I decided to upgrade the suspension on the FJ. The stock setup is a couple of lightyears better than the old six-fiddy, but all the Cool Guys rave about how much better it is when tuned to the rider's weight.
Mostly, it's the usual problem with Japanese motorcycles. They come sprung for 150-ish pound riders. They can't seem to grasp what a bunch of fat-asses we are over here.
And to be honest, it DOES bottom pretty hard over any significant bumps, of which there are many around here. So, I sprung (arrrrrrr...humor!) for an upgrade kit matched to my riding weight - heavier springs and re-valved cartridges.The kit is basically a drop-in.
Bought the tool kit for inverted forks with the spring compressor and the long-reach allens to get to the bottom bolt and a few other doo-dads, pulled the left fork off the bike (the internals are different from left to right) and got it apart after firing up my lathe to make a tool that I was too cheap to buy which holds the cartridge while you remove the bolt that holds it into the fork leg.
All good...start to put it back together and...whoops...what's this part? Didn't see anything like it when I took the old cartridge out?
Checked around online and turns out that it's a spacer that goes under the new cartridge. Got a machined recess in one side so it fits up over the bottom of the cartridge. Ah, okay.
Take the cartridge back out of the fork leg to install the spacer and...huh...doesn't fit...what the??? Saaaayyyyy, you don't suppose...
Went in the other room and got the "old" cartridge (which has to go back to the seller as a core) and...well I'll be damned...fits fine on this one. Wadeaminnit...this cartridge is all dry and shiny. The one I'm putting back in the fork tube is all oily...DOH!
I'm a dumbass. Got them mixed up and was putting the old cartridge right back in the fork. I'd have been seriously pissed if I'd gotten everything together before I discovered that.
Mostly, it's the usual problem with Japanese motorcycles. They come sprung for 150-ish pound riders. They can't seem to grasp what a bunch of fat-asses we are over here.
And to be honest, it DOES bottom pretty hard over any significant bumps, of which there are many around here. So, I sprung (arrrrrrr...humor!) for an upgrade kit matched to my riding weight - heavier springs and re-valved cartridges.The kit is basically a drop-in.
Bought the tool kit for inverted forks with the spring compressor and the long-reach allens to get to the bottom bolt and a few other doo-dads, pulled the left fork off the bike (the internals are different from left to right) and got it apart after firing up my lathe to make a tool that I was too cheap to buy which holds the cartridge while you remove the bolt that holds it into the fork leg.
All good...start to put it back together and...whoops...what's this part? Didn't see anything like it when I took the old cartridge out?
Checked around online and turns out that it's a spacer that goes under the new cartridge. Got a machined recess in one side so it fits up over the bottom of the cartridge. Ah, okay.
Take the cartridge back out of the fork leg to install the spacer and...huh...doesn't fit...what the??? Saaaayyyyy, you don't suppose...
Went in the other room and got the "old" cartridge (which has to go back to the seller as a core) and...well I'll be damned...fits fine on this one. Wadeaminnit...this cartridge is all dry and shiny. The one I'm putting back in the fork tube is all oily...DOH!
I'm a dumbass. Got them mixed up and was putting the old cartridge right back in the fork. I'd have been seriously pissed if I'd gotten everything together before I discovered that.
