2007 R1 Front and Rear end........

[axiom-r]

The Penske shock has arrived!  We went through a few different shock types before finding this solution.  


I worked with Cole at Penske in Maryland and he describes it as: "The shock is our 8987 Motorcycle shock, the only piece not standard is the one piece body which came from early Indy Car Shocks".

There is not the typical separate top mount that gets attached to the body. We were unable to achieve the full stroke needed and keep the ride height adjustment using the normal shocks. By using the "uni-body" from Indy cars we got the full stroke and kept the half inch of ride height adjustment.  The shock is 11.25" from center to center with the ride height fully closed.

The other issue was the reservoir mounting.  At first we tried a vertical piggyback mount shock but the res contacted the swingarm on full compression so a "no go" there.  Traxxion Dynamics makes this "clip" that allows a remote res to be mounted like a piggyback. It is designed for the bigger shock bodies though. I wanted to use it because I wanted a piggyback mounting so I asked my machinist buddy to turn out some shims- you can see them between the collar and the shock body..
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Finally got the shock mounted and it seems really good- test rides here I come!

So the shock is a 8987 triple adjustable, narrow "uni-body" from Indy car, with an 1100 lb/in spring.  The res is mounted with the Piggy Back Clip from Traxxion with custom shims for the narrow body adaptation.  Penske made the mount spacers for me; the Top is 40mm wide with the center line at 12.5mm from the left side (chain side) and 27.5mm from the right.  The bottom is stock 2007 R1 bushings- centered.  Total cost on the shock was $1206 to my door. $100 for the Traxxion Clip and $50 for the custom shims.  Grand Total $1356.00.

The res was mounted the wrong way around on the first pics and corrected to mount.  Initial feel is good- about an eighth inch static sag and firm.


Went ahead and got the exhaust system on there too!


Brake lines will be made and installed today so the next stop is...... FINISHED!!!  TEST AND TUNE!!!  

Cheers-  tim

[Mark Olson]

that is looking awesome . gotta feel good you are almost done!

[racerman_27410]

that is a sweet shock setup..... nothing like pioneering a mod!

well done.... can't wait to hear a ride report.


KOokaloo!


Frank

[craigo]

That FJ is one sweet ride.  2 thumbs up!!!
I really love the front end on that, and the R1 rear is just art to behold.  You guys that can do this kind of work really impress me to no end.

Excellent!!!!


CraigO

[axiom-r]

Saturday was my first ride!   I am going to call the mod "finished" even though I still have to work out adapting my Throttlemeister's to the FZ8 bars and get myself a speedo either digital or Cable X conversion.....

I am SUPER HAPPY!!   My good friend races a TZ250 and has the Aprilla Futura so he came over to help me adjust the suspension. The front fork from the R1 went unchanged- same springs etc, just adjusted the preload, compression and rebound dampening.  Huge improvement!  The rear sagged a little too much but we were unable to add preload on the 1100 lb spring with the adjustment bar provided by Penske (it bent). I will need to get some tool grade steel bar to make a piece long and strong enough to adjust preload more easily and without bending.  So the Rear end was vastly improved but we think there is a better setting in the future with better tools.  

I rode about 125 miles yesterday- grinning the whole time!!  The bike feels so much faster with the weight reduction!  Handling and confidence is VASTLY improved!!!  

We did have one ghost in the machine that was a bugger and took some time to figure out.  We got all ready and rode away from the house. Within about 2 miles the front brakes bound up and I had to stop as they were not releasing.  Pulled over and after a few minutes they released and rode back to the garage.  We bled the entire system and started out again.  Same problem- return to garage.  This time we loosened the calipers and tried manually returning the pistons after the brakes were pumped up and they would not move.....  the brakes worked great but they built pressure and locked. The fluid could not return.  So the M/C had to come off and get opened up - we assumed the return orifice in the MC was blocked up.  Once opened we found the unit to be totally clean and proper...WTF???

