Rear shock

[Bozo]

i did the f4i mod, love it, bike sits a bit higher but then the po had cut the spring on the stocker for... I dunno... Squid power or something.

Cutting the spring would make it stiffer.  You'd have to make up the height with a spacer and make sure you don't get "coil bind" at full compression.

"Waiting for my "ship" to arrive" (a variation of 'When my ship comes in')  refers to becoming rich.

Arnie

Arnie, I have to ask, whats with the pelican avatar.
Did you have a bad morning when this was taken?
Is this your pet?
Were you hungry at the time? - just curious

[Arnie]

I just liked the shot and thought the 'quizzical' pelican was a fitting representation for my general attitude on this list. :-)

Arnie

[quote author=Bozo link=topic=9869.msg94524#msg94524
Arnie, I have to ask, whats with the pelican avatar.
Did you have a bad morning when this was taken?
Is this your pet?
Were you hungry at the time? - just curious
[/quote]

[RichBaker]

Yep, just waiting on the email from Randy to say the valves are back in stock. Can't afford a new shock this year, maybe next year.

Heres a thought about fork braces. I was going to order one and a mate was over and pointed at the stamped aluminum plate that the front guard bolts to. This plate in turn is bolted to the fork legs in 4 places, so it in itself would act as a "fork brace". Its a strong piece of aluminum, certainly doesn't have the thickness of a proper brace of course, but it did get me thinking whether it would do the job as a rudimentary brace.

If the plastic fender wasn't sandwiched in between, it probably would work quite well. As it is, you can't torque on the bolts without breaking the fender tabs.....

A good friend used to have a Fazer, which used a similar piece as our FJs, he took a 1/2" slab of Al and cut it to fit, put a different fender on and it worked great.

[Pat Conlon]

It's a fender strap, not to be confused with a proper fork brace.

Next time you have it off, look closely at the 4 small holes in the strap. They don't look quite round do they? Almost elongated?  They were once round when they left the factory, so that shows you how much your fork lowers move around due to deflection of our spindley 41mm stanchion tubes under the loading of a fully loaded 800 lb bike. (550lb bike +200lb rider + 50lb luggage)

Ever wonder why our fender tabs are prone to cracking?  Yep, same thing.

A real fork brace (not fender strap) will tighten up your front end....and keep your fender tabs from cracking.

Don't confuse the two.