Help Fork Problem : Yamaha R1 Forum

mad271r1 · 08-06-2007, 07:19 PM

Okay guys this is whats up! im 208 pounds without gear and i have an 04r1! i baught race tech srpings (1.0's) and i baught gold compression valving! I had a guy who does suspension put my stuff in the forks. i got the bike back set the sag wich is at 33 for the front for my weight and thats with the preload all theway out. i was wanting to get 35 for the street being thats mostly where i ride but 33 was the best i could get! well anyway some times when i hit bad bumps "speed bumps" or several nasty ones in a row around 9miles an hour i get a pop in the forks where my forks are topping out in the trough of the bumps! i can hear this and feel it! i have tried several settings and played all around with the compression and rebound thanx to danq a current r1-forum member who lives right by me! we both have the same year bikes and internals in our forks and he is 11 pounds heavier! he said he couldnt figure it out! he has not had this problem but racetech installed his springs and valves! i called the guy who did mine and he said he put the right amount of oil and type and he called racetech for the recommended fluid weight wich was 5w. this guy who did my work has done race bikes and alot of dirt bikes and deals with race tech often! so i dont know what i should do any comments or any suggestions would help!

mad271r1 · 08-06-2007, 07:22 PM

ohhh i also wanted to add that i am currently broke being that i just baught a ohlins rear and paid for the race tech parts and service to have my forks done!

Sabian · 08-06-2007, 07:37 PM

...sounds dumb, but check this. Remove the front wheel. Tug lightly on the bottom of each fork. (you need to have the forks hanging freely so you need to either hang the bike or have a headstock stand)
When you tug on them...they shouldn't pull very far (half inch MAYBE) and should be rather hard to tug. I'm willing to bet that one pulls wayyyyy too easy, and if you arn't careful, you could pull the lower fork tube out from the upper (dont' do this...gets' messy). Try that, and let us know what they feel like. It's a hunch...but worth a shot.

mad271r1 · 08-06-2007, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sabian

...sounds dumb, but check this. Remove the front wheel. Tug lightly on the bottom of each fork. (you need to have the forks hanging freely so you need to either hang the bike or have a headstock stand)
When you tug on them...they shouldn't pull very far (half inch MAYBE) and should be rather hard to tug. I'm willing to bet that one pulls wayyyyy too easy, and if you arn't careful, you could pull the lower fork tube out from the upper (dont' do this...gets' messy). Try that, and let us know what they feel like. It's a hunch...but worth a shot.

we pulled the bike on the kick stand and checked this seemed normal we even checked the upper head bearings and they were fine!

Sabian · 08-06-2007, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mad271r1

we pulled the bike on the kick stand and checked this seemed normal we even checked the upper head bearings and they were fine!

You removed the rim and put it on it's side stand?

If you didnt' remove the rim...the test won't work. Have to check them individually. I ask this only because for some odd reason (and others can attest to this from the 06 convention) I had both forks separate the damping rods inside....effectively killing any suspension that would have done anything, and killing the ability for them to stay together. I was hearing the same sound you are describing for about two weeks before they totally blew apart...figure one was bad and the riding at the gap just put the good fork through waay to much work and it did the same thing. To this day, I have never heard of another fork doing it...but I had two of them do that on me...and it was shortly after I had them apart to upgrade springs and redo valves.

mad271r1 · 08-06-2007, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sabian

You removed the rim and put it on it's side stand?

If you didnt' remove the rim...the test won't work. Have to check them individually. I ask this only because for some odd reason (and others can attest to this from the 06 convention) I had both forks separate the damping rods inside....effectively killing any suspension that would have done anything, and killing the ability for them to stay together. I was hearing the same sound you are describing for about two weeks before they totally blew apart...figure one was bad and the riding at the gap just put the good fork through waay to much work and it did the same thing. To this day, I have never heard of another fork doing it...but I had two of them do that on me...and it was shortly after I had them apart to upgrade springs and redo valves.

yea we let the suspension fully exted or what not but will check it tomorrow! also if one does or both try to come out how to fix this so called noise or topping out!

Sabian · 08-06-2007, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mad271r1

yea we let the suspension fully exted or what not but will check it tomorrow! also if one does or both try to come out how to fix this so called noise or topping out!

Well if one or both want to seperate, you need a spring compressor and to remove the top of the forks. You'll need to compress the spring and re-attach the forks...hard to describe when i'm a couple drinks to the wind ya know....do the test. If it's what I think it is...pm me and I can give you my cell or office number and tell you what you need to do or have someone do.

mad271r1 · 08-06-2007, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sabian

Well if one or both want to seperate, you need a spring compressor and to remove the top of the forks. You'll need to compress the spring and re-attach the forks...hard to describe when i'm a couple drinks to the wind ya know....do the test. If it's what I think it is...pm me and I can give you my cell or office number and tell you what you need to do or have someone do.

yea just sent u my number hoping u would call im trying to get this under controll asap so i can ride without worring about this in the back of my mind!!!

mad271r1 · 08-06-2007, 08:07 PM

yo my cell is 205-270-0543 my name is joe!

mad271r1 · 08-08-2007, 07:34 PM

well called up race tech and they said sounded like he had to much preload internally and needed to take some washers out to soften it internally a little! i called my guy up and he said he would fix it for free so i guess he likes his reputation!!!