New Brakes and Fork springs

[jtenright]

LOVE the new springs, no more bounce in the front
breaks need to be worn in still

easy/basic jobs just ran into one snag when installing the front brakes.

and coat hanger method for retrieving the stock springs worked great.

[TR]

I just got a set of Progresive springs, but haven't installed them yet since they are suppoused to work better with 15W oil, did you just replaced stock springs? what about new oil or oil levels?

[rjsjr]

I put in progressives with new 15wt oil, used a mityvac to suction out the oil the lazy way (make sure to pump the forks to get it all out, though if I did it again I'd go ahead and remove the forks to drain them) and replaced with an equal amount of 15wt oil to keep the levels the same.  Progressive has a nice little tool for suctioning oil and maintaining level, but hardly seems worth the cost.

[conradvr]

I just got a set of Progresive springs, but haven't installed them yet since they are suppoused to work better with 15W oil, did you just replaced stock springs? what about new oil or oil levels?

I suggest you take the forks off and drain the oil out - on my '96 GS the oil was filthy black and I suspect some other gunk was also removed.  For the new oil level I followed the instructions from Progressive Suspension.  I also installed the springs with the tighter wound end towards the bottom of the forks to keep the mass as low as possible on the bike.  For oil level control get a large syringe and some tubing to extract excess oil when you overfill, I used a metal ruler for measuring the levels.  Oh! you will also need a bench-vice for the job, and prefably a torque wrench to tighten the bolts afterwards.  All up the job took me about 3 hours - 1st time I ever worked on a bike and took things real slow, pretty easy in the end.

Cheers
Conrad

[TR]

Thanks!

Now I need to find the time and a vice... the torquimeter is ready...

[glenn9171]

I have the Progressives with the stock oil and they work fine for me.  No spacers in mine, by the way.

[TR]

Glenn:

I think it must be easier to install the Progressives with no spacer, suppousedly the spacer shoud fit to the same top edge of the fork, therefore the cap nut must be pushed in to reach the threads, but if no spacer the cap nut should screw in effortlessly, isn't it?

The new spacers should be 3/4" long, does you bike lowers or not with no spacers?

[conradvr]

I would suggest you use the spacer.  Here in Australia the GS comes with adjustable preload, I have the preload set to max preload at the moment which is just over 3/4" compression - this setting gives the best ride with progressive suspension springs --- at the hardware store it was a little pvc pipe connector that was spot on the money for width - only costs about AU$0.90 and is 2" long.

Cheers
Conrad

[glenn9171]

The springs come to the top of the fork tubes without the spacers.  You still have to press down on the caps to get the threads to catch.  With spacers, you also have to push the spacers into the tubes before the threads catch.

[TR]

Conrad,

i envy your adjustable preload cap nuts... well, gotta get some sort of spring compresor, perhaps will try to fix something like the one Progressive sells...

Glenn, thanks for the info, it will be very useful.

Sergio (TR)