F2 forks

daught

daught

Well-known member
I think I am bottoming out my forks on potholes and bumps. Basically theres a big BANG when I go in to one. I weight 150lbs, so suspension isn't usually an issue for me. I am pretty happy with the suspension otherwise. Maybe coming off a SMC I need to adjust my riding style too. I dont remember my old F2 being that bad. Maybe the fork oil is too thin? I swapped the springs from my old fork but it's the same.

I read a lot of threads about swaps. I know 94 F2 or F3 cartridge internals fit. There's also the racetech emulators. How do the emulators compare to the newer forks. What would be better?
 
Does it have compression adjustments? It's not over filled with fluid?

Put a zip tie on your fork tube so you can tell how far it's moving/if it's bottoming.

-Jamie M.
 
toysareforboys said:
Does it have compression adjustments? It's not over filled with fluid?

Put a zip tie on your fork tube so you can tell how far it's moving/if it's bottoming.

-Jamie M.
Click to expand...

It just clicked. I bet it has TOO much oil. That would cause it to come to a sudden stop, no? When I swapped my springs I noticed it had more oil than my old forks that I filled with oil by the book.
 
daught said:
It just clicked. I bet it has TOO much oil. That would cause it to come to a sudden stop, no? When I swapped my springs I noticed it had more oil than my old forks that I filled with oil by the book.
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Yep. My 07 R1 forks had too much oil and would SMACK when you hit a big bump, especially if you were braking at the time! I thought something was very broken. John Sharrard said it's like a hydraulic bottom out, the fluid is incompressible so it feels like metal on metal.

-Jamie M.
 
What about when the forks have springs & rebound/compression valves set to the riders weight and it feels like the forks are diving too much?
 
silverbullet132 said:
What about when the forks have springs & rebound/compression valves set to the riders weight and it feels like the forks are diving too much?
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On my R1 the compression adjustments were almost non-existent. I guess it's a problem with those forks, very little adjustability for compression. John replaced the compression adjusters with ktech compression adjusters and the different was night and day.

To fix my big dive problem he replaced the valving in my forks. No more dive, everything is nice and smooth and controlled.

Also, my forks were very "sticky". It took a bit of pressure on the front end before the forks would start compressing, and when you let it up you could feel it stick at the bottom, then release and come up. He installed ultra low friction fork seals and scrapers and polished the fork tubes and now it's smoooooth like butter. You can get the forks moving with pressure from your pinky finger :D

John is REALLY great at replying by e-mail. Just let him know what your issues are, your year/model of bike, your height/weight and he'll look your bike up in his service book and see what type of work he's done on them for your size of rider. It's great. acceltech@sympatico.ca

-Jamie M.amie M.
 
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Damn, they had 100 ml extra oil. They feel normal now.

Bet it went down like "yo bro, just fill it and crank the preload to for best susponsion... bro"
 
daught said:
Damn, they had 100 ml extra oil. They feel normal now.
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Nice! Mine had 144ml too much, almost filled to the top :(

The fork oil, probably original 2007 :(

IMG_4981.jpg


-Jamie M.
 
toysareforboys said:
On my R1 the compression adjustments were almost non-existent. I guess it's a problem with those forks, very little adjustability for compression. John replaced the compression adjusters with ktech compression adjusters and the different was night and day.

To fix my big dive problem he replaced the valving in my forks. No more dive, everything is nice and smooth and controlled.

Also, my forks were very "sticky". It took a bit of pressure on the front end before the forks would start compressing, and when you let it up you could feel it stick at the bottom, then release and come up. He installed ultra low friction fork seals and scrapers and polished the fork tubes and now it's smoooooth like butter. You can get the forks moving with pressure from your pinky finger :D

John is REALLY great at replying by e-mail. Just let him know what your issues are, your year/model of bike, your height/weight and he'll look your bike up in his service book and see what type of work he's done on them for your size of rider. It's great. acceltech@sympatico.ca

-Jamie M.amie M.
Click to expand...

He did not work on the bike. I ordered the parts online and had them installed by a member here. Maybe the forks are diving like they are supposed to, and I am just used to super stiff suspension.



Sent from my SH-02E using Tapatalk 2
 
silverbullet132 said:
He did not work on the bike. I ordered the parts online and had them installed by a member here. Maybe the forks are diving like they are supposed to, and I am just used to super stiff suspension.
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It doesn't matter if he didn't work on YOUR bike, he'll still help ya get the problem diagnosed ;)

-Jamie M.
 
heavier gauge wire on aftermarket springs, or springs with more coils in their length, can displace more oil than the stock ones did. This can lead to overfilling, even if you put the stock recommended volume of oil into them. Better to measure down to the oil from the top of the tube, rather than just counting on a certain volume to be right.
 
omnivore said:
heavier gauge wire on aftermarket springs, or springs with more coils in their length, can displace more oil than the stock ones did. This can lead to overfilling, even if you put the stock recommended volume of oil into them. Better to measure down to the oil from the top of the tube, rather than just counting on a certain volume to be right.
Click to expand...

Arn't fork oil levels supposed to be measured with the springs out of the forks though? So even if your at the correct height the difference in the volume of springs can still get the fork oil level out of wack? Not questioning you, I'm just curious because I genuinely know very little about suspension.

Also, my Ohlins FG352 forks don't have a recommended oil level. The Ohlins manual just comes with a graph showing the effects of damening increasing at an accelerated rate with a linear rate increase in fork oil volume.... I guess they figured if you bought a set of Ohlins forks you should know how to set them up :p
 
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