'99 M900 w/ Adj Showas

[dlearl476]

Anyone out there have one.  I have a quick question.  I was reassembling my forks today after a tire/seal/oil change.  The manual I have says there should be 280 mm from the lower triple to the top of the chamfer on the fork tube.  Although there is some discoloration on the forks at this point, the forks are machined smooth where it looks like they should sit in the lower triple.  280 mm puts this smooth surface 20mm up into the tree.  It also leaves the adjusters inaccessable because of the handlebars. 

Is my manual wrong?  (I swear I don't remember them being this low)

[knightrider]

i think you have the older monster manual, i have a 94 and the forks are longer than the later monsters, i figured this out when i compared mine to sbk forks that everyone said should be longer, but are the same length as my stock forks.  i always wondered why my forks stuck out so much from the top triple when later ones were almost flush.

sorry i dont know what your measurement should be, but im pretty sure 280 is not correct for your bike.

[dlearl476]

i think you have the older monster manual, i have a 94 and the forks are longer than the later monsters, i figured this out when i compared mine to sbk forks that everyone said should be longer, but are the same length as my stock forks.  i always wondered why my forks stuck out so much from the top triple when later ones were almost flush.

sorry i dont know what your measurement should be, but im pretty sure 280 is not correct for your bike.

Yeah, I figured as much when I noticed the title page of my manual said CAGIVA! 

I ordered a real manual (the one I'm using is a freebe from pdf.com or whatever it is) and it's not here yet.  Anyone has a measurement, or knows what it should be, I'd appreciate it greatly.

fwiw, I've now noticed that the .pdf manual is misssing a bunch of pages.  For instance, yesterday I discovered that the torque specs are only in Italian.  Goes from section X, page 3 to X12 (blank page at the end of a section.)

[knightrider]

yea its annoying because its the only version i can find for my old monster, i havnt had any luck in finding a paper copy either.

[MotoPsycho]

Since setting up the suspension is relative to the rider, I would think you'd want to err on the high side and adjust it until if feels right. Set the forks high and lower them until it feels twitchy then back off a little bit. That's what I did anyway. Just make sure than if you move around the front, chances are you'll have to fiddle with the rear ride height too.

[dlearl476]

Yeah, I found a machined bit that looks like it would be the adjustable area for the lower triple tree.  I set it to the bottom of that and it's great.  About 20 mm from where it was and it's tons more stable.  (then again, the new tires might have something to do with that.

Set the forks high and lower them until it feels twitchy then back off a little bit.

AFAIK, you've got that backwards.  Setting the forks high lowers the triple trees which makes the steering head angle steeper, thus "twitchify-ing" it."  Lowering the forks raises the triple tree increases the angle making it more stable.
The forks are now 20 mm lower in the trees than they were before.

[brad black]

i'm sure the non adj showa in the early 900m were the same as the 750ss, and that the adj showa in the 98 900m special were the previous model small axle ss forks.  i recall when we got our first special that we couldn't get to the adjusters either.  we also used to lower the forks to increase the trail a bit and settle them down too.

[junior varsity]

I think you need an "S" model manual for your forks. My 99 M900 also has the adj. Showa's, which were apparently thrown on at the factory as a bonus to me (and you).