Well that is the forks off then

Started by ash, June 29, 2014, 07:50:27 PM

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ash

I've had one of my forks weeping for a few weeks now on my B1. The bike has never inspired me with the confidence in the way which my old G1 did, so I decided to get them looked at by a local company called http://tillitsuspension.com
Get the forks off and the weeping one stretched out further on the stanchion when picked up. I lean on it and it has zero damping at all. It looks like the damper rod has become detached from the top adjuster. Hope it is just a case of just screwing it back together with the lock nut :(

Anyhow, they were going to look at re shimming the cartridge to improve the mid bit so hopefully I'll see a massive improvement in the handling. I'm hoping that the weeping is down to the damper rod floating and not anything else more terminal (and it's not fcuked anything else inside the fork)

As well as this, the rebound damper rod was missing from the dodgy fork. Very peed off that someone could make such a hash of it and then screw the bike back together to sell it on.

ash

Done a few miles today, went back to tillit suspension and got the owner Darren to  set the damping up on both ends for the quality of roads around this way and also my weight.  What a difference.  It feels so much more like my G1 in terms of  suspension which actually works over bumps.  Front end is brilliant,  back end just needs a little more rebound damping.

Would I recommend them ..... absolutely,  he could have just flogged me a K-tech valve kit for more money, but offered the option of  reworking the original mid  valves to K-tech spec as well as a full service and seal change as well as sorting out the bodgery of the last person who had them apart. I wish I'd done it when i got the bike 4 years ago.

Carbon_ZX6R

It is shocking what a small mod can do I remember when I first had mine set up completely transformed the bike
2004 ZX-6R B1H    
- Full Akra Titanium System                
- Gilles rear sets                     
- R&G Crash Bungs
- Hyperpro Rsc Damper
- Many other mods

ash

The options are that he charges £200  for purchase and fitting of the K-tech kit and about £75 for a service of the forks which includes seals and oil change, or in my instance £150 for the service and rework of the oem fork mid valve. Tbh he showed me the K-tech kit (mid valve) and what comes out of the standard fork, and apart from the shim stack assembly being made up of a single thick washer as oem and the K-tech having multiple very thin ones (which he replicated from his own components)  there is nothing else to differentiate between them. What you get with the kit is the convenience of buying them as a lump and fitting  yourself if you so feel inclined.

Farmer Giles

I was the same when I had my G2 professionally set up and when I got the rear shock on my B1 and my Mille R re-sprung with a lighter spring..  like night and day between riding in and riding out.

I was always skeptical of doing this kind of thing as I though as a rider of my level, competent but by no means a riding god, I would never notice the difference but you certainly do..

I'd advise anyone with old, standard suspension to invest a couple of hundred quid getting it serviced at least to restore the factory handling, before spending on go faster goodies..

2p

ash

#5
The roads around here are shit, but nothing which functioning suspension shouldn't cope with....the problem for me was the rep of the B1 being hard. It gave me the impression that they are brilliant on the track, harsh on the road, so just live with it (so I did). The reality is that with the suspension sorted, it is confidence giving on the road also. I have been mulling the notion of doing a track day on it since having it done. Maybe in a few months.

Carbon_ZX6R

Quote from: ash on July 10, 2014, 06:03:57 PM
The roads around here are shit, but nothing which functioning suspension shouldn't cope with....the problem for me was the rep of the B1 being hard. It gave me the impression that they are brilliant on the track, harsh on the road, so just live with it (so I did). The reality is that with the suspension sorted, it is confidence giving on the road also. I have been mulling the notion of doing a track day on it since having it done. Maybe in a few months.
it should be even better on the track ive got cartridge kits in mine and its brilliant on the road and well on track it gives you the ability to greatly embarrass a lot of bigger bikes....
2004 ZX-6R B1H    
- Full Akra Titanium System                
- Gilles rear sets                     
- R&G Crash Bungs
- Hyperpro Rsc Damper
- Many other mods