Rear shock preload adjustment

Jeezus Christ.... using the overpriced KTM spanner wrench (€26 at your friendly neighbourhood KTM shop) you still need to remove the fucking shock from the bike in order to crank the collar up or down the threaded body to increase or decrease the amount of preload on the spring. I was very tempted to use a hammer and a drift but the collar is made of Play Dough or some other similar soft material. I tried, in fact, and was shocked to see how easily the collar was being damaged. So, I shelled out my hard earned cash and bought the fucking wrench.

So, up on the stand, off came the seat, side plastics, voltage regulator, air box (on pre-2014 models the air box can stay when you need to raise the fuel tank on the upper pivot), rear fender, lower tank mount bolt, and the muffler. Then you can raise the entire rear sub-frame/fuel tank assembly, and remove the upper and lower shock bolts.

I cranked the collar and lock-ring about 1/2" in an effort to lower the seat height a little. After getting it all back together, I confirmed it was a success, but I wish I had gone for a full 1" of added preload. Screw it. I'm still way up on my tippy toes, but it's an improvement.

I did this job on the same day that I wrapped the wiring harness. I figured since I was going to be tearing into the electrical system, I might as well do the sock adjustment at the same time.

WR250X rear shock replacement

A couple of months ago, I picked up a used shock and had it re-valved by WER Suspension in New Jersey. Doing it this way saved me from having the bike laid up while the work was being done. I just got around to installing the newly rebuilt shock today... in preparation for an upcoming dual sport event I am taking part in this Sunday.

Pulling the old shock from the bike was a piece of cake. About 15 minutes, tops.  Cleaning the bolts, applying a bit of grease, and installing the new shock took another 15 minutes or so.

When I finished, I went for a quick test ride around the neighbourhood for a few minutes. It definitely has an improved feel.

Step 1: Get the bike up on a stand so that the rear wheel 

is just about off the ground. An adjustable stand is perfect for this.

Step 2: Remove the nut from the lower yoke of the linkage assembly

Step 3: Remove the nut from the upper shock bolt

Step 4: Remove the nut from the lower shock bolt

At this point, you've removed only the three nuts, no bolts.

Step 5: Now, find a long rod or some type of drift and a hammer, 

and gently tap each of the three bolts to remove them. I started with 

the two bolts at the bottom, followed by the top shock mount bolt.

Bottom bolts removed, the dog bones will hang free.

Top shock mount bolt removed

Step 6: With the left side panel removed, just pull the shock up 

and out from the side. It doesn't get any easier than this.

The old shock on the left has seen a measly 3,500 Kms  

On the right is the used shock I bought and had rebuilt.

Re-installation is the same steps as the removal, but in reverse.

I also took a few minutes and applied some fresh synthetic waterproof grease to the  bushings/bearings/bolts. No, I didn't completely remove the entire linkage/yoke assembly for a full bearing service --- my bike has just 3,500 Kms on the odometer, so that will probably happen next year.

WR250 rear shock rebuild

From the factory, the rear shock on the WR is similar to that found on the DR.  In other words, the valving sucks.  I thought  about removing the shock over the winter and sending it off to a professional suspension shop to have it rebuilt/revalved, but I just never got around to it.

Recently, I found someone selling a gently used shock from a 2010 WR250X which had 3 or 4 thousand miles on it. I bought it for $100 and the seller just happened to live in New Jersey, not far from a well known suspension shop called WER Suspension. A few people from the WR250 forum have had lots of good things to say about these guys and the great work they do rebuilding suspension for the WR.

So, the seller agreed to drop off the used shock at WER instead of shipping it to me. I called WER and spoke with Drew, explaining my plan for the used shock, and my request to have them ship it to me once they've rebuilt it. They called me a few days later to confirm the work was done, and to get my credit card number for the work. They billed me for $230 which included all the revalving work and the shipping charges.

