1250 Suspension Mods for Touring?

Achesley,your honest opinion please now the forks are done.

+1. Seems on another post you mentioned something like a little improvement, which doesn't inspire me to break out the wallet and tools. I would like to get a more comfortable ride myself. Not too concerned about improved handling since most of my riding is freeway commuting, but would probably appreciate it if it happens. Getting tired of the pogo stick ride. Maybe I should be thinking of replacing the rear shock first? Other bikes are trying to seduce me with their siren song... (V-Strom 1000, Kawasaki Versys 1000 in particular.)

To be honest, I would just go down to 5 wt fluid. I didn't see that much improvement for the money and time spend. Thought I had not installed the stack right but got an old mech friend to come for a visit as he's done a few dozen installs on the racetech stuff and I had it right. We cut down on the spacers to get the preload to 1/3 travel. About 1.7 inches if I remember right.
Heck, I rode it stock for 75,000 miles so no use getting excited now. LOL!
I felt better gain putting emulators ( gold valves ) on my 2000 KLR and I do want to drill the holes in the tubes larger than suggested to soften them up some more.
I don't know about the Versys 1000 but have ridden the smaller version and it did really well. As for the DL1000, had one for about 14 months and 16,000 miles and didn't like the height vs weight or the engine at low rpm. I think , maybe if I wud of bought the Wee Storm, I might still have it with over 100 K miles.
But, I still love getting out on the Bandit and it's set up for standing on the pegs though ruff roads and that engine. oh my oh my.

Achesley,
Slip down to your Kawasaki dealer and test ride a 2012+ ZX14r. With the stock mufflers removed, it is lighter than the 1250 Bandit. Well balanced, it has about 3 gallons of fuel below the seat. Fuel injection is spot-on. Get some SW-Motech racks from twistedthrottle and mount your Givi bags.
I've got both Bikes. I can give you some pointers to make it more enjoyable long distant cruiser.
I'm 64 yrs old with bad knees and Back.
I'm leaving next week for Glacier Park, camping most of the way and back.
This would be your last Bike.
http://zx14ninjaforum.com/messages....0CC-A42461BE0280A898&page=1&searchTerm=rack#8

LOL on a new bike. Love my retired life but it don't pay that well. ha ha ha ha . Actually, since I quit the long distance touring after my crash a few years back and getting burnt out on it, My Bandit has became my #2 bike as per time spent on it and does all I need / want for a street bike. My old 15 yr old KLR 650 is my #1 bike due to the roads I love to roam on around SW Louisiana.
Plus, at 72 yrs old , I'm in a very chilled mode on the road.

I'm younger and working and yeah can't afford a ZX14 either and don't see why I would want one anyways. And sure its lighter most bikes are but they are steel framed and thus lighter! I hit 50k on my Bandit a few weeks back after my run to Key West and many stops in between and would NOT give it up for anything especially a ZX14! Can't see how you can say that bike is comfy but then again some people "tour" on Hayabusas too! I think its the body type really!

Suzuki shortened the seat (frame) by at least 2". I bought the Bandit Used and it came with a Sargent regular height seat. To me it is 1-2" too short in the rider's pocket. I've been trying to find a used GSX650F seat (EBay) and have Laam build me one.
The Ninja has an Aluminum Frame. The Ninja's suspension is perfect for me. I weigh 190 lb., 32" inseam.
I've modified the Bandit with many aftermarket devices, but cannot remove the fuel cut-off when decelerating; the Ninja does not have this problem. Maybe the 2016 Bandit will solve this problem. I was thinking of getting the ATRE from Dale Walker but other Riders on this forum say they cannot tell the difference.
The Bandit has a great intake noise with the open air box mod; just like the old days. The Ninja will never have that sound.
You don't have to buy a new 14r, look for a used one. There is a used 2012 with 6k miles
in town for $7k, half price. The economy is still soft it takes a long time to sale new Bikes.
Achesley, anyone who can ride a KLR has the inseam for any Bike. I need a ladder to get on that Bike. Next time in Colorado give me a shout for a test ride.

Corbin seat for FZ1 vs Sargent
for my butt FZ seat is perfect.

Achesley,
I know a guy 76 yrs old and still riding. He modified a 2002 R1 with tubular handle bars and a Corbin seat. He said on our last ride thru Colorado he was getting 62 mpg. He did a Saddle Sore 1500 mile Iron Butt in 24 hours at 73. It was on his "Bucket list". Nothing like that on my list!
This bike weighs 440 lb.

Years ago an article in Rider Magazine about a lady in CA who started riding at 74 yrs; graduated to 1200 Goldwing and was still riding at 84 yrs old. She was 5'6" and 140 lb.
She stated she rode horses on the Farm when she was young and figured she could ride a motorcycle, too. She took her Goldwing to grassy field, laid it on its side. She used a car jack to right it. Smart lady.
Enjoy your KLR. That Bike hasn't changed much in 25 years.

