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What spring rate did you get on your forks?


swimmer

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1 hour ago, lshark said:

my Ohlins is fine, what i meant is that if i still had the OEM shock installed, i would have had DMr revalve it....his work is right on the money....he does do Ohlins in a few years when it's time to overhaul the shock, i'll send it to him.......i took my bike to a local racing shop and had the sag and damping settings done.....BTW, the VFR forks and shock are KYB

 

Ah, they are Showa on the VFR800. Bad assumption on my part.

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And the maintenance manual  calls for KYB fluid.  When I was researching my fork up grade last year I was coming across everything indicating it was Showa.

 

Anyway, my new springs are going in next weekend.  Got .95kg/mm.  Hope it works out.  Dan at Traxxion said he would refund the spring purchase if I like the new set up better and send my 1.10kg springs back.

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When I stripped my OEM shock's preload adjuster the markings indicated Showa as well. I also know how Kayaba and Showa forks looks like because I worked on both and forks definitely looks Showa to me. No difference for me tho as they will be swapped anyway :wink:

 

I'm still torn between Traxxion and Ohlins. I'm definitely going to order a cartridge conversion - not interested with re-valving(not worth it IMO) and a new forks for couple of grand.

 

Traxxion is 20mm, stock adjusters retained - not sure there's an option to install Traxxion caps in the VFR1200 forks. Price just slightly above 1 grand USD.

 

Ohlins NIX is 30mm, Ohlins caps as standard, custom Kyle's kit for VFR1200, price around 600 SD more. Ohlins caps are around 200 USD tho but the price is still way higher.

 

Opting for Ohlins for now but funds will have the last vote I guess.

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When I was shopping for my front suspension upgrade I made my decision to go withe Traxxion kit due in a very large part because I didn't need to have more than a weekend of down time on my motorcycle as I could install the kit myself. I ride/commute year round and didn't want to be stuck driving my car to work for 3-4 weeks while I waited to get my forks done by DMR or somewhere else that required me to send them in.   And when you include the back and forth shipping of the both complete fork legs the price difference came down to a few hundred bucks.

 

If having some down time on your motorcycle is not a major consideration it would be hard not to give DMR a serious consideration considering how many people are happy with the results.

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30 minutes ago, swimmer said:

When I was shopping for my front suspension upgrade I made my decision to go withe Traxxion kit due in a very large part because I didn't need to have more than a weekend of down time on my motorcycle as I could install the kit myself. I ride/commute year round and didn't want to be stuck driving my car to work for 3-4 weeks while I waited to get my forks done by DMR or somewhere else that required me to send them in.   And when you include the back and forth shipping of the both complete fork legs the price difference came down to a few hundred bucks.

 

If having some down time on your motorcycle is not a major consideration it would be hard not to give DMR a serious consideration considering how many people are happy with the results.

With the DMr fork drop in kit this concern is now somewhat moot. However the rear shock can still be the concern. Although this isn't for everyone, buying a donor shock or even a little more extreme, a set of forks to send back is an option. This is what I did for my 5 Gen and when I got the forks back I swapped them out and then sold my set for what I paid for the donor set. By sheer luck, someone was looking at buying new stanchion tubes and was more than eager to buy the forks I had. I didn't have to wait to sell them and I could still ride all the way up to the installation date!

 

I have also done this with a set of wheels. Not just for me but for others too. I donated my front wheel to Rogue when he had his newly acquired 8 spoke powder coated, when he got his wheels back, he gave me his front wheel. I'll be doing this again with another friend who wants to powder coat his wheels. Of course this works best if the return item is of equal or better quality than what you have LOL!

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When I sent my suspension out to DMr, my bike was out of service for 3 few weeks, but only because I took my time.

 

4 days UPS transit time to DMr.  7 days to get them back from DMr (I believe that included the weekend).

 

So realistically, it's a 15 day out of service from beginning to end including the weekend days (remove old suspension, re-install new suspension).  Removing and installing them isn't difficult but it did take me about 1.5 hours each end to remove, and same to install.  Again, I wasn't in a big hurry.  Experience with this process cuts that down time a lot.

 

 

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DMr is probably the best way to do it for the reasonable price. He is a good guy and I'm sure he does his work right but he's just swamped with his work.

I asked him to just send me the kit so I can do it myself as I'm very handy with wrenches and I didn't want to spent 200 bucks just for sending the forks overseas.

He replied after 2 weeks I believe and said "no problem I will sell you the DIY kit and send it with the springs". I asked few more questions - he was replying every 3-7 days.

