[CBRVFR]

I was a bit surprised this afternoon to recieve an email from ebay that I had won the bid on an Ohlins shock for the SV.

A couple of days ago I put in a pretty lowball bid, and forgot when the auction was ending. Some poor bastard was probably waiting with his finger on the mouse when bidnapper woke up and started bidding with about 7 seconds to go.

Pretty good deal on a shock that lists for about 1000.. half price.

The spring is supposedly in the ballpark for my weight (we'll see what that will be in a few months) and it's adjustable for compression, rebound, preload, and ride height.

Now I really need to get the straight story on a GSXR front end conversion. They're all different lengths and there's a lot of mythology out there. The SVrider.com archives are useless.

Where is the Suzuki version of Abtech?

[abtech]

Originally Posted by CBRVFR

I was a bit surprised this afternoon to recieve an email from ebay that I had won the bid on an Ohlins shock for the SV.

A couple of days ago I put in a pretty lowball bid, and forgot when the auction was ending. Some poor bastard was probably waiting with his finger on the mouse when bidnapper woke up and started bidding with about 7 seconds to go.

Pretty good deal on a shock that lists for about 1000.. half price.

The spring is supposedly in the ballpark for my weight (we'll see what that will be in a few months) and it's adjustable for compression, rebound, preload, and ride height.

Now I really need to get the straight story on a GSXR front end conversion. They're all different lengths and there's a lot of mythology out there. The SVrider.com archives are useless.

Where is the Suzuki version of Abtech?

Although I have tried to forget about it, I worked on an SV a couple of seasons ago for Dave Knapp's son: Taylor. It was a beater they had used to get Taylor through a season of WERA Endurance racing and I had been given 4 different sets of GSXR forks of all different vintages and spent about 2 weeks screwing around with them in an attempt to improve on the overall package. I ended up tossing all the GSXR parts and had one of the GLRRA racers retrofit a set of F4 cartridges into the stock units and it was very nice, especially considering the total lack of rebound damping in the stockers.

Beyond that, I ain't talkin . . .

[NinerPilot]

If you are still on the VFR list, Ping Darren Nixon... He built a nice SV including the Gixxer forks... He is the service manager at the dealership I worked at. If you cant get him, Ill swing buy and get the skinny for you.
Chris

[CBRVFR]

Uh, where did you throw those forks again?

The F4 internal upgrade is popular and relatively inexpensive. I think people who want to keep their bike legal for certain classes go that way.

I emailed Eddie Kraft a while ago, to no avail.

There's a place called SVraceshop that seems to have a good rep, but they use gold valves in all of their upgrades, and it seems to me that you were down on those.. but maybe for the use my bike would get they'd be OK?



Edit:
Thanks, Niner!

[Chain]

Originally Posted by CBRVFR

Where is the Suzuki version of Abtech?

Scottymac here on the board just did a full front end swap on his SV. He's an engineer and a very good wrench. I'd trust him to work on my own bikes, FWIW.

http://www.fireblades.org/forums/members/scottymac.html

[Baketech]

Originally Posted by CBRVFR

The spring is supposedly in the ballpark for my weight (we'll see what that will be in a few months)

Too cool... would have known that a valve spring would even fit on that shock...

[sheepofblue]

I looked at SVs and decided on the RC for a lot of reasons but one was that SV mods looked to Frankenbikish for me

[Heavy-Dee]

Originally Posted by CBRVFR

Uh, where did you throw those forks again?

The F4 internal upgrade is popular and relatively inexpensive. I think people who want to keep their bike legal for certain classes go that way.

I emailed Eddie Kraft a while ago, to no avail.

There's a place called SVraceshop that seems to have a good rep, but they use gold valves in all of their upgrades, and it seems to me that you were down on those.. but maybe for the use my bike would get they'd be OK?



Edit:
Thanks, Niner!

So did Eddie not know the answer or was he unwilling to help? I've traded emails w/ him and he seems like a pretty nice guy.

HD

[tigerblade]

Just upgrading the stock internals makes a big difference. You sure you want to go to the expense of the conversion?

[CBRVFR]

HD - I emailed him on his WitchKraft Racing site, maybe he doesn't check that one.. I know Eddie from Trackoholics indoor kart racing events, and he is a great guy.. I was especially intrigued by something he mentioned on his site about getting "the newer" gsxr forks on the race bike because of a significant weight savings from the older ones. If you have a better email address, please PM me.

Chain - I'll shoot that guy a PM and see what he might have to say - thanks!

Sheep, I don't care how it LOOKS!

Bake - It may take two valve springs..

TB - Here's the thing.. I don't even know what great forks feel like. An old racer guy that I know named Dave Bloom (used to race for Kevin Cameron, and against the Absotech guys, I think) threw away the awful springs that were in there, laughed at the Racetech springs I had acquired, and replaced them with some much longer ones that he used in his F2 a million years ago, mumbling something about frequencies . The preload spacers are now diesprings cut to size, and the oil in there is heavier than stock. It made a huge difference, but whatever is in there isn't adjustable. I had a lurid front slide coming over the rise at 4 at Grattan that took me very close to the left edge of the track before I regained traction. (thar be snapping turtles down there. Don't ask me how I know.)

Also, from the pics I'm seeing of the bike in hard braking or cornering situations, it doesn't look like there's a lot of travel left, and I understand that's not a great thing.So I'm guessing.