Here is it, ready to be installed in the bike.  I may not get around to it for a couple of weeks, or maybe even a month or so, as I'll be away soon on a business trip.  I'll report back once I get it installed, and after I've had a chance to ride on it.

Only the shock's internals have been upgraded. Drew advised me to keep the OEM spring (rated for 7.7 Kg/mm) and try the upgraded shock with just the new valving work. He suggested that with the proper valving, the stock spring should be just fine for riders up to 200 lbs.  Since I'm right at the limit, I considered going up to an 8.3 Kg/mm spring, but he reminded me that I could always change the spring later if I didn't like it. 

First ride, and leaky upside-down fork seals.

Got out for a real ride yesterday, even if it was just an "all-asphalt" ride.  Dave still has his DRZ400E for dirt riding, but he recently picked up a mint-condition 2007 Kawasaki Versys for when he doesn't want to get muddy. He invited me to join him, along with a couple of his street buddies for a ~200 Km ride that took us to Almonte, then over to Merrickville, and back home again. We stopped for lunch at a pub on the water in Almonte.

Anyway, it was the first real ride for me on my newly upgraded DR since it came out of winter storage a few days ago. The bike ran great and the new RMZ forks and the rebuilt and upgraded rear shock were awesome... except that I noticed both fork legs were leaking oil even before I arrived at Dave's house. Oh well, I went along for the ride anyway -- hoping that oil wouldn't find its way onto my front brake rotor.

When I got home I was curious and just had to take a better look. When I took the RMZ forks apart over the winter and put new seals in them, I had my doubts that I was installing the new seals properly. What? Was I installing the seals upside-down in my new upside-down forks? 

The aftermarket All-Balls seals looked almost the same from both sides, so it was hard to determine which side was up.  And, as it happened, when I ordered the All-Balls seals from my local dealer over the phone, I mistakenly ordered both the aftermarket and OEM seals at the same time. I inquired about returning one set and they told me about their silly re-stocking charge policy so I decided to keep them.  Anyway, once home from my ride yesterday, I pulled them apart and installed the new OEM seals (far more obvious which way goes up).  Went for a good ride when I finished at bed time, and so far, no leaks.

The All-Balls seals. Which way is up? I dunno.

Throw those away and stick with OEM seals.

Winter upgrades almost done

The RMZ front end is now bolted on, as are the bar riser clamps, top clamp, handle bars and hand guards from Highway Dirt Bikes, and the Vapor computer is bolted into the HDB billet Vapor protector dash, Corbin seat, DRZ tail light (and a yellow rear fender I found on ADV Rider). My new Alps Mountaineering Neptune 2 tent arrived today. Just waiting for my Pat Walsh luggage rack to arrive. Then I just need to figure out how I will mount my Pelican 1430 top-loading cases for use as panniers. Looking forward to some dirt bike camping this summer.


Good news, bad news...

Good news: the snow is melting fast and riding season is about to start (it was nice enough that I'd have ridden to work today if the bike was ready). Bad news: tomorrow I leave on another trip for work. This time I'll be gone for just over a month, so it seems I will miss the first few weeks of riding season. That's a hard  pill to swallow after not being able to ride for 3 months now because of winter. I'm dying to ride, the weather is finally cooperating, but I'll be away for a month. On the other hand, I am looking forward to this trip. It's a true round-the-world trip: Ottawa > London > Mumbai > Singapore > Bandar Seri Begawan >  Perth > Melbourne > Auckland > Vancouver > Ottawa. Unfortunately, it's not a tourist trip... it will mostly be long work days, with very little time for seeing the sights.

Rear shock upgrade - completed

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about my plan to have Cogent Dynamics rebuild and upgrade the rear shock. Well, I just got back from a 2-week long business trip and the newly upgraded shock was waiting for me when I got home.

The "before" photo: the OEM shock with a 7.5 Kg/mm spring from ProCycle

The "after" photo: the same OEM shock with the full Cogent treatment.

