That's what I originally bought but after paying for the k-tech road kit ssk (rather than the race kit ssrk) and springs, k-tech decided to change there selling practices so piston kits were only being sold to service centres only so ohlins got both my money and Colin's money for our suspension setup and I done the work! K-techs loss and ohlins gain! I'm pretty sure k-tech have since done a 180 on this decision tho!
I'm sooooo confused what's a cartridge What's a piston kit What's new valves What's the advantage of each please?
Ok, a piston kit, valve kit and fork internals are all talking about the same thing just different terms. They are made up of a piston & shims, pistons are normally either plastic or alloy with various holes/orifices drilled into it to allow oil to flow through it. Metal washers called shims are placed both on the top and the bottom of the piston in order to stop all the oil just freely flowing through the holes as the suspension goes over bumps or during braking/accelerating! These shims can vary in width and thickness and can have there order changed or shims may be added/removed or swapped out for wider or thicker ones in order to alter the specific damping characteristics of the forks. A cartridge refers to a cylinder tube like unit (shown in previous pics both all built up ready to fit back inside the fork and all stripped down showing the internal valves) found inside most upside down forks, older forks which tend to be referred to as normal forks or right way up made use of a damper rod system as opposed to the newer cartridge type system which instead of the valves they had various holes or orifices drilled in them of varying sizes to push the oil through to give the damping effect. The cartridge unit normally contains both the rebound and compression valves inside, people swap out the OEM piston units for upgraded aftermarket units in order to give more adjustability or feel to there forks. The OEM pistons are made of plastic where as the aftermarket pistons are alloy with different hole design to alter the oil flow, the shim stack of the aftermarket units also vary drastically to OEM units. A piston kit from the likes of k-tech or ohlins contains a new shim stack and a new alloy piston designed to there own specs which they have tested themselves and frond to work better than OEM! The piston kits are normally cheaper than cartridge kits as they reuse the OEM cartridge and just the pistons and shim stack are replaced. A cartridge kit comprises of a complete new cartridge which has the pistons already installed and just drops straight into the fork in place of the OEM cartridge. The cartridge kits are a step up from just the piston kits as the cartridge along with the valves have been specifically designed to work together. The next step up from the cartridge kit is of course whole new fork kits which means everything get replaced for specific kit that's been specifically designed to work together and is about as good as it gets! Hope the clears everything up a bit more!
Yes it will martin, certainly for the likes of us who are shall we say larger than the average rider.. I intend to get a valve/ piston kit and new springs for my forks when funds allow. Been saying that for two years now mind! Updated springs are a must, does your ever bottom out? Try the ziptie trick on the forks see if it ever bottoms out with the standard springs when your riding..
You will notice a difference mate, I'm about 70kg's and noticed the change pretty much instantly with the forks set to there new base setting as laid out by ohlins! I had to reduce the spring rate on my bike as they were too high for my weight but that said the 600's seem to be sprung about right for our weight! The bike just absorbed smaller bumps without any fuss or tbh me even noticing any bumps, larger stuff you still feel but it didn't upset the bike or feel quite as harsh as it once did! That was only on a 7 mile run at slower speeds and on greasy wet roads while takin the bike for its mot so can't wait to get her back out on some open roads and see what the transformation feels like!
Martin how do you find the front suspension at the moment? Are you happy or unhappy with it? Is it wollowy? (is that a word?) Does it sink badly during braking? Have you ever tweaked the fork adjusters? How many miles are on the bike? Was the forks ever serviced in the past? (should be done around every 7.5k road miles) For the most part the stock suspension is pretty decent on the blade with OEM bits, even just a simple oil change to refresh everything can give new life into an otherwise bad feeling front end! Setting the bike up for your style of riding with the fork adjusters can transform an ok riding bike into a great bike! If your finding the nose diving too much during braking and/or the bike skipping about when traveling over bumps or uneven road surfaces which cant be dialed out with adjustment then you may benefit from having the springs replaced to something more suited to your weight. One last thing I will mention is that normally when changes or upgrades are done to the suspension at the front end for the better it tends to highlight failings and flaws in the backend! Often requiring the shock to be sent away for revalve/service or a whole new replacement shock being purchased to bring balance to the bikes suspension feel!
To be honest Craig I have not really noticed any issues as it is but I'm not the fastest rider so may not notice, I'm looking to upgrade shock anyway and prob just re-spring and refresh front end
That's called a racers frame that is Martin! Just look at the Honda line up for motogp dani is 55kg's! Smaller n lighter is better in racing mate!
