XL650V-6 Front Fork Springs Upgrade

[MarkR]

Touratech can provide a set of uprated front fork springs for a Transalp. On all of my road-going vehicles I prefer harder rides and in this case stiffer springs will reduce the braking dip of the standard front springs. Will there be an improvement and are there any other valves/oil viscosity which need to be uprated as well? By removing the bars and the top spring captive nuts, can the current springs be removed (with caution) and new ones slotted in? Your knowledge is appreciated. Many thanks.

Mark

[russh]

Hi, as far as I know the springs can be lifted straight out, obviously support the bike, if on a centre stand ensure the front wheel is off the ground.

However what I've done is increase the front spring preload to reduce the initial sag by finding some washers of the appropriate diameter and about 3mm thick which I've place under the top fork plugs, I found 6mm (x2 washers) made a noticeable difference. I think the major problem however is the lack of compression damping, this would need the forks re-valving.

I would guess thicker fork oil may(??) help reduce dive but would affect the rebound damping too, and I'm not too sure how that would work as I find apart from the dive the bike handles OK.

-Russ