Vfr suspension setup

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Front ride height: 5 lines showing on fork tube above top triple clamp; Rear ride height: 3mm thread showing on linkage rod. Front ride height: 2 lines showing above top triple clamp; Rear ride height: 2mm thread showing on linkage rod. Moderating the speed with which the spring absorbs a bump is compression damping. This is done by the compression valve at the bottom of the fork leg. Moderating the speed with which the spring returns to normal after a bump is rebound damping.

This is done by the rebound valve on the end of the damper rod. The speed we're talking about here is not road speed -- it is the speed with which the suspension is moving. Sharp bumps cause high-speed fork motion. Gentle bumps, steering, or normal braking cause low-speed fork motion. So, what's wrong with stock valve assemblies? They work, but they're not custom tailored to you. Also, the design of aftermarket kits suggests that the stock piston bodies may sometimes be of poor design with simple single-stage valving which can lead to poor low speed control and harsh response due to hydraulic lock under severe suspension inputs.

One popular aftermarket design uses a piston body with extremely large openings, ensuring that it will not restrict fluid flow. The piston body has what MX-Tech considers to be "right size" openings, large enough to avoid restricting flow at maximum suspension movement speed, but no larger. This is intended to provide a higher pressure at the port or seat of the piston, causing a greater deflection of the shims. This results in a larger variance in the orifice size which gives much better control over the amount of damping created.

Better control of the orifice size means better control over the damping. This alone provides improvements over stock. But I wanted to go beyond that, and try the mid-valve idea. On typical street bikes with cartridge forks, the rebound valve assembly is located on the end of the moving damping rod, and the compression or base valve assembly is stationary on the bottom of the fork leg.

Each has a seal or check-valve that stays closed in one direction of fork oil flow, and opens wide in the other direction. This forces the fork oil through the compression valve as the descending rod displaces oil in the cartridge, and through the rebound valve as the rod rises again. The concept of a mid-valve borrows from common practice in the motocross world.

Just like the others, it too consists of a piston and a stack of shims. The check-valve is removed from the rebound piston assembly, and the mid-valve is installed directly on the back of i. This allows the mid-valve to act as an additional compression damping valve. The compression valve's shim stack can now be set up to focus on damping of low-speed and small-volume fork motion. The mid-valve, with very large openings in its piston to handle larger flow, is set up to "float" open enough to not affect low-speed low-volume damping but takes over under mid- and high-speed and high-volume motion to better control compression in those conditions.

This can include not only severe bumps, but also more gradual motion that still produces a large flow of fluid, such as braking and back-and-forth cornering esses. This appealed to me as a way to reduce fork dive under braking.

Further, it seems that bike reviews in magazines often relate compression behaviour to perceived ride comfort, so the mid-valve seemed like a smart idea to offer better compression control well-tuned for a variety of conditions. One could build a mid-valve onto the back of a stock rebound valve and leave it at that, but this would not be as effective because of the restrictive nature of a typical compression valve.

An aftermarket compression valve, with its larger flow capability, is a better bet for use in conjunction with a mid-valve. A combination of the predictability of standard fork internal dimensions and the tuner's experience with revalving lots of bikes lets the tuner select a valve stack that will achieve the characteristics the rider desires across the range.

With everything apart, and the bike due for a fork oil change anyway, it made sense to install new seals while we were at it to ensure that everything fit snugly and moved smoothly. Nothing against Jamie but there just isn't enough spare cash in the non existent bike budget. Regular maintenance happens but upgrades that cost money not so much.

This bike is the best handling bike I've ever owned but I'm constantly reading mainly on this site that it could be improved, Is this something I should be concerned with or just ride and enjoy what I have? I would assume that losing 70 to 80 lbs would be the cheapest improvement that I could do and that is in the plans, has been for years now Thanks for the input Jamie.

I get what you are saying and for now I am still happy with the bike, I'm sure that I am not pushing it to that point yet anyway. Like I said, its still the best bike I've ever owned and I'm not at the point that I feel the need to do something to it to improve the handling. Nothing worse than finding out after its all done and back together that there was something you could have done different.

There are wants and there are needs, and I needs more cash for my wants. OOTV , Jul 20, Jamie I have my old shock from my CBR laying around somewhere. It does not have many miles on it, maybe 4k. I switched to an Ohlins shock and forks with suberbike valves long ago. Can that shock be used on my 09 VFR? Gator , Jul 20, Without stepping on toes, or harming someones business, I would caution people on blindly accepting someone elses opinion. I have ridden motorcycles for over 35 years and raced a few years on various motorcycles.

I have learned to feel what my suspension is doing and try to isolate issues by repeating the same circumstance to solve an issue. I have tried various rates of springs, shocks, damping combinations, etc. I started out on a Kawasaki KZ Now that bike never handled all that well. Try and find out what you really need. There are a lot of inexpensive things that can be done to improve your bikes handling. Try thicker oil in the forks, put a longer preload spacer in the tubes. Cut a coil or two off to increase spring rate.

Buy a heavier spring. Actually change the oil in your forks, and refill to spec. Put a cable tie around your fork tube to see how much travel you are actually using, to determine if you really do need a heavier rate of spring. See if your OEM shock can be rebuilt. Ask Jamie, as he does rebuild stock shocks, correct?

Try and determine what you actually wish to accomplish though. Why do you want to rebuild it? Because you were told you have a scary bike? Is it harsh after hitting a series of bumps? Or are you constantly being thrown from the saddle after hitting a bump? Try to see if YOU have an issue. Ask on this forum if anyone has put cartridge emulators on, and if they helped, if you have a bike without cartridge forks.

Another thing may be seeing if your cartridge forks can be altered, to increase damping, if you are using too much travel and need heavier springs. Don't settle for "nothing can be done"! I bet it can. Start with the cheap stuff, and work your way up from there. Even on your clap trap stocker, riding in a smoother manner will gain you time through the corners. Get a copy of "Twist of the Wrist" by Keith Code, he'll teach you how to ride in a controlled safe r manner, without changing anything ,except where you chose to spend your attention.

I am way safer now by just watching when I brake, let off the brakes, and initiate my turn in point. If I get the timing correct, I can rocket into and through a corner. Maybe I'm just getting old and remember the really bad suspension from some of my old bikes?