Cheap Fork Options
This is the
cheapest way I have come across to get a decent
improvement out of the stock forks & let me go on to
say that I have tried this before on other bikes &
had nowhere near the increased level of performance that
I have felt on these forks so it's really just a matter
of luck with the way Honda decided to valve the forks
that is affording us quick cheap way to get a little
better performance. Also be advised that while this does
offer a good amount of benefit over the stock forks, I
have to stress that the stock forks are absolutely
horrible in my opinion. This is a good, cheap mod in that
it improves the forks over OEM, but it's not even in the
same ballpark as having them properly revalved with
Ohlins valves let alone an actual drop-in Cartridge Kit
or Ohlins forks etc. The real issue with suspension is
you typically get what you pay for and how much you
improve your suspension correlates to how much you are
willing to spend So here's the deal: swap the springs to .95's (a pair of springs costs about $150) & add 5wt Silkolene RSF Synthetic fork oil (roughly $15 a bottle) to change the damping rate. I also polished the fork tubes to reduce stiction. Depending on your weight you may choose to try different springs or even a combination say a .95 in one fork & a .90 in the other to achieve the proper sag numbers & ride. 38-40mm of rider sag is what we are looking for in the forks. If you have a fork spring compressor tool you can do the work yourself in a little over an hour if you are pretty good at getting the forks on & off the bike etc... I went 110mm on the fluid height without the springs installed |