Holy freaking hell!

Ok, I don't know if I posted here or at the "other" site, but I havve been playing with my stock suspension. At first I raised the forks in the triple clamp 12mm, then I shimmed the rear shock 4mm for a total of 12mm. All I can say is Oh My Gawd! I have ridden it a bit with this setup, but not enough to really get a good feel for it.
Today I rode up it at a good clip in some twisties and I am loving how well it works. Tipping in to the turns is sooooo easy. It flips side to side so much easier now and it is so easy to carry speed through the turns. I cannot recommend this enough. It's free or nearly free and it makes such an incredible difference in how the bike handles. Don't be concerned about stability, as it is stupid stable in all respects. Braking, acceleration, etc. Hell, today I was braking hard into a downhill left turn and downshifting at the same time. I downshifted one time too many and while leaned over the back tire started sliding out to the right side. I pulled in the clutch quickly and stayed hard on the brakes and it all went right. This all happened in about two seconds but the bike just kept right on. No drama.

I know that with an aftermarket suspension it gets even better, but damn, for free, this is a MUST do! When I raised the forks in the triples, I lowered the bars back down to the top clamp, so while I don't know if that makes a difference it does put me a bit more over the front.

For the shim for the rear, I just went down to a tire shop that does alignments and they gave me an old alignment shim. It measured 4mm thick, so that puts me at a total of 12.


I. Am. Loving. This

 

I had only dropped the front anout 5 mm & it made a huge difference. I have now raised the rear about 15 mm & raised the front back up about 2 mm....can't wait to try it!

 

Hi Lint

I have been meaning to follow up on this post for ages - a very big thumbs up from me on this. :thumbsup:

Until today I have been busy organising routes for 100+ bikes about to descend on the valley next weekend. Anyway I did this change a while back and finally have time to comment fully.

Before making this change I found my 6th Gen ABS was pushing on (running wide) making corners a lot harder than they are on my Street Triple despite having very similar tyres. This small change is very easy and quick to make, you just need a 12 and 14mm spanner and ideally a torque wrench to do things back up properly when you are done. So if you are finding your VFR is a bit unwilling to corner and rather nervous on tight bends then this is something you might want to try. It certainly made a big improvement on my 6th Gen VFR.

As for process - put bike on centre stand - turn steering to one side then note (or photograph) the current alignment of both clip on bars and the triple clamp below - just in case you disturb the alignment slightly. A few photos from above/side will give you a clear indication as to how they were aligned, allowing you to reposition them correctly.

To move the forks higher you will need to release the two clamp bolts holding each fork leg.

For a starting reference measure the gap between the clip on collar and the top of the bars ( in my case there was no gap at all!). - This is the gap you need to increase to around 12mm.



So release the most difficult to get at bolt first - the lower one - you will find the steering gap provides enough space to connect a long 14mm ring spanner onto the lower clamp bolt and free it off (it is tight). By working through the steering gap you do not need to remove fairings.



Ease the 14mm bolt off until it feels loose (will move with fingers) Do not remove!

Repeat on lower bolt on other side.

Then free off the upper clamp bolts (12mm ring spanner). Do not remove.

Measure and adjust the gap to attain the increased gap between clip on and triple clamp.

In my case I found the suggested 12mm gap works a treat.

Once the gap is correct on one leg, tighten the upper bolt on that side to stop it moving. Repeat on other side - double check the measurements to make sure the gap is the same. Then tighten and torque the two lower 14mm bolts and then torque the two upper bolts.

Check the steering moves freely side to side with nothing catching and the clip-ons do not touch the tank on full lock.

On my ABS bike, adjusting the rear simply entailed backing off the pre-load adjuster a couple of turns softer. I then went for a cautious test ride.

The improved handling manners were apparent from the first corner - so well worth 30 minutes.

Re-check the bolt torques the next time you take the bike out for a ride.

Thanks Lint!



SkiMad

 

I have adjusted the gap from 0 to approximately 10mm (equal side to side). I noticed on your pic that there is more shock above the top of the clip on. Also now the locating tab on the clip on is obviously not sitting in its place, I just made sure to align it properly. Have I got this right? seems that I should lower the clip on down so the 10 mm is now above it.

 

SO in changing your rake and trail you gained tip in ease but how about high speed stability? No head shake going over crests of hills and such? I hate tank slappers!

 

I think the pictures won't look the same as I have heli-bars on mine and I think you have stock bars. I have been trying to improve the handling on my VFR for ages, and as a result the bar clamp location has been tested up and down several times. It ended up where it is, simply because it felt sort of right in terms of ergonomics on long high speed runs, but until I physically shifted the forks up through the triple clamp the effect was minimal.