Finally asked: what has been changed???  The brake lever was a cheap $20 unit off ebay that I bought because it was black and made the levers a matching set.  Well the cheap lever was not built quite right and moved the MC piston back slightly when it was mounted.  This placed the seal of the piston directly over the fluid return orifice and prevented the brakes from releasing.  We switched back to the stock R1 brake lever and the problem was solved....   Always gotta be something I guess!  I will say that although the handling improvement is huge the biggest improvement is far and away the R1 brakes.  Single finger braking is plenty powerful.  So much more braking power that it really is going to take some time for me to acclimate...  I can go much deeper into corners now.

Today (Sunday) is the MOTO GP at Laguna Seca so I will be riding the FJR1 up HWY 1 into Monterey with a zillion other riders!!!

The mod took me a little more that 8 months and is by far the biggest and most complex work I have ever done on a bike.....  The FJ is "new" to me again and with all of my complaints about it's handling eliminated!  I want to say thanks one more time to everyone here that encouraged me, provided info and gave me the confidence to go for it!  THANKS GUYS!

My Kookaloo this weekend is off the charts!!!!

Here are the final results at the end of the line!








Evil black $20 POS Brake Lever:


The First Ride:

[Lotsokids]

Dude - that's a REALLY NICE job on the suspension. WOW.
I wish I had the money to do it to mine. I'm spending all my money just trying to keep my oil and brake fluid in my bike!

[Mark Olson]

totally awesome job

you are gonna make me push that line in the sand of no more mods.

[NJona86FJ]

Have to agree thats a sexy looking engine bike there... nice work!!!

[Pat Conlon]

......The rear sagged a little too much but we were unable to add preload on the 1100 lb spring with the adjustment bar provided by Penske (it bent). I will need to get some tool grade steel bar to make a piece long and strong enough to adjust preload more easily and without bending.  So the Rear end was vastly improved but we think there is a better setting in the future with better tools.  

Traxxion makes a nice Torrington Bearing kit which really helps Penske preload adjustment: http://www.traxxion.com/ShockSpringTorringtonBearingKit.aspx

Enjoy your bike! You have worked hard and you deserve it!  Major Kudos to you!!   Pat

[axiom-r]

Thanks Lotsokids, Mark & NJona86FJ!  It is 7:33PM and I just came in from the garage. I did about 200 miles today up and down the coast. I am in love with my FJ again like I was in 1987 when I got the red and white 86 FJ and rode one for the first time.....

Pat- thanks so much for the kudos. I was already thinking about the bearing kit.  I hope it is available in the narrower diameter I need it in for my weird Penske.

Cheers-

tim

[SlowOldGuy]

That is one sweet conversion!  Excellent work! 

I hope you took detailed notes and will provide a write up for future modders.

I talked to a guy the other day that was putting an R1 front end on an '85 FJ and he claimed all that was needed was to press the FJ steering stem into the R1 lower triple.  I should probably re-read this post, but I'm lazy so I'll just ask.  It that what you did?

DavidR.

[axiom-r]

I tried to fit it like that David but the FJ stem was much too narrow for the 2007 R1 lower triple.  However it was also too short because the R1 clamp is so much thicker- so we cleaned up the bottom of the FJ stem, press fitted an extension into it then welded it in place. The extension we welded on was the correct OD to press fit into the R1 lower triple as they normally do. The top triple gets a custom "hat" spacer so that it fits the skinny FJ stem too...   I later went with an FZ8 top triple clamp instead of the R1 because I thought it looked better and it presented a rubber mount set up for the handlebar holders...

It is all in this post- with pics!  

tim

[Lotsokids]

It is 7:33PM and I just came in from the garage.

Do you find it harder to "come in from the garage" these days? A couple last glances before closing the garage door? That's what I would do, anyway.

Enjoy your bike! You have worked hard and you deserve it!  Major Kudos to you!!

Exactly.

[candieandy]

Im interested to hear the exhaust. can you put a sound clip or video up of the sound?

[Seanextra]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/110716955148?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Digital Dash !