I knew many with over 1000000 BMW miles when I was riding them . Logged about 124 000 on BMW. My total Logged miles is nearing 450,000. I touring in '82 and quit 2 years ago after missing a deer in a corner in West Texas Davis Mountains but could not make the corner after that. Front caught sand on the side of the road and me and Bandit were along for the ride into the rocks then. Had to get the bike up with a torn rotary cup and get to a hospital. No cell coverage and no people. A 100 miles later I got to Fort Stockton and the hospital on my bike sans windshield. 3 days later, loaded bike in a uhalf van and drove back home. After healing up and lot of therapy for the separated shoulder, I rebuilt my bandit.
I never ever really concerned myself of what others do or what bikes they like as I've always been a loner on the roads less traveled. I spent way too many miles having to do 1000 mile plus days just to get a BmW rally and get myself back home to go to work offshore. See a lot of highway and lttle else. Since retirement and really a few years before when I was able to work 14-14 rather than 7-7 , I never got on an interstate unless necessary. Many less miles in a day but see so much more and meet so many more people on the road. \LOL once in New Mexico , a met a lady 82 that had just that day bought her a new BMW R1150R. Mary was her name. Two knee replacements and a retire nurse. My hat was off to her and we talked for a few hours.
So, as might of gathered, I'm not turned on by peeps doing Saddlesore stuff and other stuff like it to get a certificate from Iron Butt Riders. Only 1000 mile day I kinda smiled about was a guy that did a saddlesore all on gravel roads. Now that's riding to me.

Oh Well! On a really rough blacktop road last week , I looked down and the sun angle was right and caught a gleam of wet oil on the left fork tube. Hmmmm. When returning home, I saw that both sides were leaking. So, da Bandit is on the lift with the tubes off and waiting for new seals and dust covers and front brake pads ( They had oil on them also ) to come in from Bike Bandit. Been wanting to soften up that race tech pack and change oil anyway so the timing is right. So , while it's up , we'll catch up on maintenance.

I bought my 07 Bandit used and it had Dale Walker's Fork Brace which eliminated the Rock Guards. I bought it from a Suzuki Dealer who had just replaced the Fork Seals at 9500 miles.
I've added Neoprene Fork Guards www.nojgear.com to my Bike. These are a new style and you do not need to remove your fork tubes to install them.

I believe fork seals should last 30-40,000 miles.
I had a 1986 Concours and its fork seals were leaking at 24,000 miles. After replacing them I installed dirt bike type "Gaiter Boots" and never had a leak again. A nice feature of old Bikes were the oil drains at the bottom of forks.

Twas lucky. Had a very little seep when I changed the seals at near 60K miles. But was in a hurry and didn't spend time polishing the tubes like I do on my KLR when changing them. LOL, I was thinking of putting the extra set of Red Protectors I got for my KLR. That would be interesting for sure.

The forks are done again and back on the bike. Went ahead and pulled the stiffest shim in the race tech valve package out, cleaned all and put it back together with 5.6 inches of air gap to the 5 wt fork oil. Today, may get the fender and wheel back on but have to wait on the brakes a bit longer as was sent a totally screwed up order on the new pads. So need to contact them Monday and get that straight. Good think I have my KLR also so not grounded. LOL!

2008 1250 ABS, all stock suspension with 11,000 miles. As cold weather has set in, there is no riding likely for a few weeks. Good time to have a first look at fork innards, with help from a local racer. Much as I appreciate Dale's work and products, the budget is probably not there for his springs/valves/brace.

From what has been written here, it seems that attention to oil level and spacer length can improve dive and over-damping issues.

Is the site below sufficient as a guide to get started on basic fork work?

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/826775/Suzuki-Gsf1250.html?page=388#manual

tia, t110

I have that same manual, and it is quite comprehensive. I was just looking at it this weekend, as I had a leaking seal after doing springs a couple of months ago. Seems I had put the seal in upside down. Well, rookie mistake. At least it was only one of them. All back together (with a new seal) just in time for some Southern California rain for the whole week. However, at 11,000 miles, your seals should be fine. I had 44,000 on mine, and although the dust caps were cracked, the seals were still solid. I should have just changed the springs and oil.

I've got a 1000 miles on the last fork seal/ valve mod job. Forks seem a little softer over the small bumps. Seals not leaking , even with a few hundred miles down some really bad roads with me standing on the pegs for some of the miles.
When I change out fork seals, I like to polish the tubes with some 220 emery cloth and then use the back side and fine polish them again. When I install the new seals over the tubes, I cover the end of the tube with a cut off corner of a plastic bag and oil it real good to prevent any change of the tube edge marring the seal.
At present, I'm finished with the fork mods and may get a rear shock off another bike with more adjustment. Probably a Busa shock. We'll see.

