R6 Forks Arrived - Couple of Questions

[Hellgate]

Hey Everyone - My new to me '04 R6 forks finally arrived from Canada. They are in excellent condition and look like new.

I've never owned a cartridge fork before. My question is this, is the oil in the cartridge or the fork leg? Does it need to be replace? Is so what weight?

Also for this fork, on our bike, are there any changes that need to be made; ie: spring, and oil, etc?

Eventually I'll install the Race Tech bushing kit but not until the fork needs it. Nothing apprears to be worn out.

I figure if I need to tweak it now is the time to do it before I mount them on the bike.

Fred and I are going to come up with tabs to mount the FZ6 front fender on the fork. I can always buy an R6 fender but that is $88.00. I'd rather use what I have to keep the full FZ look. I'm also working with our engineering department here are work to fab up some wheel bushings. Over on SBN there was a guy making them but no longer. I've got his drawing and I'm hoping it is only a matter of programming the Bridge Port machine and putting some stainless steel blocks in. We'll see. It's good to be friends with the Director of Manufacturing Engineering, he's a total gear head with an MS in Automotive Engineering from MIT.

I'm really looking forward to having a fully adjustable fork and getting it totally dialed in. I may go back to AF1 Racing, the guys who did the dyno tuning, to have them set up the fork and the Ohlins for me. Once this is done the FZ will really shine in the corners.

I plan on this being the final performance mod and next I'll focus on the apprearance; Rizoma FE kit, hugger trim and painting.

My goal for this program was to fully develop the FZ into a true SPORT/touring bike and I'm getting close. I am SO stoked!

EDIT - Here's a few photos of the forks. Preload and Compression Damping on the top, Rebound Damping on the bottom of the leg.

Thanks in advance for the help! :thumbup:

 

[AJ_rider]

Sorry cant offer any advice, but this sounds Awesome! Keep us informed! And where's the PICS???

 

[Hellgate]

Sorry cant offer any advice, but this sounds Awesome! Keep us informed! And where's the PICS???

Ran out of time this morning, I'll post some tonight or this weekend.

 

[DefyInertia]

At your weight the OEM springs should work just fine. Changing the oil is cheap and never hurts; I think it is 5wt but you should confirm (SBN search, R6 forum search, google search). You should probably stick with stock weight oil unless you plan to revalve etc. right now.

Do you know how many and what type of miles the forks have on them?

FWIW, I picked up my 2007 R6S fork (1,500 miles on them), slapped them on there, adjusted the sag/comp/rebound and was on my way....great setup.

 

[bmccrary]

Hellgate,

Do not waste your time in having someone set up suspension for you. Unless they are going to revalve it rework the internals some how.

The only way to adjust the susupension is do it yourself.

Its only a few turn nobs and just making small adjustments at a time, (1/4) turns.

Do some research on understand what too much and too little rebound feels like, same for compression.

Find a comfortable stretch of road that is similar to road you ride most often. Something with a few good corners and some rough spots here and there and just start making laps.

First thing you need to do is get a pen and paper and a small flat blade screw driver and figure out where your starting point is. count the number of turns till the screw bottoms. Do not put force on it! Just till you cant turn it anymore. Write that number down. Then count the number of turns out the adjuster can go. Do that with all the adjusters and start with them in the middle.

Then start making laps adjusting only one setting at a time. Try going to the extreams at first, just to get a feeling for what too soft/hard and to fast/slow rebound feels like. Then start fine tuning from there.

I have dialed in my suspension on my dirtbikes for years. I will spend all day working just one section of the track, making lap after lap till I get it right. Be sure to stop from time to time and regroup and jot some notes down about each adjustment so you know what have done and can look back on it later.

Hope this helps.

-bryan

 

[bleego]

If you manage to get a solution for the 2007+ front fender I will love you forever :cheer: I am still waiting for a good deal on the forks to come along and this is going to be the next thing I do. ( Although it may be a few months before I get around to doing it. ) and the idea of either having to find some more tabs and go back an earlier year fendor, or go the r6s fender and then have to get another tire, aren't that great of options for me.

 

[CCHOUSEKY]

Yeah, bleego, you beat me to it. I asked the question a few months ago about whether there was any harm in putting an R6 front fender on the FZ6 with R6 forks. From my point of view, it would work perfectly. Then someone mentioned that the FZ6 tires were too tall and you might have rubbing issues. DAMN...because a blue R6 front fender from Ron Ayers is only like $70. What I thought would be an EASY mod got shot down from the get-go.

I've got a buddy who's dad does some automotive painting and he says he can paint the front fender the same blue as the bike for about $100. I'm not sure what I'm going to do at this point. Maybe just wait until I need new tires and go with the R6 size tire and then get the R6 fender.

Hellgate, congratulations! I did this mod back in February on my '06 and it's such a good mod. I'm loving learning about suspension, how to set it up, dial it in...because I'm NOTHING of a gearhead. I still find that I'm tweaking them from time to time when I think I can get better feel out of them. FWIW, mine are from an '07 R6S that had about 1200 miles on it (very similar to Defy, who, BTW, I didn't know had done this mod!)

Enjoy them!

 

[Hellgate]

Yeah, bleego, you beat me to it. I asked the question a few months ago about whether there was any harm in putting an R6 front fender on the FZ6 with R6 forks. From my point of view, it would work perfectly. Then someone mentioned that the FZ6 tires were too tall and you might have rubbing issues. DAMN...because a blue R6 front fender from Ron Ayers is only like $70. What I thought would be an EASY mod got shot down from the get-go.