I was expecting to do some trial and error testing to see if 12mm was optimum - but having started out with that gap, I found the bike just felt right and I lost any appetite to amend it further. Obviously things like rider weight/height will impact on whether increasing the gap to 12mm is optimum for you. Its one of these suck it and see changes which are only worth doing if you do feel your bike is not willing to turn when and where you want it.

As for stability - the bike remains wonderfully planted after the change - (it still weighs 240kg). I recently took the VFR on a 900km blast on the Autobahn from the Alps to Amsterdam (to buy another 4x4), and found the VFR was perfectly stable at 160kph (100mph) despite cross winds, exposed viaducts and a large top box.

My only regret is not doing this tweek earlier.




SkiMad

 

I rode it into work this morning and to be honest didn't really notice much difference. I think I will move the bars down for the ride home and see how that feels.
I looked at some pics of other 6 gens and that upper gap looks to be about the same as mine, lowering the bars should make it feel different and would also let me lock the position of them. I'll update the results later.

 

Throw a shim on top of your stock.

 

I wasn't able to adjust the bars lower for the drive home as the 12 mm wrench I had with me couldn't get a good enough grip on the bolt head and kept slipping off, I used a 6 point socket when I got home and will have to see how it goes tomorrow. I think that I could actually notice more of a difference on the ride home on the short twisty part of the ride (the Forks of the Credit, for the locals benefit) but certainly not an "oh wow!" difference. Ill have to try the rear shim too, I think I have a few in the toolbox somewhere. I'm 6ft and 250lbs so the suspension is certainly working hard as it is and the free mods are certainly more affordable at the moment.

 

Lowering the bars made a difference as well, still not as much as I had hoped for but it is much much better. Very solid in the corners and stable at speeds. I had a long sweeping turn on the highway coming to work this morning and as I was in a good lean, a car came from the onramp across 2 lanes and cut me off. I may have been a little over the speed limit but he was way under and I had no problem slowing behind him. It pays to watch what's going on around you as I saw him in plenty of time to react and know there was nothing behind me before slowing quickly. I'm sure it would have been ok with the old setup but it felt pretty solid as it is now. I think I'm going to head outside at break and look to see where to put the rear shim and see if things can get even better.
I was out riding with a couple of buddies on their CBR's last weekend and anytime they pushed it in some curves I didn't feel comfortable to try and keep up, felt like there was a slinky between the front and back wheel, looking forward to next weekend. I know the VFR won't corner like the CBR but I think our riding skills are fairly equal and the way we were riding I think I should be able to keep up with no problem now.

 

Did this mod the first week when I purchased it in 09. Raised the bars 10mm then eventually 12mm. Sfe's very stable and can keep up with some lighter sportbikes at the tracks and local mountains. I was testing it at Laguna seca and had to take the shims out the rear because it wants to drop really quick during mid turn at full lean (Maybe tire issue). Its a non issue on the streets since I ride like a granny during my commute.

The only issue is I been scraping the hell out of the pegs. Need to get some sato rearsets. Also the kick stand is too long now and need to get the shortened.

 

Might be cheaper to add a shim under the top mount for the rear shock rather than shortening the sidestand.

 

That :hump:

 

I'm pretty happy with the fork mod for now. Managed to scrape my boot the other day and that surprised me. I will do the rear mod over the winter, give me something to look forward to for next year.

 

I was thinking of raising back the front 5mm and then put the shim back in the rear. So hopefully it wont encounter the mid corner instability feel. But this vfr is relegated to a commuter and weekend long trips.
Got others to do track duty.

 

Ping, what is this mysterious mid corner instability you speak of? With my set up above, I've dove into corners hard on the brakes, strafed apexes at over 80mph, nearly full throttle, full VTEC coming out of them. I've never had anything other than pure joy. Have you set up your sag for your weight, or as best as can be with the stock stuff? That makes a big difference. I trail brake into almost every turn and even the transition from brake to throttle is smooth.
Check your body position. Squeeze the tank with your knees and pull the weight off of your arms and wrists.

 

Lint, Trail braking in to the corners are no problem. It would be fine coming in the apex but all of the sudden about mid corner fully banked on the throttle it suddenly falls, like its gonna low side.
Really lost confident after that.

Sag is set. Forks reworked. With cbr reworked rears. Looking back on n the GoPro my body position looks text book. The next session I went ahead and took the washers (shims) out the rear. It was more stable in mid corner. never been happy with the pilot powers. Running Dunlop q3 now had not taken the vfr back to the tracks and I don't take the turns as fast on the street to really tell. ( blaming the tires like most racers do) Other reason is I guess my damping and compression is a little off. But had Dave Moss looked at it. Any idea's. At the end I'm happy with it. It's my commuter and have others for track duty.

 

In the end, your happiness and confidence with the bike is the only thing that matters. I'm looking forward to having a bike for the track.