DT125R Forks to soft for road use.....

[Jamie S]

Hi, since rebuilding the front brake, fitting new pads and a braided line (which I have found has made the brake a LOT better) , i have also found that the forks are VERY soft and easily compressed, not very suited to road riding at all, all though very good for off-road, seen as this bikes main use will be on the road, is there anything i can do to reduce this and stiffen them up a bit ? would more oil in them help out ? or a diffirent weight of oil? any one have any experiance of making off-road bikes more suited to road use?
Regards, Jamie.

[smegballs]

I think that preloading the springs (2p's under the caps) as well as swapping the oil for a thicker grade will both help stiffen up the forks.

I've yet to do any suspension work so bear that in mind..

I think its best to change one thing at a time and test ride between changes to minimise a major malfunction.

Good Luck

[bladerunner]

Aye thicker oil helps compression damping so stops as much dive as does adding spacers under the fork tops 2p's work well!! just try 4 or 5 to start with and adding more oil also helps reduse the air gap thus like making the springs harder but beware of over doing it so much as to cause them to hydro lock under heavy braking over bumps or the such as that will pop your seals in no time!! again just try lifting the oil level up by 10-15mm to start with.

The other thing to remember is not to set the bike up so the front and rear are unmatched ie no point having the front end rock solid and leaving the rear all bouncy!!
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Current bikes...cbr929, KDX200's, Rd125lc mk2, RGV250's

[Kickstart]

Hi

Thicker oil makes the damping stiffer. Which might not be what you want.

Some coils on top of the springs will give them a bit of preload. You can also use marginally more fork oil to reduce the air gap which will effectively stiffen the springing. Don't do too much though as the fork seals might not appreciate it.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[MaybeGuy]

maybe you're too heavy for it.
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Blue_SV650S wrote: it was a sh1te wheelie, but it proves that he can get it up in 3rd and can do angles. In summery, mattsprattuk is a gobby little sh1tebag, dopehead tw4t, but sadly for all of us, he probably isn't THAT full of sh1te!!
Kickstart wrote: Hi I tend to agree with Matt. All the best Keith

[Thom]

jamie, just up the weight of the fork oil, regardless of the bike i normally have mine set up with 12w fork oil however ive gone upto 17w before.

Furthurmore some spacers, as kickstart states, at the top of the springs will allow for less travel in the forks. making them stiffen up.
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Current Bike: 1996 Yamaha TRX850 (The Japanese-Ducati One).
Previous Bikes: 1990 Honda NSR125 'Rothmans' (The smoking one), 1990 Suzuki GS500e 'Caf? fighter' (The loud one), 1987 Kawasaki GPX400r (The quick one), 1997 XJ600s Diversion (The reliable one), 2000 Kawasaki ER-5 (The spontaneously combustive one)

[Thom]