going to rebuild my front forks in prep for new season, has any one got any info on shim stacks and mods to them, ive read that 20 mm ohlins kit is no better than re-shimmed standard honda so would like to o down that road obviously this type of information is most likely well gaurded lol but any help would be appreciated thanks
I work the ports, Polish and re face them, don't know about the stacks but they could be tuned, long job mind and hard to know direction without a shock Dyno, if you search Google there is a guy who tuned a set of 600rr forks, he reworks the whole carts, I learned a lot from him some time back.
hi arthur when you say work the ports, did you open them up at all, or just remove the burrs, molding lines and polish surface faces etc. its an interesting job and tbh the prices some guys charge for fork service rebuilds is crazy when its not that complicated, the science is in the damping as you say, but again its just numbers, i have tracked down an american company will sell shims individualy but i guess you need a good variety to do the job correctly. i do know ktech can supply a "bible" of base settings but how you would get one i dont know, cost a fortune
Send them over to MCT ,Daren will set them up and fit his own shim ,had mine done and has transformed the riding
Yes exactly as you say, debur and reface the port, most are VERY untidy, you obviously fully understand and I am sure would achive a smoother action by means of minor tuning, some port faces are not even flat! Just a simple reface on a flat surface can work wonders imo, or like you say a "quality" kit or port to replace the stock cast ports. For those who are interested this is a shim stack, show shims and port, the shims regulate the flow of oil, the port is shown in the image with its front face and orifices. A WP shim stack. Disassembled Assembled. Cleanliness is essential!
If anyone want to know more detail of full tune of OEM 600RR fork see here:- Peter Verdone Designs - 2005 CBR600RR Fork
brilliant stuff thats exactly what ive been looking for, its easy to get caught up in MORE POWER lol but racing begins from the ground up for sure theres a few simplemods there that will make these forks so much better. looking forward to getting in to them now and having a look i see exactly how he has cleaned up the valves, as you said remove any thing thats going to cause cavitation, and smooth out the flow. ill build myself a spring compressor to help with breaking them down a milled out clamp for the damping rod is essential as well brilliant arthur really appreciate your help
Your welcome mate, I made my own fork compressor too, simple box in a box, threaded bar turns free in outer, nut welded into top of inner box is the main part, rest is easy There is another nut inside the outer tube (screws onto damper rod so it can be drawn up from inside the tube), the outer nut is held into place with a roll pin, so it can be taken apart if needed. Quick spin up on the lathe for the lower locator. Also have damper rod tool made from old scrap fork, a flat alloy strip with a slot in to hold the damper rod up, thats about all you need.
hey arthur, just woindering if youve had any experiance with the standard rear shock in the 05 blade, i see it has full adjustment although preload is the notched type ring which isnt best but will be adequit i think.
The pistons on an Ohlins kits have a completely different look and design than the OEM pistons as well as being made from alloy instead of the OEM's plastic. (seen some folks drill the holes out on OEM plastic pistons!) shim stack was also as expected really quite different too but they defo made a big difference to he feel of the bike! Tbh i think most companies who do reshim suspension for a living are unlikely to just tell anyone there specific shim stack they like to use for a specific bike as they are pretty much shooting themselves in the foot and gain nothing after spending a lot of time and effort to test and run various stack changes. Also the shims they use come in large trade boxes which I doubt would be cheap to buy. The below pics were taken while I was fitting the Ohlins piston kit into my gsxr forks and then carried out same job 100 odd miles away on Colin's forks for the fork service thread I wrote! The above pic shows all the old stuff I took out a set of forks. Below shows the Ohlins and OEM side by side, the Ohlins is all fitted to the cartridge and clearly shows the alloy piston.
