DROPPING THE FORKS

[bama1]

It seems I had read on the form that some of you had slid the forks through the fork clamps some to help the FJ get through the corners.If I had read that right,how much did you do.It seems like it was a 1/2 a inch.
THANKS

[andyb]

On a 90, you can't do much before running out of clearance with the original masters, so not much.  Perhaps 10mm.

[Pat Conlon]

Currently, I've got my '92 lowered 1/2" with no problems. However I've got 1.0 kg/mm springs and Honda F3 cartridges with 10w cartridge oil and a 120/70-17 Pilot Power 2ct tire.
This coupled with raising the rear via adjustable dogbones, really helps with the turn in on this bike. No downside.

Do NOT even think of lowering your forks if you have the oem soft springs.

Pat

[andyb]

Pat, you can lower the forks slightly with OEM springs.  It doesn't cause instant death or anything else.  Mostly, it brings the front down a touch and tweaks the geometry, that's all.

[Pat Conlon]

Hey Andy, I dunno if that's good advice. I'm sure a mm or two is no big deal, but I will stand by my recommendation:
Do not lower your forks until you get stiffer springs.
You may just barely eek by now, with just enough clearance, but, after a hard ride, how about next week? next month? or 6 months from now?
Those 20 year old springs will only get softer and time goes by.

The fork dive I had on my '92 front end with the seasoned oem .475kg/mm springs was excessive.
That, coupled with the sharp edges of the bug shields on the Superbrace....Makes a recipe for disaster if I were to lower the front end.

If for some strange reason, you wanted to keep the soft springs, then getting a 87/88 3.5" wide FZR rim and going to a 120/60-17 front tire would be safer, IMHO, than raising the stanchion tubes in the triple clamps with those soft stock springs.

Regardless, those soft springs gotta go.

Pat, you can lower the forks slightly with OEM springs.  It doesn't cause instant death or anything else.  Mostly, it brings the front down a touch and tweaks the geometry, that's all.

[andyb]

I use the soft OEM springs, forks up 10mm or so (there's room to bring it up a bit more yet, but not much), and can ride two up without a lot of trouble.  Helps to have working fork seals and a slightly heavier oil (15w, I think I used).  It dives some, but no worse than anything else really.

Wouldn't want to go sport riding hard, but for a fairly plush touring sort of ride, it does quite well.  Don't know if part of this is the difference between model years or the fact that I got my FJ with under 10k miles on it, but never was an issue.  It'll grind the pipe on hard right turns with a passenger, but I try hard not to ride quite that aggressively on the street, doubly so with a passenger. 

Just remember that the FJ can be used for different things, a firm sporting ride isn't always the ideal that folks are going for.  If I really wanted quick turnin, rather than going with a 120/60 tire I'd use a 110/80, but tire choice makes a huge difference as well.  For example the Avon tire that I ran had a very mild, rounded profile and turned slowly in compared to the BT010 that I tried, which was quite responsive and very stable when leaned over, but twitchier in a straight line.  It's just a question of which compromise you want to have.