Nearly halfway to 100,000 miles, I put some Ohlins on the CB finally.

MachRider · Jan 24, 2017

Forks rebuilt with 20mm valves, springs and oil. Forks are actually brand new with 0 miles on them (got a buddy to swap with me for a project).

HO808 fully adjustable shock. Installation for everything was pretty easy, about 3.5 hours from start to finish.

Can't wait to fettle with this and feel the difference!

Tire Automotive tire Motorcycle Vehicle Headlamp

BigOne-94-14 · Jan 24, 2017

Excellent choice

I am sure you will enjoy.

sovrec · Jan 24, 2017

Fantastic upgrades - you will not regret it - get the sag set and things dialled in - you'll be flying ! Looks great too ...:thumbup

cutandrun · Jan 25, 2017

Ohlins and fork rebuild was the best upgrade I did, by far. The gaps between the concrete slabs on the highway used to beat the crap out of me. Now the bike handles them with no problem. It's firm but not harsh. I always thought the CB was decent in the canyons but you will love them even more now.

BigOne-94-14 · Jan 25, 2017

cutandrun said:
The gaps between the concrete slabs on the highway used to beat the crap out of me. Now the bike handles them with no problem. It's firm but not harsh.

Yes. 100% yes.

mel b · Jan 25, 2017

Nearly halfway to 100,000 miles, I put some Ohlins on the CB finally.

Do you think you will be keeping it then ????

Looking good MR :clap

MachRider · Jan 25, 2017

mel b said:
Do you think you will be keeping it then ????

Looking good MR :clap

I planned on keeping it until it blows up. Figured with regular maintenance it should get like 150,000 miles at least.

gooseyboy · Jan 25, 2017

get it dipped lol
:lick

MachRider · Jan 31, 2017

So I've had the chance to put a couple hundred miles on them now. Mostly SoCal streets and freeways, both alone and 2 up. The damping is AWESOME. I love the feeling of the front end and the rear. They really are great.

However, showing my coworkers, one of them notice while riding it around the parking lot, the forks bang when the bottom out at a harsh stop. We're all technical guys and do this for a living so we knew something felt wrong. My shop says they removed the top-out damper to accomodate the spring (9.5n mm) and 20mm valves. The oil level was sent at 150mm, which is way lower than any other bike I can find (stock is around 92mm). They said they set it up for my weight (about 230lbs) and had sag set to 40mm. I cranked preload all the way up and compression to with the same thing happens.

Has anyone had any work done to the front end and had this happen too? I;m not even riding trackday speeds; If i were I'd be bottoming out the fork into every turn. It's pretty damn sketchy.

RideRed · Jan 31, 2017

MachRider said:
So I've had the chance to put a couple hundred miles on them now. Mostly SoCal streets and freeways, both alone and 2 up. The damping is AWESOME. I love the feeling of the front end and the rear. They really are great.

However, showing my coworkers, one of them notice while riding it around the parking lot, the forks bang when the bottom out at a harsh stop. We're all technical guys and do this for a living so we knew something felt wrong. My shop says they removed the top-out damper to accomodate the spring (9.5n mm) and 20mm valves. The oil level was sent at 150mm, which is way lower than any other bike I can find (stock is around 92mm). They said they set it up for my weight (about 230lbs) and had sag set to 40mm. I cranked preload all the way up and compression to with the same thing happens.

Has anyone had any work done to the front end and had this happen too? I;m not even riding trackday speeds; If i were I'd be bottoming out the fork into every turn. It's pretty damn sketchy.

They shouldn't have removed it as far as I know. There was special instructions for the CB when I had mine done and we had to call and double check some things due to the longer fork but we didn't remove anything.

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MachRider · Jan 31, 2017

Here are the bag of components left over. Looks like 4 valves and then two stops and collars

BigOne-94-14 · Jan 31, 2017

40mm sag sounds way too saggy to my less technical noggin.

cutandrun · Jan 31, 2017

Geared up, I'm about the same weight as you and I have never had the forks bottom as you describe. Racetech did my forks though so the springs are not Ohlins, but I can't see how that would make a difference.

sovrec · Jan 31, 2017

RideRed said:
They shouldn't have removed it as far as I know. There was special instructions for the CB when I had mine done and we had to call and double check some things due to the longer fork but we didn't remove anything.

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Same here - I had new Ohlins springs but had the existing valves modified - very very hard to bottom out (I don't think I did it) - even under extreme braking ...something sounds amiss - the guy at Kais said that they used standard weight oil as the standard fork internals don't work as hydraulically efficiently with other weights - not sure how true that is - I'm not a light rider but I thought the front end was awesome even with just a stage 1 road upgrade ... hope you get it sorted...

MachRider · Jan 31, 2017

This worries me. I'm a fairly fast rider and can ride this thing to it's limit... I'm going to add the oil he suggested to see if that really improves it, but not having a safety net at the end of that stroke feels really concerning.

BigOne-94-14 · Jan 31, 2017

FYI - I used to bottom my forks going over the speed bumps in the parking lot at work. With the upgrade, I cannot bottom them out any more. Well - maybe I could if I tried ...

MachRider · Jan 31, 2017

I'll be adding (up to) 40cc of 10W SS47 fluid per fork tonight, per their rec's. Makes sense with the remaining air gap left in the fork legs acting as a spring. I'll let you guys know how much it affects my predicament.

RideRed · Jan 31, 2017

I'm not a expert by any means. I won't touch suspension I have a guy for that. But it sounds like they read the instructions for how to b install the drop in cartridge kits. If you did the drop ins would would remove those parts. However if you only did new Springs and valves(what I did) That all is supposed to stay in the fork as normal.

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MachRider · Jan 31, 2017

RideRed said:
I'm not a expert by any means. I won't touch suspension I have a guy for that. But it sounds like they read the instructions for how to b install the drop in cartridge kits. If you did the drop ins would would remove those parts. However if you only did new Springs and valves(what I did) That all is supposed to stay in the fork as normal.

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Since these have 20mm valves, there was some extra work done. Reducing preload and increasing oil makes a lot of sense for the application currently as that smaller air cap will most certainly act as a damper itself.

MachRider · Feb 1, 2017

Just tested 40cc of oil added per fork leg, and, well... no change at all. Here's an example for you guys. Again this is at the recommended 40mm sag.

Nearly halfway to 100,000 miles, I put some Ohlins on the CB finally.

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