and if you feel now it's too soft (doubt it) then you can get 0.95 or 0.975 depending how you mix the springs you have on hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2whltuner Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 Ahh, the insanity of it all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjninersix Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Interesting.. I weight roughly the same as you and received 0.95/600lb spring from Traxxion. I'm still experiencing a light front end and some wobble with my current settings and wonder if this has anything to do with it. Back to Dan for more insight.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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