Fazer 1000 Suspension woes and more

[unfazed]

Motul Technosynthese 7.5w is what I am putting back into the forks.
Wilbers progressive fork springs as I ride two up a lot and also tour on the 1000. Fork legs raised 10mm up through the yolks.The silver fork version shock from the S1000rr on the rear (with a 10mm spacer to allow greater adjustment of the preload) Tyres are Metzler Sportec M7RR  Hopefully I should have it sorted by tomorrow

[unfazed]

Forks back together yesterday, took it for a spin, Totally different bike, with the 7.5w oil in.
Front end feel is back as it was before I changed to 10w.  :woot

[Tim270]

Yeah im thinking of trying 5w again. Im on 10w (recommended by K-tech) but still the ride is too harsh, high speed damping is very poor, low speed is fine but the bike feels jerky around town.


So far im at 10w oil, forks 10mm drop, R6 rear shock. Settings are all near the middle of the range, preload setting 1/4 on the forks, not much preload on the rear. But I think I will get to the same point, slacking off the front, I just run into massive brake dive once the settings start to feel better.  Thinking of doing a caliper overhaul on the front and bleed them to make sure its all as good as It can be to help with the brake dive.


Im slowly backing off all settings as I ride but its still way out from where I want it to be. Every time I jump on and ride, my first sense is how jerky and unsettled the suspension is. My basic divvy is sadly a much smoother ride... I experience the 'magic carpet' feel a lot more on that, that the suspension is constantly working under me, the fazer I can feel every tiny bump/undulation and big holes are a massive bang and throw my out the seat a little...


Went through and pulled the plugs and HT leads today also, want to rule out its a ignition issue causing jerky feeling. All is fine there.


Found a few stuck links in the chain and worked those out, but cant feel much improvement.


I'd love to ride a stock one back to back with mine, to get a idea if this is the baseline, or I still have no found the issue on mine.

[kebab19]

Tim, reading back over this thread, you've tried pretty much everything obvious.  I take it you're not the original owner of the bike?  Wondering now if it's been involved in a minor front-end prang and only been half-repaired.  As in - are the fork stanchions are totally straight and the telescoping action is smooth at one part of the compression stroke and impaired at another?  Then when the fork rebounds you experience a similar jerkiness at some point in the suspension travel.

Unlikely I know but we have to consider all possibilities around this issue - wouldn't want you throwing a fortune at the problem just to find the forks are out-of-true....   

[Trebus]

I’m thinking the 10w will be too heavy having listened to the feedback. Forks are still not back in so I’ve ordered some Motul Expert light 5w which is close to Yamaha 01 oil on the Cst charts I’ve found. 15.6 for standard vs 17.9 Motul 5w. The 10w Motul is 35.9.

I think I’ll stick the 5w in and try it. If it’s too light I’ll take out an amount by volume using a syringe and bung in the equivalent of 10w therefore having somewhere in between. They’re the same oil in different weights so should be OK.

[unfazed]

Having tried the  5w 7.5w and 10W on the standard forks for setup and Wilbers progressive springs.I weigh about 90kg in full gear and my findings were

Oem and 5w oil is far too light and was running out of adjustment on the rebound damping
The 7.5w was and is just about perfect, plus easier to set up

The 10w was making it too stiff, especially on compression and not easy to setup. Never felt in control of the front with the 10w and some roads felt like it was chattering

My Present fork setting with 7.5w oil and the Wilbers Progressive springs
150mm Air gap
Forks legs up 10mm through yokes.
Compression: seven clicks back from max.
Rebound: six clicks back from max.
Preload: one ring showing
Laden sag: 35mm. (just one up with full tank of fuel)

[Trebus]

Cheers Unfazed.

Using this calculator I can mix my oil to suit. https://www.widman.biz/English/Calculato...tures.html
Didn’t want to waste the new 10w so can hopefully have enough for 2 changes ?.

[unfazed]

Handy calculator.  :thumbup

[Tim270]

Hello again gents!


After opinions, wanting to service the exup, took off the cover and found bottom left bolt is pretty much gone, someone has rounded it out and rusted stuck. (clearly aint been serviced in a long time  :rolleyes ) Had a go already with a torx bit and a impact driver but no luck. Ive no problem drilling bolts but this one is pretty awkward. Tempted to just to drop the headers and drop it to the machine shop to do so they can helicoil if needed. Anyone got any other tricks to try first?


Its flicked the 7k exup warning a few times intermittently, so im wondering if its not fully closing and contributing to my low rpm hunting. Noticed that exhaust lug on the right has corroded off too...





Ive already got the stainless replacements ready.


Cheers!

[Trebus]

Final thoughts from me on the fork situation.

To recap, my gen 1 thou hasn’t done many miles. Approx 13k. I’m 12.5 stone ish without kit.

Replaced the upper and lower bushes, 9.0Nm linear K-Tech springs and mixed some 5w and 10w Motul oil to get to 7.5w. K-tech recommendation is 10w but after hearing from a few others that it was too harsh I went with lighter. Up until today had done perhaps 40 miles fine tuning. Today did a nice run from the midlands down to the south coast, 180 miles via Cirencester and Sailsbury.  Back home tomorrow.

Initially (before today) I was not that impressed but got to say that it was one of the nicest rides I’ve had on the bike after the set up changes. The forks aren’t absolutely perfect but they are much, much better. One of the main issues I was having is the low speed reaction to bumps, feeling everything and compared to my ancient ZZR600 it was awful.

Arrived at:
9.0Nm linear springs + 7.5W Motul oil
Air gap: 145mm
Preload: 3 rings showing
Rebound: 7 clicks out
Compression: 10 clicks out

Perhaps some further optimising (I know the stock valving is crude) but I’ve now got to an acceptable feeling with the front end to go with the R6 shock.

Happy days!

I’ve had some good help from other members so hope this is useful information for somebody.

Maybe a revalve one day..... ?

[Tim270]

Cheers for the notes Trebus,


I think I am reaching the same point as you. I had a good run today constantly adjusting,


I found best for me, was reducing R6 shock to 3 preload only, reduced rb/compression too.


Front, 0 preload, and others way soft, with 10w oil, I think you are right, 7w oil + a little preload and dial in the comp/rebound is the best compromise.


Hopefully this is my last oil change


Still chasing, low speed jerkniess, on the MOT front wheel braking fluctuation came up same as the rear. from having poor powder coating, the discs were not put back flush, manually skimmed them and pulsing at the levers is pretty much undetectable now. Got me thinking though, the discs were a bit of bodge (remember I had to get the rear wheel helicoiled as I found they ruined one of the rear disc threads) Im wondering if they cooked the front wheel bearings in the oven and never replaced. I cant feel anything wrong with them doing the usual checks and nothing caught my attention with the wheel off, might just replace them anyway.


After that I can only think of fueling or chain. Front fork action does not feel bent, all appears good with straight rule.