Jump to content

Penske 8983 + Traxxion AK20 Installed @ RMR Suspension


fjninersix

Recommended Posts

Immediately
...nah. I thoroughly enjoyed the bike all season and will wait it out on the suspension a couple of years. I commuted, did trips and twistys... just don't feel the need enough to blow (er... invest) this much cash into a brand new budget machine. When its time to service the stock unit, I might just swap things out then. In the meantime, I will enjoy reading the reviews and experiences of these life transforming "must have" upgrades... and take notes. ::)
Yeah, many people are happy with stock suspension.  Just don't make the mistake of riding a properly set up motorcycle.  Your awakened perspective will cause you misery.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member
...nah. I thoroughly enjoyed the bike all season and will wait it out on the suspension a couple of years. I commuted, did trips and twistys... just don't feel the need enough to blow (er... invest) this much cash into a brand new budget machine. When its time to service the stock unit, I might just swap things out then. In the meantime, I will enjoy reading the reviews and experiences of these life transforming "must have" upgrades... and take notes. ::)
Yeah, many people are happy with stock suspension.  Just don't make the mistake of riding a properly set up motorcycle.  Your awakened perspective will cause you misery.
Ditto on having experienced great suspension properly set up. My 60 year old former cycle racing body was complaining about the hard hits that were coming through the FJ-09 stock suspension. I went for the Ohlins suspension package for around $1,800. The fronts are the only ones on the market with the 30mm inners. Only took me about one hour to get everything installed myself. Ohlins sent the package already dialed in or provided their suggested settings. With the old suspension hard hits would flop the center stand and send a hit up my spine that would make me cringe. With the ohlins, over the same terrain, about 95% of the cringe hits are gone, and I have not heard the center stand slap the frame. I have about 1k on this suspension and the biggest improvement is how well the suspension deals with extremely rough road while under extreme cornering. Try as I might with all the settings, I have ended right back where Ohlins suggest you set them.  For perspective on my FJ-09 performance now. I have a 2 wheel dyno ECU flash, Graves titanium exhaust with the sound insert in, Ohlins suspension front and back, 15 tooth front sprocket, raised the forks 15 mm in the front,  and a Power commander V with the downloaded map for my set up from the commander site. What I experience stock in first gear, I now enjoy that level of tire lifting performance in second gear. At 50 mph in second gear, with roll on throttle only, the front tire floats all the way to 81 mph red line. Third gear will do the same going over small hills and comes back down at 99 mph. If anyone wants to pm me  about installing the Ohlins set up, I will explain how to change the rear shock by yourself in less than 15 minutes and how to get the front fork guts out in seconds after they are off the bike. Stupid me followed the factory service manual which greatly added much unneeded steps to the task.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...
Could you please post up a pic of the AK-20 valve caps installed on your FJ?  The caps I received are quite tall and will stick up considerably above the triple clamp.  Just want to ensure I'm heading down the right path.
 
 
AK-20_Valve_Cap.jpg
Link to comment
Share on other sites

normally the AK comes installed by the factory direct or an authorized service center. That cap is indeed curious though not necessarily "wrong". How about a pic of the rest of the guts? Have you laid the AK beside the FJ internals and compared? It's possible they shipped you the wrong SKU.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The following is a photo of the Traxxion AK-20 kit including cartridges (conveniently labeled "C" compression and "R" rebound), springs for my weight and riding style (0.95 and 1.00), valve caps (compression and rebound) and the Traxxion cartridge holding tool.  7 weight fork oil was also provided.  I have an email in to Dan Anderson regarding the height of the valve caps (22 mm) just to double check.  I will hopefully be performing the install this weekend.
 
 
Traxxion_AK-20_Kit.jpg
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×