2001 VFR800. 24K on the clock. For ages now I have been trying to find a more modern bike with better suspension, but has an equally comfortable riding position to my modified bike. I've tried more bikes than I can remember now, and so far, nothing is as comfortable as my current ride. Current set up is:- Straight bar conversion. Foot pegs lowered by 25mm with rear brake and gear lever adapted to suit. Sargent seat. Therefore I am considering spending a reasonable amount of money to improve the handling. I am a moderately fast rider on the road, and spend about 40% of my time with a pillion. Therefore I want remote adjustable preload on the rear. I want to ideally strip out the front forks and clamps and change them for something from another bike which will allow me de-link the system. The reason for this is purely to allow me a wider choice of donor bikes. Currently I have tried de-linking the front whist keeping the original fork setup, but that has proved disastrous, so put the original lines back on, but there is a lot of sponginess in the front brake lever. All calipers have been stripped, cleaned and rebuilt with new pads. No faults found to the front or the rear. I am about to replace all of the original lines with a Goodridge system in their original line up. I have also bought a replacement kit for the rear master cylinder as my back brake is nothing short of 'crap', on a good day. The rear shock was replaced about a year ago with a Hagon unit with remote preload, and although it is an improvement on the original, I suspect it can be improved again. I'm led to believe that sports bike front suspension systems have more adjustment. So that's the background to this post, and my question is this. 1. Who has manged to replace the front end of their bike for the better? 2. Which donor bikes are available for this? 3. And who can I contact to have the work done for me?
What proved disastrous with regards to your delinking? there are plenty of guides out there. Why not sent the forks away to get re-valved and sprung for you. Same for rear suspension?
I would not worry about de-linking. I have been riding on the linked brakes for all my years of ownership, and I don't have a problem riding "fast". Since you already took care of the bars, and seat, I recommend the following three upgrades. Replace your front brake lines with braided SS. That will address the sponginess in the lever. http://vfrworld.com/threads/diy-stainless-brake-lines.54443/ For your shock, upgrade to a Kawasaki ZX10R take-off like I did. It rides AWESOME!!! http://vfrworld.com/threads/discovered-a-great-shock-upgrade-for-5th-gen.54848/#post-580702 Lastly, for your forks, I would recommend buying a drop in kit from Jamie Daugherty. http://daughertymotorsports.com/Backup/forkcartridges.html If you do the above, I think you would be extremely happy with the results. Jose