I've got a buddy who's dad does some automotive painting and he says he can paint the front fender the same blue as the bike for about $100. I'm not sure what I'm going to do at this point. Maybe just wait until I need new tires and go with the R6 size tire and then get the R6 fender.

Hellgate, congratulations! I did this mod back in February on my '06 and it's such a good mod. I'm loving learning about suspension, how to set it up, dial it in...because I'm NOTHING of a gearhead. I still find that I'm tweaking them from time to time when I think I can get better feel out of them. FWIW, mine are from an '07 R6S that had about 1200 miles on it (very similar to Defy, who, BTW, I didn't know had done this mod!)

Enjoy them!

Thanks CCHOUSEKY - I'm really looking forward to the the fork and figuring out how to dial it in and of course the fender issue.

I saw a photo on SBN of someone who had zip tied it on, that will not work for me.

Are not the tires on the R6 and the FZ6 the same???? I assumed they were, hummm... I'll look it up when I have more time. I also have no idea if making a fender tab will work at all either. I've got to line it up an see what I get.

When I was racing I made all kinds of bracket and braces with simple aluminium band. The material is about a half inch wide and about 3/16 of an inch thick. All you needed to do was messure, cut, twist and bend. I used nylock nuts with a star washer and drop of red Locktite to hold it in place and it worked great. I made fair subframes, speedo mounting brackets,exhuast hangers and all kinds of things. I'm hoping I can do a similar thing with steel band as it is thinner than the alu.

I suppose I could aways use a fiberglass Dunstall front fender for an interum solution. All you need a hose clamps to hold it on.

Thanks for the input! :thumbup:

 

[madmanmaigret]

Pete, sounds like an awesome deal. But clue me in as to what the new bearings are for.......... something we can all use or just r6 fork modifiers?

 

[Hellgate]

Pete, sounds like an awesome deal. But clue me in as to what the new bearings are for.......... something we can all use or just r6 fork modifiers?

Thanks Kyle.

You have to tweak them a bit. The mounting tabs for the calipers are further out, the fender mount bracket is in a different place and the spacing between the bottom of the fork and the wheel assembly is wider. So as a result you need caliper spacers, wheel bushing spacer and fender adapter tabs for the 04 to 06's. For us 07 and 08 guys and gals I've not seen a fender tab kit.

The caliper spacer it pretty easy to make, basically a washer that is 2.5mm thick and has a hole of .400 inches. If you want to use a washer to space the wheel it is .090 inches thick with a hole of 1.1 inches. (I'm pretty sure, need to look it up to be sure). Or...I have drawings for a whole new wheel bushing so the wheel washer isn't required.

The biggest problem I see is the fender. I have no idea if it will work or not, we'll see.

 

[Cali rider]

....I used nylock nuts with a star washer and drop of red Locktite to hold it in place and it worked great....

What, no safety wire or cotter pin? You are REALLY taking a risk of loose fasteners with this approach!

 

[Hellgate]

What, no safety wire or cotter pin? You are REALLY taking a risk of loose fasteners with this approach!

Yeah, well you know, stuff does fall off on the track. I saw a guy's muffler fall off one day. He was meatballed for the weekend.

:thumbup:

 

[CrazyBiker]

How much ya'll got them for? I am trying to replace my 04 with the 07 forks. Just want something newer and with less mileage.

 

[Hellgate]

How much ya'll got them for? I am trying to replace my 04 with the 07 forks. Just want something newer and with less mileage.

$189 including the axle and axle nut for the '04s. $49.00 shipping from Canada. Not to bad for about $700 in stuff

 

[bleego]

I just wanted to get clarification on 1 thing, on 2007+ models, is there any need to change over to the r6 calipers? I was under the impression that they are pretty much similar now.

Good luck on the fender issue. I think you are the first person trying to fab them up with 2007+ models in mind, so I am curious how you get it all together.

I think Im going to have to step up my search on ebay

 

[bmccrary]

Hellgate,

I tell ya what.

Get your forks on then just ride up here to NC, you can crash at my place and we can go tune the suspension in Appalachian Mtns. We will get those things dialed! and I will show you some great roads as well...

-bryan

 

[CCHOUSEKY]

Found it. Over on SBN we had a discussion back in April on whether I could put a blue '04 R6 fender on my '07 R6S forks (as a direct bolt-on, no fabbing required). Mods, I post this link in good faith (and in an attempt to help others) so don't crack the whip too hard. :spank:

The stuff about the R6 fender on the R6 forks on an FZ6 starts near the end of the 1st page or start of the 2nd page:
I want this front fender - Sportbikes.net

And here's a link to another discussion on the same topic, taking place at the same time, lol:
R6 front fender - Sportbikes.net

I was told at the time that the R6 front wheel is a 120/60/17 and the FZ6 front wheel is a 120/70/17, so there might be rubbing issues.

I'm still interested in trying this, though...lol.

 

[bleego]

Oh Hey! that was the thread I got my tire paranoia from in the first place

Bay Area Cycle Stop > Product Details


This might be a good part to play with. $40 +$15 shipped.

 

[Hellgate]

Now that is a bargain! Thanks very much for the link.

I'll try making tabs first and then go the fender route. I had no idea the R6 tire was a shorter aspect ratio than the FZ tire....hummm...this is becoming a bit of a challenge. That's the fun of it, figuring out a nice clean solution!

I'll figure something out, and post it of course! :thumbup:

Thanks for all of the help everyone, I love this place!

 

[Hellgate]

Photo Edit bump.