JamieDaugherty

I offer full spring and revalving for the VFR1200 forks. The cost for that is less than the above mentioned kits - and I include the installation! I must be doing a bad job of advertising because I keep finding that people are not aware of this.

That doesn't always work - FYI

The VF500 shock is pretty long. A new lower clevis would be needed no matter what. Along with a variety of other modifications of course.

I see this in my shop from time to time. There is some finesse that can be used, but that is a learned skill. Once the bolt just spins you often have to drill it out. On reinstall you need to chase the M8 threads on the compression base holder or you will run into exactly what you found - the screw won't go back in. Normally you can impact it back out and start over. A word of advice: go ahead and remove the forks from the motorcycle. It take 5 minutes and saves a lot of grief.

Looks great!

Penske is great about parts help for stuff like this. You will never get the "Duh..." sound from them. I do mix-and-match shock builds like this every day so it's nice to have a helpful person on the other end of the phone.

Honestly, you are really chasing an impossible target with the stcok suspension. Nothing you can do with adjustments will make the problems go away. The problems you are noticing result from the low spring rate, lack of low speed damping, and excessive high speed damping of the stock VFR suspension. The only way to correct these would be to replace the internal parts. Feel free to play around but be prepared to settle for a "least horrible" result.

Matris is pretty decent stuff. The only problems are availability and price. For sure there are other options that are much cheaper and perform as well or better.

Most often this is due to the springs rubbing the inside of the forks. That happens normally but sometimes it results in noise. I would pop the caps off and make sure the springs and spacers are centered properly. Chance are good that will fix it.

+1

Often times a lowered bike does not immediately feel "bad" because the lower center of gravity makes the bike easier to rotate into a lean. However, the physics of how a bike handles is adversely affected by this change. It is a fact that a lowered bike cannot corner as fast as standard height.

Lowering a bike is often needed for shorter riders. It is important to remember the negative impacts on the handling when doing this. Of course, you don't get something for nothing! There are a couple of ways to do it correctly and MANY ways to do it wrong - be wary of "easy" mods. To properly lower a motorcycle requires internal modifications to both the shock and the forks as well as revised spring rates for both ends. There is no free lunch, unfortunately.

Yes, that seems really high. I charge $120 including the seals on bare forks. Add $65 if I need to take them off the bike and reinstall. I'd look for a different shop!

Man, I can't wait to see how this turns out!

Be careful - you'll want to make sure and have 10-15mm of clearance at all positions. You'll want to maintain that because the forks do flex under braking. More than people think! Don't push the limit too far or it will likely cause you problems in the long run.

The setup with the F4 lowers is slightly shorter than the stock VFR forks, but just a couple mm. Yes, you need the VFR's cartridge tubes because clearances are critical (with all bikes, really) and that is the easiest way to ensure everything would be ok on the VFR. Since you stated that you are working on a different bike you might be able to use the CBR cartridge tubes if there is enough room. Having 120mm of travel is preferred over 109mm, but it's not the end of the world.

You would reuse only the VFR stanchion tubes. Getting the spring spacer length correct is a bit of a challenge, but I can help you there. That's about it, pretty straightforward. You also have to use the VFR cartridge tubes if you are putting the forks on a VFR. If not you can use either. Keep in mind the VFR cartridge tubes will net you 109mm of travel and the CBR's will give you 120mm. Subtle difference but it can matter for a custom job like you are doing.

Let me know where to be and I'll buy it!!!! I'm looking for another VF1000 project right now, actually.

Let me know where to be and I'll buy it!!!! I'm looking for another VF1000 project right now, actually.

Anything is possible, but what you are suggesting would likely take a lot of work. Plus the valving in the R/T forks stinks (pretty common with the O brand frankly), so you would need to respring and revalve them. At that point you might as well just do the springs and valving to your stock parts and end up in the same place.

I can set you up with a set of fork springs, just shoot me an email. Something to keep in mind is that and progressive rate spring is bad. You want springs that are a linear rate.

You are absolutely correct! For $2k I could do a sprint and revalve on three bikes!

So you ended up with a 900lb/in spring? That is very close to the stock rate. I've not known of that to work well for a rider of your weight, especially on rougher roads where you need higher spring rates to handle the additional loads generated. My suspicion is you would have been better off with a valving change, but at least you found something you like which is most important.

Yep, shoot me the previous owner's info and I will let you know how I set it up. Probably best to email it to me at jamie@daughertymotorsports.com

I'm talking from merely a higher rated spring than the VFR point of view. Not everyone has nearly $400 to throw at the suspension, and you can pick up a XX shock for less than $50. If you HAD to go cheap on the quick, it is a viable option for people over 200 lbs. This is true, but it is still WAY low for the VFR. The spring on a CBR1100XX shock is good for a 65lb rider, so if my 10 year old daughter was riding the bike it would be ok. Same goes here too. The stock spring on the CBR929 shock is the same as the VFR800, the problem is an ideal rider for that spring is 12lb. None of my kids are that small anymore so I won't even make a correlation for that!