- Joined
- Oct 2, 2002
- Messages
- 3,118
- Location
- Sunland, CA
boheme,
If you have an 01 you have the shock with the long tapered needle. (the needle profiles have been changing yearly it seems like) With this in mind, you will need a straight rate spring, not the progressive that the bike came with. This is due to the very progressive nature of the valving caused by the long thin needle found on the 01's. In other words, as the rear suspension is compressing the shaft is encountering a larger and larger diameter needle, thereby shutting down the by pass for the oil through the shaft. At the same time the spring is becoming more and more stiff due to it's rising rate. If memory serves........... My stock shock on my 01 501 had too much compression damping (due to the rising rate spring and the valving) and too little rebound damping. Which resulted in the PA TOOIE effect. Which means getting spit off. After re-springing the bike, and re-vlaving the bike became very stable.
On my 01 501 I ran the following set up for the desert riding I do. Which by the way is not just flat & fast. 8.4KG rear spring, and 44KG front springs. And had ths suspension valved by a competent suspension man. I must respectfully disagree with Viking about having your suspension re-valved. Along with selecting the proper springs, re-valving your suspension is very important.
After re-reading this article, which I see that I posted to some time ago I have a couple of other suggestions.
I have found that 33-35 mm of static sag is really where you want to be. If with this amount of static sag you are outside of the 3 & 1/2" to 4" of rider sag there is a good chance you are going to need another spring. There is no way around it, period. Along the same lines, if the rear spring is changed then the front's will also need to be changed to maintain balance. So, check this out first before visiting the suspension shop. There is also another point to consider regarding springs, especially your shock spring. There is a certain range of spring pre load that is acceptable. It's usually 4-6mm's I believe. Mine is set at 5mm. When I got my suspension back from my tuner, I bolted them on the bike and guess what? The static sag was exactly 33mm!! So, outside of checking static and rider sag, check this. Put the bike on a stand and measure the compressed or pre-loaded lenght of the spring, then back off the adjuster so that the spring is loose and re measure and the exact same spot. Compared with your static and race sag measurements, I think you will find this rather interesting.
I don't know how fast you ride, or how many hours you ride. But experiece has taught me that 30 to 40 hours is the max you want to go before servicing your suspension fluid. Don't try and fool yourself here. Look at it this way, you change your motor oil at the suggested amount of hours or less right? Suspesion oil is no different, in fact your shock oil can reach temps approaching 400 degree's if ridden hard. The oil is asked to not only try and maintain a certain viscosity, to maintain the same damping charachteristis, but also provide lubrication as well. So don't skimp on the oil changes.
Another lesson just learned. The rebound adjuster on our shocks is a bit different than that of the KTM's. It has to be since the KTM's use a clevis for the lower mount, and our bikes use and eye. Point is, that little adjuster has a very smalll screw that water will eventually creep into and corrode. What you will notice when this happens is that the adjuster will seem like it now only has 10 clicks or so of adjustment, instead of 32. If you try and force it to adjust more it will break free, and will also break said small screw, thereby ruining it. And by ruining it I mean that you will be purchasing a new shock to the tune of $1100 usd. BEAUSE, they don't sell these parts seperately, you have to buy the whole shock. When you get your shock serviced, this piece should be dis-assembled and cleaned along with the rest of the shock to prevent this from happening.
As far as the clickers go: Your shock only has the low speed compression and rebound clickers, the forks the same. You would be well served to upgrade your forks comprssion and rebound adjuster valves to the 02 models as they flowed more oil. After having my susupension serviced by Clean racing, I have found that overall the suspension works best where he had set the clickers. I have tried playing with them a bit, a few clicks this way or that, and have always come back to the setting he gave me. That's what you're paying for when you have someone who knows what he's doing set up your suspension.
If you have an 01 you have the shock with the long tapered needle. (the needle profiles have been changing yearly it seems like) With this in mind, you will need a straight rate spring, not the progressive that the bike came with. This is due to the very progressive nature of the valving caused by the long thin needle found on the 01's. In other words, as the rear suspension is compressing the shaft is encountering a larger and larger diameter needle, thereby shutting down the by pass for the oil through the shaft. At the same time the spring is becoming more and more stiff due to it's rising rate. If memory serves........... My stock shock on my 01 501 had too much compression damping (due to the rising rate spring and the valving) and too little rebound damping. Which resulted in the PA TOOIE effect. Which means getting spit off. After re-springing the bike, and re-vlaving the bike became very stable.
On my 01 501 I ran the following set up for the desert riding I do. Which by the way is not just flat & fast. 8.4KG rear spring, and 44KG front springs. And had ths suspension valved by a competent suspension man. I must respectfully disagree with Viking about having your suspension re-valved. Along with selecting the proper springs, re-valving your suspension is very important.
After re-reading this article, which I see that I posted to some time ago I have a couple of other suggestions.
I have found that 33-35 mm of static sag is really where you want to be. If with this amount of static sag you are outside of the 3 & 1/2" to 4" of rider sag there is a good chance you are going to need another spring. There is no way around it, period. Along the same lines, if the rear spring is changed then the front's will also need to be changed to maintain balance. So, check this out first before visiting the suspension shop. There is also another point to consider regarding springs, especially your shock spring. There is a certain range of spring pre load that is acceptable. It's usually 4-6mm's I believe. Mine is set at 5mm. When I got my suspension back from my tuner, I bolted them on the bike and guess what? The static sag was exactly 33mm!! So, outside of checking static and rider sag, check this. Put the bike on a stand and measure the compressed or pre-loaded lenght of the spring, then back off the adjuster so that the spring is loose and re measure and the exact same spot. Compared with your static and race sag measurements, I think you will find this rather interesting.
I don't know how fast you ride, or how many hours you ride. But experiece has taught me that 30 to 40 hours is the max you want to go before servicing your suspension fluid. Don't try and fool yourself here. Look at it this way, you change your motor oil at the suggested amount of hours or less right? Suspesion oil is no different, in fact your shock oil can reach temps approaching 400 degree's if ridden hard. The oil is asked to not only try and maintain a certain viscosity, to maintain the same damping charachteristis, but also provide lubrication as well. So don't skimp on the oil changes.
Another lesson just learned. The rebound adjuster on our shocks is a bit different than that of the KTM's. It has to be since the KTM's use a clevis for the lower mount, and our bikes use and eye. Point is, that little adjuster has a very smalll screw that water will eventually creep into and corrode. What you will notice when this happens is that the adjuster will seem like it now only has 10 clicks or so of adjustment, instead of 32. If you try and force it to adjust more it will break free, and will also break said small screw, thereby ruining it. And by ruining it I mean that you will be purchasing a new shock to the tune of $1100 usd. BEAUSE, they don't sell these parts seperately, you have to buy the whole shock. When you get your shock serviced, this piece should be dis-assembled and cleaned along with the rest of the shock to prevent this from happening.
As far as the clickers go: Your shock only has the low speed compression and rebound clickers, the forks the same. You would be well served to upgrade your forks comprssion and rebound adjuster valves to the 02 models as they flowed more oil. After having my susupension serviced by Clean racing, I have found that overall the suspension works best where he had set the clickers. I have tried playing with them a bit, a few clicks this way or that, and have always come back to the setting he gave me. That's what you're paying for when you have someone who knows what he's doing set up your suspension.
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