So the shock was rebuilt and upgraded by Cogent Dynamics in North Carolina. Here's a rundown of the work they did:

• new longer and thicker shaft (Yikes! Sounds like a penis enlargment scam!)
• new lower mounting clevis
• added a compression adjustment clicker knob, the red thingy (previously, there was compression damping adjustment)
• new 8.1 Kg/mm Eibach spring
• anodized the shock body exterior
• ceramic-coated the body interior for better heat dissipation
• new seal head assembly with with bushing seals and O-rings
• new piston with a custom-made shim stack for me (a 200 lb. rider)
• new needle and needle jet
• new spring clip

By the time it was done, and round-trip shipping paid from Canada to North Carolina, the whole thing worked out to $601 on my Visa card. A lot of money, yes, but others who have done it all agree it's worth every penny. They were also kind enough to return the aftermarket spring I had installed last summer (a 7.5 Kg/mm spring from ProCycle). I've already sold the ProCycle spring for $100.  The original spring from the factory was a soft and squishy 6.5 Kg/mm. Can't wait to install this thing and go for a ride. Just gotta wait for the snow to melt.

Also waiting for me was a spare front wheel I bought on eBay. With the new RMZ front end, I have a wheel already but I found a deal on a front RMZ wheel in very good condition. So, now I have 2 full sets of wheels. I intend to have a set of knobbies mounted on one set, and a pair of more street worthy rubber mounted on the other set.

'07 RMZ250 front wheel found on eBay for $100.

Very nice condition, will make a nice spare.

Headlight brackets for 50mm fork tubes

Since the RMZ250 does not have a headlight, it meant that I would need to figure out some way to mount a headlight once the RMZ forks are on the bike. Fortunately, the DRZ400SM (only the SM model, not the 400E or the 400S) has the same size fork tubes (50mm) as the RMZ, and since the DRZ400SM is a street bike, it has a headlight. I've been keeping my eye on eBay, watching for headlight brackets. New ones from the dealer cost ~ $140 by the time you get the 4 rubber inserts (upper and lower for each side) plus all the taxes. I found a seller on eBay who was stipping down a brand new DRZ400SM for a conversion to a track bike, and he was selling the headlight brackets for $29, plus $10 shipping. Score!

Now I can mount my original DR headlight plus the headlight cowl. However, I plan to ditch the actual headlight glass assembly and just use the mounts with the cowl, and make my own bracket to bolt a VisionX Solstice 10-Watt LED as the low beam, and a 24-Watt LED from ADVMonster for the high beam. Hopefully, I can design some type of lexan protector shield to place in front of them and make it all look good and work properly.

The DR650 headlight glass

Right:  DRZ400SM headlight brackets (fit 50mm forks)

Left: DR650 headlight brackets (fit 43mm forks)

Keyed iginition switch, Raptor fuel petcock, Pelican Panniers

One item to be sorted with the RMZ fork swap is: what to do with the DR650 ignition switch?  Well, the key mechanism has never worked well on my DR. Ever since I got the bike, I have often fought with the key. It goes into the key hole easily, but getting it to turn is another story. You've gotta jiggle it the right way, work it back and forth, piece of shit. 

The previous owner of the bike gave me one worn out OEM key, and one brand new OEM key. I immediately had duplicates made of the new key, but I think the lock itself was already worn out. In any event, I'm tired of screwing around with a key that requires so much persuation to work, so I decided I would ditch the key entirely. Besides, the steering lock isn't going to work with the new RMZ top triple clamp. So a push-button on/off switch will do the trick.  Just needed to figure out the wiring. A little sniffing around on ADVRider and ThumperTalk taught me that the guts of the keyed iginition contains a 100 Ohm 1/4 watt resistor.  Let's get to work:

The OEM keyed iginition switch - stupid key never worked properly anyway.

Snip.... I need that green connector.

