Fork Upgrades?

Long story but, the wife gave me too much time to surf while I was sequestered during a baby shower at our place, and the weather was bad, and all my buds were out of town on a 4-day ride which I couldn't go on b/c it's getting too close to the time when the kid relating to said baby shower might be showing up.

So with all this time I got to thinking and poking around for suspension upgrades - has anybody out there got fork upgrades in the form of Racetech (springs, emulators, both), Matris, just oil, or anything else for that matter. Curious about impact, overall impressions and worth vs cost.

Info that might help get more applicable answers - I'm a new rider this year (about 4500 miles), street only, but I'm a big guy (~250lb) so I'm prolly pretty far off the 160-170lb guy they seem to design these things for. Will probably consider a track day or two sometime but not for a while yet.
TIA

first put 15wt oil in. then, 1.0 kg/mm racetech springs. if you cant get springs anytime soon, washers in the forks will help with getting the sag dialed in better because they are progressive rate springs. you probably need a shock spring too. i dont think racetech sells them so at least have it on 7.
emulators are really for when you put very thick oil in. they act as a progressive valve to keep from from hydraulic lock under heavy input. when you have thick oil it cant react to potholes and such as fast because it doesnt have time to squirt through the valve opening like thin oil does. the emulator will open and close mechanically depending on the velocity and setting of the actual emulator. this is called "high speed compression" ...they say you can also look at it as seperate compression dampening, essentially giving a dimension of adjustment for compression and rebound stroke. so all you would have to do is dial in the rebound with oil viscosity and adjust the emulators to get low speed compression adjustment. even still after you do all that and consider whats involved in it, i think R6 forks would be better. with 15wt i never had hydraulic lock problems.....

Thanks for the input Ped - I was thinking oil and springs were about right after what I read. Anybody else?

15wt belray with .95kg race tech spring......tatally different bike...best mod i've done...best bang for the buck. i'm 175lbs w/out gear.

I've wrote a step-by-step guide to the mod including pricing, required tools, and pictures.....I should post it on this forum......
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Difference Between Solid Valve And Easy Valve

Please. Put it in the how to or garage section if you would like to post it here.

wrightme43 said:

Please. Put it in the how to or garage section if you would like to post it here.

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Agreed - I'll likely end up making this a winter project so any instructions would be great.

bcityroller said:

Agreed - I'll likely end up making this a winter project so any instructions would be great.

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I'll second that

I've wrote a step-by-step guide to the mod including pricing, required tools, and pictures.....I should post it on this forum......

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Gonna assume it's over on SBN.

My biggest complaint with my FZ6 is the front suspension. It sucks.

I only weigh 140lbs and have never experienced such squirelliness from a stock setup under heavy braking and trail braking.

I'm continually amazed at it's ability to turn in but I'll be addressing the front suspension sooner rather than later.

I'm doing this mod also, for the big guys ( myself 6'4 290) I found the Race Tech springs with spring rates from .85 to 1.2 at www.MotoNeko for $99.00 shipped. I'm also using 15wt oil and 1.1 springs, may opt for the emulators if this mod works well because I like to keep the look of the bike stock.

Kumaj Suspension mod

Hi Guys,

What I know about suspension can be written on a postage stamp.

KUMAJ has done some great work with the front end and has also looked into various other forks.

http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-mods/1939-initial-adjuster-front-fork.html

I have a lot of respect for his work and he would be more tahn happy to answer questions (as we all are).

Neil

I posted a spring/fork oil writeup in the How To section a while back...FYI

I want to ride
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WASHINGTON MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

DefyInertia said:

I want to ride

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like 68 degrees today, got to ride a ton! :Flip:

ped said:

like 68 degrees today, got to ride a ton! :Flip:

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Had to work all day and my bike is not road ready...rode dirt all day Sunday.
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The Vision Condo Prathumnak

I hope this kind of information or consideration would help you. Still I'm seeking spring information of '07 XJR1300(YAMAHA said much more sporty than earier model) but, post possibility to use FZ1 spring(only $20 per one) and you can buy in USA. If you don't use any spring adjuster, spacer should be longer around 14mm because FZ1 spring is shorter 14mm than FZ6. See attached file. If you need spread sheet, please send me message. In addition OD and ID of spacer is 37 and 35mm.

Incidentally, also, I attached fork fluid commparison but, still looking for information about Racetech one.

I'll go back to work.

Enjoy!:thumbup:

Rather than use a factory replacement, why not go to an aftermarket spring manufacturer ? I went through this with the Sporty and found the aftermarket springs to be much more responsive and the ride characteristics are far superior to the OEM stuff. I went with Progressive Suspension springs and they were only $75usd for the pair.

Because it is much more cheaper(half price than after marcket), very stable quality, YAMAHA can provide it at least 10 years.

When I describe something in here, I just concentrate "post information" it will be useful for SOME people riding FZ6 and it is very up to people use it or ignore. I don't care.

Enjoy!

Sorry y'all but I need to print a retraction, www.MotoNeko only carries RaceTech springs to 1.0kg

Springs installed

DefyInertia said:

15wt belray with .95kg race tech spring......tatally different bike...best mod i've done...best bang for the buck. i'm 175lbs w/out gear.

I've wrote a step-by-step guide to the mod including pricing, required tools, and pictures.....I should post it on this forum......

Click to expand...

Got a chance to put the Racetech springs in the forks today, man that was a pretty easy mod, took about 2 1/2 hrs start to finish. Rode up the street and back and could definitly tell the difference, way more feedback. (Thanks for the great write up Defy it made the job simple "K")

DefyInertia said:

15wt belray with .95kg race tech spring......tatally different bike...best mod i've done...best bang for the buck. i'm 175lbs w/out gear.

I've wrote a step-by-step guide to the mod including pricing, required tools, and pictures.....I should post it on this forum......

Click to expand...

Defy thanks fot that.

i was at my stealership today and was looking at the FZ1 directly next to the FZ6 and noticed that it had the inverted fully adjustable front forks, has anyone put that front end on the fz6 and would it be worth it?