Who has some experience with pre-load fork caps?

3496 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Tal, Apr 22, 2016

giff74

Discussion Starter · Apr 22, 2016

Howdy all!

So, long story made short. I'm a pretty stout guy, 270+ fully geared up (I've already lost 30 lbs. so I'm working on it). I've got the rear pre-load set to "7." When I upped the rear setting that did seem to help the bike rotate better and not bottom out.

Now I'm thinking about the forks. My wife assures me that I can't afford to do any kind of full or partial front suspension upgrade right now. However, I get terrible dive under heavy braking and plenty of front "wash out," along with less than confidence inspiring cornering feel.

I'm not mad at the bike, but I would like to improve it's road manners both for the commute and spirited twisties. Which brings me to my point, pre-load fork caps. Does anyone have any experience with them? I think $50 for the billet aluminum ones from Spears sounds fair, but I'm not sure what to expect the improvement to be. I can't find a lot of reviews on this type of product in general, no one seems to hate them, but I can't find any glowing reviews either. Not to mention almost no one seems to be writing R3 specific reviews.

Thanks for any good feedback. I appreciate the assistance!

Giff

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Capitalview

· #2 · Apr 22, 2016 (Edited)

Check out YamahaR3Racing.com.
I believe Jesse has a review of just stock forks and maybe preload adjusters.

The adjusters will not fix your problem though. At that weight you will need new springs. They run about $100 for the pair and are an easy install. Then add the preload adjusters. That will help for two up riding also.

For two up riding you may also need to look into an aftermarket shock. You might still bottom out with the stock shock at your weight with a passenger.

I don't believe anyone has come up with a way to change the spring on the stock shock.

Spears Racing makes quality stuff so you will get your money's worth out of the adjusters.

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Stirz

· #3 · Apr 22, 2016 (Edited)

For us of 'robust stature', you could try a preload adjuster - but - you may want to consider getting a respring kit (ie; stiffer springs) set up for your weight. For me, it made a big improvement for my puny 195 carcass. Some vendors will offer package deals that include springs, cartridge emulator, and preload adjuster for a significant savings over the individual components. Install is an afternoon DIY job if you have reasonable skills and tools on-hand.
Give Jesse, Forks by Matt, Hardracing, or Spears a look - they may be able to hook you up.

EDIT - Cap beat me to the punch. As he said, the rear will be more of a challenge.

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giff74

Discussion Starter · #4 · Apr 22, 2016

Thanks for the great info guys! Suspension and transmissions are the two parts of all go fast things that give me a headache. I understand the springs and the pre-load adjusters, but are the cartridge emulators are better way to control the flow of the fork oil?

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Capitalview

· #5 · Apr 22, 2016

giff74 said:
Thanks for the great info guys! Suspension and transmissions are the two parts of all go fast things that give me a headache. I understand the springs and the pre-load adjusters, but are the cartridge emulators are better way to control the flow of the fork oil?

Yes. The cartridges will provide much better oil control and actual adjustability for the front suspension. Preload, compression, and rebound.

Personally, just starting out, I would just do the preload adjusters and springs. You won't lose that much money if you decide later you want to upgrade to cartridges. In fact, the only thing you would be out would be the price of the adjusters since you would reuse the springs.

You can then sell the adjusters to recoup some of the original cost.

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Tal

· #6 · Apr 22, 2016

You could try this it made a big improvement to mine.
http://www.r3-forums.com/forum/562-suspension/4953-preload-8.html
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