banged up front end & rear brake...

[dgswoodlands]

A while ago, someone suggested replacing the spacers with short springs. I could imagine that both higher or lower spring rate has advantages over the spacer. Has anyone tried replacing the spacers with springs - results? Don A2 in Vancouver

[Devon Jarvis]

For a while I was thinking about making a more progressively sprung fork by cutting out the softest 6" of the progressive springs, and replacing them with valve springs from some big V8 motor. If you used very stiff springs the same length as the spacer, I don't know how much difference you'd feel. You would need to make the spring longer than the spacer for it to come into play before the fork bottomed. But the question is how much metal can you stick in the fork until it stacks solid? If the springs/spacers/etc stack solid before the stanchion hits the bottoming cone, on a hard enough hit the thin threads on the fork caps could fail (spectacularly). In the end, I decided to go with cartridge emulators, since they are a known product and somebody else has done the expensive development. Devon A15 dgswoodlands wrote:

> A while ago, someone suggested replacing the spacers with short > springs. > I could imagine that both higher or lower spring rate has advantages > over the spacer. > > Has anyone tried replacing the spacers with springs - results? > > Don > A2 in Vancouver

[guymanbro]

Hey I looped mine the same way!!! For the brake, check very carefully for cracks in both the pedal itself and the mounting bracket. I broke my bracket twice before finally snapping the brake pedal itself. If you see a crack then buy a replacement from Dual-Star that's supposed to be stronger than stock (don't see how anyone could make one weaker). The front end probably just got twisted in the forks...Loosen the top triple clamps and hold the front wheel between your legs and wiggle it all around until it seems straight. Tighten the triples and go for a test ride. Repeat as necessary. It's possible you bent the handlebars as well. Easiest to check that is to sight along the crossbar and see if it looks staright when compared to the rest of the front end(do this after trying to re-align the forks in the triple clamp). My tail-light assembly was saved by my Happy-Trails givi top box mounting plate. Happy looping, dat brooklyn bum

--- In DSN_klr650@y..., "jmt_usa" wrote: > Hello Group, > > Last night the bike got away from me on the street during a low > speed wheelie. > > It launched from underneath stood erect enough to scrape/bust the > tail light and rear fender. > > Next it came down on the right side bumping the throttle, rear > brake, a bit of the muffler and the engine case just below the oil > cap. > > Now I have the handlebars & front end off about 15 degrees from > center and would appreciate some tips about realignment. > > Also while not busted the rear brake isn't functioning it seems > loose like the right foot-peg is which was also bumped up. > > Perhaps I should be looking for the maintenance manual about now but > I need to ride in the mean time. > > Thanks in advance for your helpful responses. > > JMT > > 8^)