April 26 2016 ,

 oil change/ no new filter

In search of a more comfortable ride.

 April 11,2016 - 11787 miles.

 One of major complaints I've had about this bike was how stiff the front fork felt. They felt very stiff even with absolutely no compression or rebound. A while back I ordered a new set of springs from Racetech for my weight. They don't list anything on the website for my bike so I thought I'd take a chance.  I weigh I weigh a whole 140lbs and based on the springs I ordered for my 748 I went with an 85kg/mm spring rate. The stock Marzocchi springs narrow at the top so they will tuck under the fork cap. Not to big of deal, just throw a washer wide enough to sit between the new spring and fork cap. this adds a couple mm of preload between the stock spring and the new racetech spring. I installed the new spring and felt a slight improvement but still stiff. after a little poking around it was recommended i try reducing the fork oil. pulled 100cc out of both an again better but still room for improvement. A couple months gone by and still wanting to see improvement. When I reinstalled the springs last time I also changed the fork oil to a lower viscocity so this time I decided drain the forks and refill with an even lower viscocity oil to speed up flow. I refilled with the stock recommended level of 380cc's of fluid. i put the forks back on the bike  and did a couple dry runs in the garage. They still felt stiff , so I drained 100cc's out of each fork again and took it out for a ride...... Success ! I reset the compression and rebound to the factory recommended settings. and they felt pretty good. I came home and added another 1/4 turn of rebound to the front and out 3 clicks or rebound in the rear. we'll see how this feels. fork oil is the MOTUL expert light 5w. its a semi synthetic. I used https://transmoto.com.au/comparative-oil-weights-table/ to find fork oil viscocity. Previously used was

Motul Factory Line - light/medium

Fork Oil

24

current oil is 

Motul Fork Oil Expert - light

Fork Oil

17.9

the lighter oil is a great improvement. I'll have to get some more seat time to make a final decision but if i had to say right now , my thoughts are to go with an even lighter fork spring like an 80kg/mm and back to the medium fork oil. I adjusted some of the preload out of the front so its sitting a bit higher. time will tell