 

And after 3 months I stopped waiting and that was in July...and that's the reason I still don't have my front suspension modified so far... sending stuff to him and waiting 2-3 months to have it back? Hmmmm....I'll pass.

 

Anyways, I just "broke my wallet" and ordered the cartridge kit with 11N springs. Can't wait to install it.

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24 minutes ago, veeefour said:

DMr is probably the best way to do it for the reasonable price. He is a good guy and I'm sure he does his work right but he's just swamped with his work.

I asked him to just send me the kit so I can do it myself as I'm very handy with wrenches and I didn't want to spent 200 bucks just for sending the forks overseas.

He replied after 2 weeks I believe and said "no problem I will sell you the DIY kit and send it with the springs". I asked few more questions - he was replying every 3-7 days.

 

And after 3 months I stopped waiting and that was in July...and that's the reason I still don't have my front suspension modified so far... sending stuff to him and waiting 2-3 months to have it back? Hmmmm....I'll pass.

 

Anyways, I just "broke my wallet" and ordered the cartridge kit with 11N springs. Can't wait to install it.

Did you get the Traxxion or Ohlins?

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5 hours ago, Rogue_Biker said:

I never dealt with DMr before last month.  I sent him several emails and he responded within 24 hours.  This was in July 2016 also.

 

Just saying what my experience was with DMr.  Not sure why your emails were taking 3-7 days to get a response.

 

 

I don't know either but he eventually forgot about me for good and never replied again. That was couple of months ago - maybe he's better now?

Not saying he's a bad guy - I just have not had any luck with him.

 

Talked with Kyle for a past two days - he seems to be in rush be re replies accordingly. Broke my wallet and ordered NIX30 conversion. He said he will send in early next week with courier so I will have it by Friday.

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1 hour ago, eastbowl2 said:

My Traxxion forks are at .95kg/mm.  185lb rider.  Just for info.

My .95 springs arrived today.  I wonder why traxxion would give me 1.1 springs and you  .95 springs when you are 30lbs heavier.

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1 hour ago, veeefour said:

Nice.  It's going to be amazing I am sure.

 

My new .95kg/mm springs arrived Friday and I installed them Saturday.  The bike rides much nicer now.  Absorbs sharp bumps much better.  Feels like I am better utilizing the full range of suspension travel. Still have some tweaking to do to fine tune it but finally feeling satisfied with my purchase.  Dan at Traxxion told me every kit they have sent out for the VFR1200 has been with either 1.1 or 1.15 springs and 1.1 really should be the correct springs for me.  But, he is glad the new springs are more to my liking and is refunding the spring purchase upon me sending the old ones back. 

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9 hours ago, swimmer said:

Nice.  It's going to be amazing I am sure.

 

My new .95kg/mm springs arrived Friday and I installed them Saturday.  The bike rides much nicer now.  Absorbs sharp bumps much better.  Feels like I am better utilizing the full range of suspension travel. Still have some tweaking to do to fine tune it but finally feeling satisfied with my purchase.  Dan at Traxxion told me every kit they have sent out for the VFR1200 has been with either 1.1 or 1.15 springs and 1.1 really should be the correct springs for me.  But, he is glad the new springs are more to my liking and is refunding the spring purchase upon me sending the old ones back. 

I had a quick ride today - stock recommended settings for now, did SAG myself yesterday in a hurry and it seems that front is almost without preload. Need to re-set it again later today.

But the first turns were already a blast - this thing is dead planted right now. Hope to ride a bit more today.

 

Of course he will not admit to sending you waaay too hard springs to begin with. That is why he made that story - no drama nor damage as long he sent a correct ones free of charge - good for him.

I had a good experience with Dan Kyle - even tho I received my order a bit later as promised. I can recommend him - what's really good about him is that he replies his emails very fast.

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About NIX30:

 

400km's done today. 

No chicken stripes on my tires anymore rolleyes.gif I had a good ride with a new KTM1290 GT last month with super duper modern electronic suspension which was just super good. 
I'd now say full Ohlins in VFR1200 is even "one click" better. Just amazing yo.gif

I played with rebound and compression on the way. Stock both 12 clicks out.

2 clicks less on compression makes already a race bike front suspension - found 13 clicks out to be good for me. 

Turned the rebound 1 click back to increase the damping - 11 clicks out.

20 clicks of adjustment total makes a very wide range for adjustment. 

Highly recommended mod!

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