696 fork swap help

[tiger_one]

Welp, even tho the modified OEM 696 forks was working good, I talked her into letting me install the 848 sticks.

Took me all day starting about 11am.  Tearing the bike down was slow, I thought I had to take off the riser while triple tree was mounted, not so could have done that later as the center nut tool fit with the riser on.

Boreing triple tree was pretty easy, took several small .035" cuts.  I had already changed out the 9.6kg/mm springs for RT 8.5kg/mm recommended by RT for 135lb rider.  Putting it together was fairly simple, hard part was getting the .5mm 2-1/4" x 6-3/8" brass shim in the bottom triple. 

She wanted to keep the aftermarket handlebar so I had to use 1-1/2" riser and then reroute throttle cable as it moved throttle when going full lock to left.

I had to set the forks 395mm, measureing from bottom of lower triple tree to center line of axle.  I had the OEM forks set at 390mm, so was able to almost get the same ride height.  Sag is 30mm, it was the same on the OEM.

I get to test it tomorrow, maybe fine tune the comp and rebound, can't wait for her to try it and report!!

Thanks for all with the info and tips to do this mod.  I will get some pics tomorrow.

[tiger_one]

Test ride by wife did not go well, too firm.  So, after adjusting dampenng to try and help, no go.

Pulled the forks and removed 8.5 racetech springs and oil.  Swapped the 6.0 (tiger 1050 springs) out of the modded OEM 696 forks to the 848s.  Also swapped oil, so 6.0 springs with 5wt oil in the 848 sticks.

All back together, will test later.  I didn't realize how good of a job I did on modifying the OEM 696 forks, so the 848s will have to be tuned great to beat them.  If this doesn't get it, then possible revalve is in the works.

[Link]

How much static sag did you get there seems to be quite a bit on mine and I have rider sag set at 35mm. I did have mine re-valved and they are super smooth for 99% of the entire travel, they soak up big and little hits very well and still keep the bike planted at speed. I ended up dropping the forks about 10mm beyond stock settings to add some trail I think I went from about 97mm to about 105mm. The next thing I'm going to try is shorting the wheel base about 25mm. The compression adj. is very sensitive on mine less then 1/8 of turn is noticeable.  If your fork mod works better then the 848 forks you should start selling kits, it would be a lot simpler then doing all the machine work !

[tiger_one]

Rider sag is like 36mm.  I lowered the forks 10mm this morning to 400mm measuring centerline of axle to bottom of lower triple.  Static is like 12mm or more, that is why I lowered the forks some to get the 390mm when she get on.  I made the preload spacer/washers only 15mm to keep the preload adjustment at the lower settings.  I'm at 2 rings.

I had 480cc of oil this morning and would not allow the forks to bottom, about 35mm left.  Took out 65cc, too hot to test right now, maybe this evening or morning.

My compression seems to have almost no effect that I can tell ( I may just be way out), but the rebound is very easy to feel and adjust.  May have to revalve at some point.

No joke on the OEM mod being so good, course only for her, way to soft for me.  Kind of aggravating in a way.  LOL

edit:  I rechecked the static sag, more like 15mm with preload all the way, gives rider sag of 33mm.  So, this indicates the .60 spring is too weak.  I have found that the suzuki DL1000 has a .70kg/mm spring, hmmm.