roma258 Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Last weekend my VFR got rear ended by another bike a stop sign. I managed to keep the bike up and the givi racks absorbed most of the impact, so the damage was minimal. Yesterday was my first time out since the collision and the bike felt terrible through the turn. It wallowed, it dropped into the turns suddenly, it felt like I was losing traction on several occasions. Just brutal. I'm not a suspension expert, but it felt like there was no rebound damping there at all. Can that possibly be the result of the collision? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer vanion2 Posted July 11, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted July 11, 2011 Yes. Also check the tire while you are at it. I hope you got the other rider's insurance information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma258 Posted July 11, 2011 Author Share Posted July 11, 2011 Yes. Also check the tire while you are at it. I hope you got the other rider's insurance information. Yeah, my first thought was the tire was flat. Nope, air pressure is right around 40 psi. The other rider was my younger brother. He was riding behind me on a twisty road that had a stop sign obscured by a bush. He didn't see it and by the time he realized I'd stopped, it was too late. It happens. So is my shock farked, or is a simple dampening adjustment going to be a quick fix? I tried making suspension adjustment in the past, but had a tough time getting the spanned wrench to hook up to the dials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer hondalover Posted July 11, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted July 11, 2011 The dampening adjustment on the 6th gens is a standard screw on the bottom of the shock. The piece that you are referring to is used to adjust preload. But depending on the speed at which the little bro hit you, I wouldn't think that the shock would be damaged. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma258 Posted July 11, 2011 Author Share Posted July 11, 2011 The dampening adjustment on the 6th gens is a standard screw on the bottom of the shock. The piece that you are referring to is used to adjust preload. But depending on the speed at which the little bro hit you, I wouldn't think that the shock would be damaged. Hope this helps. That does help. The impact wasn't exactly a love tap, but if I had to guess it might've been 10-15 mph, the front end of his CBR is pretty smashed up. Does the 5th gen have the same dampening adjustment setup? Gonna have to dust off the Clymer manual tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer gswanson Posted July 11, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted July 11, 2011 If the impact was severe enough to affect the shock, I would be more worried about the swing arm/rear hub/swing arm pivot and any alignment/damage issues that may have occured. I don't see how an impact on the rear wheel that could affect the shock would not damage something else in the rear suspension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer hondalover Posted July 11, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted July 11, 2011 I completely agree with gswanson's comments. In my opinion, the only way a shock could/would get damaged would be if it was somehow twisted. And if that was twisted, I'd be more concerned about the swingarm/frame/hub assembly. You may have plenty of air in the tire, but maybe a belt broke from the impact. I'd put the bike on the centerstand and rotate the wheel to see if you see anything out of the ordinary. You may need to run the bike in gear to get the rotation speed up to where you would notice something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma258 Posted July 11, 2011 Author Share Posted July 11, 2011 I completely agree with gswanson's comments. In my opinion, the only way a shock could/would get damaged would be if it was somehow twisted. And if that was twisted, I'd be more concerned about the swingarm/frame/hub assembly. You may have plenty of air in the tire, but maybe a belt broke from the impact. I'd put the bike on the centerstand and rotate the wheel to see if you see anything out of the ordinary. You may need to run the bike in gear to get the rotation speed up to where you would notice something. Ah shite, I really, really hope it's not a chassis issue. That's the last thing I wanna deal with right now. Will check the wheel rotation and swingarm alignment tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer FHR Posted July 11, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted July 11, 2011 I don't disagree with what's been said so far, but you might want to check if the shock preload got knocked off of the position it was in before the accident. Also, I think the tire pressure front & rear should be set at 36/42. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer vanion2 Posted July 11, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted July 11, 2011 Yes. Also check the tire while you are at it. I hope you got the other rider's insurance information. Yeah, my first thought was the tire was flat. Nope, air pressure is right around 40 psi. By check the tire I was referring to the tire being damaged itself. It might be out of round or the belts may be damaged. That would be my primary suspect and the starting point if it were me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indianagenius Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Be thankful that nobody got hurt. Bikes can be repaired good as new. IG Last weekend my VFR got rear ended by another bike a stop sign. I managed to keep the bike up and the givi racks absorbed most of the impact, so the damage was minimal. Yesterday was my first time out since the collision and the bike felt terrible through the turn. It wallowed, it dropped into the turns suddenly, it felt like I was losing traction on several occasions. Just brutal. I'm not a suspension expert, but it felt like there was no rebound damping there at all. Can that possibly be the result of the collision? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indianagenius Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Be thankful that nobody got hurt. Bikes can be repaired good as new. IG Last weekend my VFR got rear ended by another bike a stop sign. I managed to keep the bike up and the givi racks absorbed most of the impact, so the damage was minimal. Yesterday was my first time out since the collision and the bike felt terrible through the turn. It wallowed, it dropped into the turns suddenly, it felt like I was losing traction on several occasions. Just brutal. I'm not a suspension expert, but it felt like there was no rebound damping there at all. Can that possibly be the result of the collision? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmitry Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Roma, I don't think the rebound adjustment could be knocked out by the rear-end impact but the bike could twist quite easily. I don't personally like PK (GMD) but he has ability to check the chassis for straightness, I suspect there is someone closer to you that has similar rig, it's not as simple as just looking at it, but in some cases can be seen with a naked eye, have someone ride behind you (carefully) and see if the wheels are in line. It might help to drive through some water and just see if wet tire marks are one on top of the other. Also 40 psi is a bit high, I would not go past 36 considering the tire heats up and pressure rises even further. It's possible that the shock just broke, but it will be noticeable without riding, just "bouncing" the bike and making some adjustments. Если хочеш позвони, я постараюсь объяснить по телефону 401-два-черыре-один-7043 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamworth Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 snip Also 40 psi is a bit high, I would not go past 36 considering the tire heats up and pressure rises even further. snip 40 psi is not high, recommended pressure is 42 psi, cold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma258 Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 Roma, I don't think the rebound adjustment could be knocked out by the rear-end impact but the bike could twist quite easily. I don't personally like PK (GMD) but he has ability to check the chassis for straightness, I suspect there is someone closer to you that has similar rig, it's not as simple as just looking at it, but in some cases can be seen with a naked eye, have someone ride behind you (carefully) and see if the wheels are in line. It might help to drive through some water and just see if wet tire marks are one on top of the other. Also 40 psi is a bit high, I would not go past 36 considering the tire heats up and pressure rises even further. It's possible that the shock just broke, but it will be noticeable without riding, just "bouncing" the bike and making some adjustments. Если хочеш позвони, я постараюсь объяснить по телефону 401-два-черыре-один-7043 Привет, good to see another Hawker taking refuge at VFRD. Looks like the Viffer is heading to the shop :( And the Hawk is spitting coolant. Not good times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma258 Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 I'm gonna try to revive this thread, because the handling issues really hadn't gotten sorted. Took it to a local shop, they noticed it too, but couldn't really pinpoint anything without taking off the swingarm. Wasn't ready to pay all those labor costs, so back to the garage it went to sit for the winter, while I was preoccupied with other bikes. Now my buddy and I are back at it. One thing's clear is that the rear wheel is clearly bent. Though I'm not sure that would cause the bike to drop into a turn and feel unstable through the turn...any thoughts? Another issue we noticed is that the shock linkage is sitting squarely to one side, kind of like this: And lastly the chain appears to be misaligned to the sprocket. Does any of this ring any bells to anyone? I ordered new shock linkage and I'm looking for a new wheel on ebay, but is there anything else I should look to do? Replace the linkage bearings perhaps? I really would like to get this thing sorted and take a few trips this year, the whole ordeal has been massively frustrating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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