My local electronics supply store doesn't sell individual resistors,

so I had to shell out 99 cents for this 10-pack of 100 Ohm resistors.

The orange with yellow tracer wire

soldered in place

* brown and grey go together

* black with white tracer, and orange with yellow tracer go together

(with the resistor soldered in there, under the long piece of black heat-shrink)

* the on/off ignition switch will be installed between the red and orange

Next up: the IMS gas tank is great in that it expands the fuel capacity from the stock 13 Litres to about 20 Litres. However, IMS supplies a really, cheap, crappy fuel valve that will eventually fail. This valve has the same build quality of something you'd expect to buy from the dollar store.  Every time you turn the valve to ON, OFF, or RESERVE, it feels like the damn thing is going to break. Rather than wait for that inevitability, I decided to be proactive and do what many others have done: replace it with the much sturdier petcock from the Yamaha Raptor. Except for a 5-minute hack job required to enlarge the hole slightly, it's pretty much a direct bolt-on swap. The Raptor valve is about $25, available from any Yamaha dealer. Part #5LP245000100

Left: OEM Yamaha Raptor petcock

Right: junk petcock supplied with IMS gas tank

use Dremel and hobbyist scalpel knife to carefully

enlarge the hole on the IMS tank

Here the hole has been enlarged slightly to allow the Raptor fuel valve to fit

Raptor petcock installed, as well as a one-way venting valve

for the gas cap (eliminates the need for a long, floppy vent hose on the gas cap)

Finally, a sneek peek of my next project: Pelican panniers. Somehow, I'm going to mount these onto the bike to be used as my indestructible and waterproof luggage system. These are the Pelican 1430 top-loading cases. They're not huge, just ~ 15-17 Litres in capacity. I'm not looking for huge, rather, I'm looking for tough and durable.... and dry.

Stay tuned to find out what craazy idea I dream up to mount these things.

RMZ forks - another update

Forks and triple clamps installed.

RMZ wheel, brake rotor, caliper & fender installed.

Almost ready to ride. Just waiting on a few more parts.... Oh, and waiting for spring, too.

steering stem bearings

I bought a set of All Balls Racing steering stem bearings and with seals from a local dealer for $35. As I expected, they are the same part number for both the RMZ250 and the DR650 (plus a whole bunch of other Suzuki bikes). The lower bearing needs to be pressed on, while the top one just slides on and off with by hand.

To get the old lower bearing removed, I used a pry bar, then a hammer with a piece of steel used as a punch. To press the new one into place I used length of threaded rod, and a selection of large, flat washers (including one with a 1 1/4" centre hole to press up against the bearing itself over, slid down over the steering stem), plus a piece of 1 1/2" square tubing (left over from the trailer I built).

The new bearing slides on until it gets almost to the end...

then you need to press it on carefully the rest of the way.

You either need a shop press to do it, or you can MacGyver a special tool like I did.

Slide a big, fat washer down over the steering stem and let it rest on the top of the bearing (and I also used the old bearing race to protect the roller bearing), then a piece of 1 1/2" square tubing works well as a spacer to get you to the end of the steering stem.

It's that last 3/4" or so that the bearing needs to be pressed.

Then just crank the nuts onto the threaded rod and voilà, the bearing is forced into position smoothly.

Bearing and dust seal now in place.

These bearing fit quite a number of different bikes.

The home made bearing press may look pretty ghetto, but it gets the job done without putting undue stress on the new bearings.

I use Permatec synthetic grease on all the bearings.

Last week, I installed new wheel bearings and seals in both the front and rear wheels.

I've been trying to streamline the toolkit that I carry on the bike. Picked up these two hex socket adapters shown... a 1/4" drive adapter and a 3/8" adapter, and a 6" long #2 Philips screwdriver that fits nicely in the hex ratchet (this ratchet is really slick and I use it all the time). Along with a 10mm & 12mm wrenches, plus tire removal tools, most of the basics are covered.