I understand that when you mess with the shock or the ride height, etc., it often creates the need to adjust the front. Since I'm not gonna race the thing, I don't care if it's legal, I just want to have a lot of confidence and go fast! Having lighter forks with better brakes and more adjustability seems like a good place to start..

But Dave Bloom would just say that I better get used to sliding the front if I want to pick up speed, and that I should just shut up and go faster. He's broken every bone in his body twice, by the way.

The fact is that I enjoy bombing around on that little thing more than the 954, and I would consider selling 'blade to optimize the SV, so I guess the finances of it are relative.

[tigerblade]

I haven't ridden an SV with GSXR front end, so maybe I'm just used to what I have and don't know how good it could be. Of course, I wanted to keep mine supersport legal which isn't an issue here. I do have preload on my forks but the damping can only be changed internally and fork oil weight was changed during cold (Road America in March) to warm (Barber in August weather. I know the older-gen SV stock forks don't have preload adjustability, so that is a detriment. I didn't have any problems at Grattan with the front, but then again I'm a puss.

[sheepofblue]

It wasn't the looks rather the task of getting the disparate pieces and figuring what will and won't work was a task I didn't want at the time. There was other considerations also such as if i didn't like track days which would I want on the road next to the RR

Of course at Grattan you can take the beast out and get some RC critique to feed back on me

[abtech]

Originally Posted by CBRVFR

HD - I emailed him on his WitchKraft Racing site, maybe he doesn't check that one.. I know Eddie from Trackoholics indoor kart racing events, and he is a great guy.. I was especially intrigued by something he mentioned on his site about getting "the newer" gsxr forks on the race bike because of a significant weight savings from the older ones. If you have a better email address, please PM me.

Chain - I'll shoot that guy a PM and see what he might have to say - thanks!

Sheep, I don't care how it LOOKS!

Bake - It may take two valve springs..

TB - Here's the thing.. I don't even know what great forks feel like. An old racer guy that I know named Dave Bloom (used to race for Kevin Cameron, and against the Absotech guys, I think) threw away the awful springs that were in there, laughed at the Racetech springs I had acquired, and replaced them with some much longer ones that he used in his F2 a million years ago, mumbling something about frequencies . The preload spacers are now diesprings cut to size, and the oil in there is heavier than stock. It made a huge difference, but whatever is in there isn't adjustable. I had a lurid front slide coming over the rise at 4 at Grattan that took me very close to the left edge of the track before I regained traction. (thar be snapping turtles down there. Don't ask me how I know.)

Also, from the pics I'm seeing of the bike in hard braking or cornering situations, it doesn't look like there's a lot of travel left, and I understand that's not a great thing.So I'm guessing.

I understand that when you mess with the shock or the ride height, etc., it often creates the need to adjust the front. Since I'm not gonna race the thing, I don't care if it's legal, I just want to have a lot of confidence and go fast! Having lighter forks with better brakes and more adjustability seems like a good place to start..

But Dave Bloom would just say that I better get used to sliding the front if I want to pick up speed, and that I should just shut up and go faster. He's broken every bone in his body twice, by the way.

The fact is that I enjoy bombing around on that little thing more than the 954, and I would consider selling 'blade to optimize the SV, so I guess the finances of it are relative.

I would like to point out that Dave is in fact older than I am by at least 1 or 2 years. We have raced together probably over 100 times (both long ago and more recently in CCS/WERA/GLRRA). Dave Bloom, Dave Knapp and Joe Lachniet all believe that to go fast, you have to test the limits with your body a few times and then push right up against that point 99% of the time. Dave used to run a rather healthy HD and an F3 recently and he went like snot on both of them.

[CBRVFR]

Originally Posted by tigerblade

I didn't have any problems at Grattan with the front, but then again I'm a puss.

Yeah, right..

I think I just picked the wrong line for the amount of throttle that I had going and the front got light, compounded by the presence of a patch in my "landing zone" and a cold day. The sensation of the front skating across the pavement was only entertaining in retrospect. Can't help thinking that a better suspension would have gotten more bite sooner. I took a more thoughtful line throughout the rest of the day and probably went just as fast w/ no problems.

[CBRVFR]

Originally Posted by abtech

I would like to point out that Dave is in fact older than I am by at least 1 or 2 years.

More like 5.

[eyauch]

Besides kraft, did you try talking to the George brothers (andy or steve)? They scoot damn fast around Grattan. I imagine Kraft knows them all to well. I ran cartridge emulators for awhile on mine before I sold it. Wasn't horrible, but the setup on the front scared me something fierce a few times getting wobbly at speed.Good luck with the project.

[CBRVFR]

Good idea. I'll try to find a website for Carney Racing.

[eyauch]

I'm not sure but I think a friend of theirs, (Nik?) had their team information? I guess I really don't know more than that. I might be able to dig up one of their emails if i really tried.

[Red Rider]

Originally Posted by CBRVFR

Good idea. I'll try to find a website for Carney Racing.

I've got their email addresses if you need them...

[Heavy-Dee]

Originally Posted by tigerblade

but then again I'm a puss.

Finally admitting it huh?

HD

[tigerblade]

Originally Posted by Heavy-Dee

Finally admitting it huh?

HD

I've never hidden the fact.