Wilsons Sandbox

Hi all, For general interest. I have just installed LR progresive springs and Race Tech cartride emulators. Springs are set with 15mm preload. The whole thing is easy to do. EXCEPT. It is advisable to increase the number of compresion holes in the damper rod. OK, baught the tool to hold the damper rod. Presto, it does not fit my A14 rods???? It lookss like the taperd square hole has been changed to a larger diam serated type holding tool. Any ideas out there. Have not yet spoken to race tech or kawasaki.. So I left the Compresion holes stock, they look big enough from what I could see. Will attend to that at a later date. In the meantime just put in the RC valves and springs and oil in (190 mm compressed, no springs). First impresion.............WOW. Damping difference is imedialtly noticed. A LOT less dive under braking andd more sensitve road feed back, more stable cornering and an apparent faster turn in. It just FEELS a whole lot better. Will check it out in the dirt this weekend. Damping (compresion) is controled by the race Tech valve spring preload, which is variable from none, to 7 turns. I am using the stock RT 4 turns right now. I am using w15 Silkolene race oil for rebound damping primary control. The springs make it feel, overall a lot firmer and better. All this is subjective of course and just my opinion. Will report furter if there is interest. Regards, Brian A14 D17 PS On stripping the forks the oil was grey with metal dust ( I think) 5000 miles!!! No further comment required.

In a message dated 10/11/00 5:58:26 PM Pacific Daylight Time, billmonahan@... writes: << ..now I have new bike disease and am looking at the 2000 1200 Bandit for a work bike. I can get one for $6299 in a couple of local locations. Any Bandit riders out there care to offer up their two cents worth? >> I've put some miles on a friend's Bandit 1200 and think it is an absolute steal for that kind of money. Kurt Grife