I watched all the videos I could stand about how to do it as well as reading the manual. Seems there are differing opinions. I liked Delboy's Garage method in which he uses a strip of a plastic milk carton to shield the seal from the pitting near the top of the fork tubes. The manual, however says to put the seal on from the bottom of the tube after removing the lower fork slider. The advantage of this is that there is no pitting or rust at that end. You are also moving the seal against its natural wiping direction so there is less chance of nicking it. I did it this way, so hopefully it will be solid this time around. Seems good after a brief test ride, but time will tell.

Achesley, I bought Metrick Metal's Works Performance shock a few months ago, and after some fiddling with preload and damping, have it dialed in for a nice comfortable ride. I does make a difference, but I wouldn't have bought one new for this bike because of the price. I had to make a different mount for the remote resevoir because I didn't want to lose my passenger foot pegs. Scott had of course machined a very elegant mount, but it wouldn't fit with pegs attached. Maybe next week the much-needed SoCal rains will subside and I can ride it again.

I hear that on watching vids on fork seal change outs. About the only thing I do different the last 5 years from the '70's is cutting the corner piece off a ziplock bag to fit over the top of the fork tube. Where the fine Emory cloth comes in is it gets rid of all burrs on the tubes. Plus, it helps the new seals seat. The times I got lazy and short cutted the polishing part, I generally was changing seals again way ahead of time.
If I ever put some protectors over the tubes, ahla dirt bike style, they would last much longer I'm sure. Years ago, neary all bikes had full protectors on the tubes.

My seals still seem fine at 55k. There is some VERY light black spots on the forks that may be a slow leak developing but I'm not sure...

I got to 77,400 before changing the fork seals. I should of changed them when I installed the gold valves at 75,000 but had not ordered any. They were seeping then and big time leaking at the 77,400 mark. Add 7% to those figures for actual mileage due to my speedohealer.
The KLR , I've changed the seals 3 times in the 45K miles on it. But, run rougher roads on it for sure.

Andy, at the top of this page you seem to recommend against spending the money for the Gold Valves. Do you feel the same about going to non-progressive springs?

At this point I'm trying to decide whether or not to replace fork springs. RaceTech has the same price as Dale, and it's good to support the folks who go out of their way to make the Bandit a better ride.

The RaceTech spring rate calculator says to run .95's at my weight. Do you think making this change along with the 5wt is going to help the harshness over small bumps?

tia, t110

I'll chime in here because I did Holeshot springs without the Gold Valves. For my riding, which is mostly freeway commuting, but some touring, the springs and changing oil to 5 wt were well worth it. In a car analogy, it was like installing a set of Bilsteins compared to OEM shocks. The ride is definitely smoother and more controlled with less dive on braking. It immediately showed the shortcomings of the rear shock, however, which I eventually replaced with a used Works Performance one made for a Bandit.

My only (small) regret was going to the trouble to change the seals, which were at 43,000 miles or so and not leaking. I say regret, because I did one wrong and had to do it again. I'd leave them alone if you have no problems. You can change the oil and springs without taking the whole fork apart.

As said right below your post, it work for his style of riding. I have the 1.1 springs recomended for my weight. I had to cut the spacers down pretty good to achieve the loaded sag I wanted. About 1/3 travel. We have some really beat up blacktop roads down here in my area of Louisiana with a lot of Heat Bumps ( road buckles due to heat of the sun ) which the highway dept does grind down when really bad for cars.
I don't remember what the stock Bandit springs are rated at but I was running my at full preload to get the sag I wanted but never went past ATF's about 7wt fluid.
I'd give your thoughts on it a shot before spending the moneys for the gold valve. LOL You're not gonna get a lot of people , after spending big bucks on the set up saying , they think they wasted money going that way. But, you just gotta try at times. Heck, I went though about 1200 bucks attempting to get a seat I liked for my '07 DL1000 and still was not totally satisfied. But, I had just come off of around 124,000 miles of BMW R11** GS riding with Corbin Leather seats and their front end suspension which spoiled the heck out of me for long distance travel.

Seems it's always a tradeoff when you go to tinkering with seats or windscreens. Corbins are hit-or-miss. Had a wonderful Corbin on my FJ1200, a so-so one on a DR 650, and a not-so-good one on the C14. Had Spencer modify the stocker on the C14 and ended up choosing that one for a trip that included some 1000km days. On any seat, just the 200 miles between fillups takes a long time! And Spencer won't touch either the 1250 stocker or my Low Sargent; he wants a 650 seat to mod.

As for springs, Dale took off early today so no order yet at Holeshot. I did email him to see about using his springs without upgrading to the Gold Valves.

Andy, when you checked sag did you follow something like this method?

http://racetech.com/articles/SuspensionAndSprings.htm

Pretty much follow the same way as Race Tech but not quite so precised. I use a tie wrap on the front and have wife measure the rear. I just try to keep it at 1/3 total suspension travel on both bikes. Probably my next move on both bikes is the rear shock. Most likely a Busa for the Bandit and have not made up my mind for the KLR . Bandit still has the OEM shock with over 80K miles on it. KLR has an '09 OEM shock on it with about 20K miles on it .