Hi All, After 33k miles one fork oil seal has let go so a good service is needed, I investigated a few options and as I've always been curious about aftermarket suspension I thought I'd give the K-Tech SSK20 Piston kit a go. I contacted Brooks Suspension and after a chat with a polite and apparently knowledgeable chap, I opted to replace pistons, springs and compression adjusters. Apparently K-Tech insist on the installation service, as my forks are due to have a thorough overhall I'm content to have Brooks take care of the service. Can't wait to get them back, installed and tested. After years of similar abuse on the rear that's starting to feel a bit slack & saggy too, I'm going to consider options to ensure the rear end is balanced. Any experienced suggestions welcome.
I had my forks done a while ago with the same kit, best money I've ever spent on the bike. Mine came with a complimentary setup, difference was literally night and day. Previously it was skipping over the smallest of bumps now its just planted. Done probs over 60k on them an still impressed! Haven't ventured much on the rears, just change them with brand new OEMs when they need servicing
Hey guys, I had my forks done by brooks a while back and I can’t rate them enough. I had K-tech springs K-tech ssrk piston kit K-tech compression adjusters Re chromed And fork lowers powder coated While I had the fork lowers powder coated I asked if they would be willing to do my clutch and starter case (2008 blade gold cases) powder coated to match the fork lowers. And they did. They were very helpful. I can’t comment on performance as I haven’t used them yet. Bike is still of the road receiving more love and upgrades.
They did advise there would be a 2 week tur narround, I asked them to ship after christmas to avoid any delivery issues.
My forks have been returned. As I unpacked them I noticed that both stanchions are now covered in fine scratches as if they've been rubbed down with a fine grit paper. Will this cause premature wear of my seals, is it safe to simply buff this out with Silvo or similar, is this common practice or should I be conserned?
That looks odd to me, but what do I know. I wouldn't be impressed if they were in good condition when you sent them. Stanchions are typically coated, surely this only reduces/removes! Give them a call, maybe it's a black art tweak of the week !
Yes, at first I was a bit angry but then thought perhaps there is some plausible reason I'm not familar with. I've sent an email and picture to them, asking them to call me to discuss, I don't want to put everything back together before we've spoken.
This is normal, they go over them with a fine grade emery cloth to get rid of any pits and scratches on the stanchions so they don't damage either the dust or oil seals which would cause the forks to leak. I had the similar when Steve Jordan did the forks on my Blade, looked like honing marks when you have cylinders re-bored. Forgot to add; Re your rear shock. On my 09 I fitted a balance free 2012+ shock which was an improvement over the standard 09 shock. I had the 2012+ shock on for a bit before I sent it off to K Tech direct and they stripped it, serviced it, tweaked it, replaced the oil with decent quality oil and sent it back. This resulted in another step up in performance.
Thought it was worth resurecting this thread to round things off after my first ride, I spent the long winter sulking about the finely scratched stanschions, even spending a few hours attempting to ever so gently buff them out. I reviewed the Honda workshop base settings and compared them against the KTech internal kit with a mind to really spend some time dialling in the new setup. After rebuilding the bike and starting it in the garage last week to ensure I had some charge in the battery. I put my leathers on and pushed my bike up the drive to be dissapointed as there wasn't enough juice left in the 8 month old Yuasa YTX9-BS to start up again, despite being connected to my notoriously flakey Accumen which has let me down repeatedly, costing 2 new batteries in 2 years. One week and one new optomiser later and I managed to get some spare time to ride. My plan was for a 25 minute round trip so I could give them a tweak and repeat until I found something close to a decent setup. Creeping up my road I thought the bike felt different, was this due to my usual 4mm drop on the front to provide a slightly quicker turn in? About 80 miles later I returned home with that grin. I didn't realise the difference setting up suspension for your weight would make, it just feels right. I'm more relaxed, smoother and despite telling myself today would be all about slow and steady; just enough to get a feel for the bike again after the long lay off. I felt effortlessly quick, smooth and relaxed, fork travel appears to be ~10mm from bottom when I'm riding at 70%. Maybe 1 - 2 turns stiffer but that should be all. The only dissapointment is that I waited this long, with over 30 years riding experience I can't think of any bigger improvement for ~ £550.00.
Ahh that’s amazing to read. I still haven’t got out on my bike as Iv still been buying more parts. But I am not far from the bike being road worthy and I have spent a few thousand on it now. Feeling very excited.
