Raising fork tubes in the clamps

While I have the 2014 CTX forks apart I thought I'd determine just how much the stanchion tubes can be pulled up through the clamps before things begin to touch.

With the top of the stanchion (not the cap, the actual tube) at 8 mm (5/16") above the upper fork clamp the fender just kisses the mounting bracket at the middle/bottom of the radiator. This is with clean/dry parts; with oil in the tubes the hydraulic lock of the bottoming cone on the damper rod might keep the sliders from coming up the last 1-2 mm.

The stanchions should be reasonably stiff but you should presume that a worst-case "braking while hitting a bump hard enough to bottom the forks" will cause them to bend back a little. The 35 mm Ceriani RR forks on my 500 Yamaha road racer would deflect 6-8 mm under heavy braking (on a smooth race track) and leave a bit of rubber on the front of the fairing. The CTX forks should be almost 2X as stiff as the Cerianis but there is an additional two hundred pounds of extra weight on the bike (and 50 pounds on the rider, sad to say) encouraging the forks to deflect.

There is room between the fender and tire (Michelin PR4) to accommodate a bit of deflection, but I'd stick with a maximum of 8 mm, why risk scratching the fender? :)

Of course, you should always confirm clearances when modifying your own bike and not go with what some guy on the Internet said.
 
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Steven

Member
Basically, what you're saying is that there isn't any room to move the forks up without having problems. If I'm understanding you correctly, 8mm is really not worth the risk. Anyway good to know and correct me if I'm wrong.

Interestingly I had my forks off the bike this weekend too. I took my Ricor Intiminators out and modified them. I opened up the highspeed compression ports a bit and removed one of the deflection disc's from the low speed circuit. Don't forget that last year I opened up the ports in my fork piston to allow more oil flow through the Intiminators. After about a 30 mile test ride I figured the mods were a good thing to do. It feels like the front suspension and the rear are more matched now. When I go across a moderate/larger bump, I feel the front hit it and the back suspension follows with about the same amount of force. Actually it never felt that way before. Before it felt like the front and back were doing their own thing, each handling the bump differently.

As for handling, I can't detect any negatives, if anything, it might handle better. I'm reluctant to make that claim until I ride it more. There isn't any noticeable increase in brake dive either. With the Intiminators I get less brake dive than with the oem setup. As for ride quality, it has gotten very smooth, smaller bumps that I could feel before are now glass smooth. The largest bumps I came across still hit somewhat hard, but nothing like the oem suspension and it feels softened compared to before I modded it this time.

I think I've taken the Intiminators are far as they will go. Due to limitations in their design, opening up the high speed ports will gain little because the port area is now about equal to the shaft diameter that the oil travels to get to them. As for the low speed circuit, It's already really decent and removing any more deflection disks might make the suspension too soft. I know you folks probably don't know what I'm talking about (You would have see how the Initiminators are designed and understand how they work to know - I certainly wouldn't understand ), but suffice it to say that it's (after the mods) a big improvement over oem.

In oem form, the ride from the front suspension was decent enough, but larger bumps would cause the front end to lock up and bounce over them. That's what got me interested in modding the front end.

FYI, I've had my forks apart twice now and both times the fork oil was very dark. The first time it had a build up of gunk in it. I didn't see this gunk this time, but I didn't take the forks apart as much as I did the first time. I would suggest that replacing the fork oil on a regular basis should be part of normal maintenance. I think many people wait till their fork seals begin leaking before they do it, but even then, I would suggest a thorough cleaning of the inside of the forks be done.

Here's a couple of pictures of the Ricor's taken apart.

Ricor 1 small.jpg

Ricor 2 small.jpg

Lastly, tomorrow I receive my highway pegs so that might be interesting. Hopefully they will fit my crash bars.
 
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I wanted to mention what I'd found because I'd seen people assuring others that "oh, raising the forks 1" will be fine". I'm also not wild about the "lowering links" that people put on but never mention checking to see what kind of ground clearance they end up with. The CTX doesn't have much vertical or lean clearance to begin with, slamming it like a low rider isn't doing it any favors.

I don't think 8 mm is enough to bother with (it would take out only a small fraction of degree of rake) and since I'm not Valentino Rossi I wouldn't be able to notice the difference. I'd rather make sure the wheel/fender is always free.

I don't think the prior owner had done fork oil before and at 10K miles it was noticeably discolored. A good quality aftermarket oil will probably last a bit better than the OEM fluid, but there's no filter in suspension units so periodic cleaning/refilling is going to be necessary to keep things working well. I think some of the aftermarket rear damper manufacturers suggest a refresh every 5000 miles/2 years or something similar.
 

Steven

Member
I wanted to mention what I'd found because I'd seen people assuring others that "oh, raising the forks 1" will be fine". I'm also not wild about the "lowering links" that people put on but never mention checking to see what kind of ground clearance they end up with. The CTX doesn't have much vertical or lean clearance to begin with, slamming it like a low rider isn't doing it any favors.

I don't think 8 mm is enough to bother with (it would take out only a small fraction of degree of rake) and since I'm not Valentino Rossi I wouldn't be able to notice the difference. I'd rather make sure the wheel/fender is always free.

I don't think the prior owner had done fork oil before and at 10K miles it was noticeably discolored. A good quality aftermarket oil will probably last a bit better than the OEM fluid, but there's no filter in suspension units so periodic cleaning/refilling is going to be necessary to keep things working well. I think some of the aftermarket rear damper manufacturers suggest a refresh every 5000 miles/2 years or something similar.

That comment about changing the fork oil was meant as general advice to everyone, not specifically you. In previous years, I never gave the forks a second thought, that's why I thought it was worth mentioning.

Modifying the suspension makes me very nervous because I don't know what I'm doing. I approach it very slowly and very carefully. What I do know is that the stock suspension on the CTX is dangerously inadequate for a heavy rider. I had about 1 inch of usable travel (front and back) on my bike when I got it and it would beat me to death on anything except a smooth road, and on rough roads it was just plain dangerous at times.

I think you're right about being careful about lowering the bike. Even if it can be done, there is a price to pay. I have seen older 900 Kawasaki's lowered and they do look pretty cool, but they're more for show and not serious road tripping.
 
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