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178 Posts
Part Numbers:
92033A-1201 RING SNAP/RETAINING RING
THey are oil/air. You can add air pressure to give a firmer ride. Don't over do it or you will pop your seals. Buy a progressive air shock pump.
This is follow up to my recent posts on stock tire air pressure. As I noted in both posts...inflating or deflating the tires from reccomended air pressure to make the "ride" better is the wrong route to go. You may endarger yourself and wear out your tires prematurely.
The fault lies with the shocks and front forks..not the tires. Most riders under 187 lbs have said the bike transmits bumps harshly and quickly. The reason here is mostly do to the stock springs in the rear. For lighter solo riders they are too stiff..changing the 4 settings really doesn't seem to help.
If you have made your Vulcan a solo rider and have experianced this..I'd reccomend getting some after market shocks that have lighter springs..but allow you to place some pre-load on them for adding luggage or highway/twisty road riding. There are what is termed "progressive" springs..i.e. springs that have been wound in such a way that they progressively get stiffer when compressed. The company called "Progressive" is a diffrent thing..so don't get confused by the names here.
Not quite a complete answer..Progressive shocks ..are shocks and springs made by the company of the same name..however..a progressive shock or progressive spring is a spring that has a progressive rate. The company Progressive Shocks does make springs and shock (springs) that are progressive..but so do other companies. Springs are rated in pounds..(how much weight is required for the spring to compress 1 inch) A progressive spring may be said to have a rate of 80/100..meaning that the spring will compress easier at first (80 lbs) and then become stiffer after a predetermined amount of compression..so it acts like a 100 lb spring instead. This is idealy what you would want on a bike..a spring that is fairly soft for a short amount of travel to soak up the small bumps--road grooves pavement cracks etc....and stiffer to handle the larger ones- potholes and small animals... A true progressive spring is wound so that it may go from 70lbs to 130 lbs following a curve . Some springs are called duel rate and actualy consist of two sepperate springs stacked on top of each other..one being a lighter weight. There..confuse you now? Knifemaker
I did the spring job myself. Replaced the oil seal and dust cover. I cut the stock spacer down. Not a big deal to cut, it is just a light tubular steel piece. Make sure you cut it STRAIGHT. The only problem I had was getting the bottom allen bolt out (this hold the entire inside assembly together. Very tight; I stripped the allen head and ended up making a straight slot out of the allen head, using heat, and used an impact wrench. I suggest you avoid what I did (at one point I though I would be buying alot of new stuff). Get the exact fitting (forgot the size) allen tool and use an impact gun to jolt the bolt loose. I was alittle hesitant to do the job, but now having done it I could repeat it in a 1/2 hr. as long as that bottome allen bolt comes out. Call out if you get stuck. The progessives are really good. Not harsh. Very controlled. Cut the spacer to the length that the instructions indicate. I was tempted to cut them alittle shorter to make sure the ride was soft enough (I have an 88 w/ air forks so I figured I could make it stiffer if I wanted) but ended up doing as they sd. Glad I did. Ride is good. And as the famous Grambo said " easier to take off alittle more than add it back on" GC
I'll second this with the bottom allen bolt. I almost stripped mine. I ended up taking it to the shop and having them break it loose. I also used a piece of 1 1/2" PVC pipe to drive the fork oil seal into its seat.
92033A-1201 RING SNAP/RETAINING RING
THey are oil/air. You can add air pressure to give a firmer ride. Don't over do it or you will pop your seals. Buy a progressive air shock pump.
This is follow up to my recent posts on stock tire air pressure. As I noted in both posts...inflating or deflating the tires from reccomended air pressure to make the "ride" better is the wrong route to go. You may endarger yourself and wear out your tires prematurely.
The fault lies with the shocks and front forks..not the tires. Most riders under 187 lbs have said the bike transmits bumps harshly and quickly. The reason here is mostly do to the stock springs in the rear. For lighter solo riders they are too stiff..changing the 4 settings really doesn't seem to help.
If you have made your Vulcan a solo rider and have experianced this..I'd reccomend getting some after market shocks that have lighter springs..but allow you to place some pre-load on them for adding luggage or highway/twisty road riding. There are what is termed "progressive" springs..i.e. springs that have been wound in such a way that they progressively get stiffer when compressed. The company called "Progressive" is a diffrent thing..so don't get confused by the names here.
Not quite a complete answer..Progressive shocks ..are shocks and springs made by the company of the same name..however..a progressive shock or progressive spring is a spring that has a progressive rate. The company Progressive Shocks does make springs and shock (springs) that are progressive..but so do other companies. Springs are rated in pounds..(how much weight is required for the spring to compress 1 inch) A progressive spring may be said to have a rate of 80/100..meaning that the spring will compress easier at first (80 lbs) and then become stiffer after a predetermined amount of compression..so it acts like a 100 lb spring instead. This is idealy what you would want on a bike..a spring that is fairly soft for a short amount of travel to soak up the small bumps--road grooves pavement cracks etc....and stiffer to handle the larger ones- potholes and small animals... A true progressive spring is wound so that it may go from 70lbs to 130 lbs following a curve . Some springs are called duel rate and actualy consist of two sepperate springs stacked on top of each other..one being a lighter weight. There..confuse you now? Knifemaker
Do remember that under hard braking the front end should dive,,,if you make it too stiff..you may jeapordise the bikes handling..and cause too much stress on all the stuff mounted at the front. I do not know if any one here has tried adding some pre-load to the stock fork springs...or adding a heavier fork oil. This might be a good test for someone to undertake before spending the money on the Progressive springs. Knifemaker
Re. Progressive fork springs: You gain front end stability and less dive when stopping. As far as doing the work yourself, I cheated and had my shop put in my progressive springs when I had my seals replaced... Love them!!
As for the effect of the Progressives, I can vouch they do away with most of the "dive" and, IMHO, improve overall handling quite a bit. Given they only cost $56, I think it's clearly a thing to do if you're gonna be doing your seals anyway (or even just changing the fork oil, for that matter). grambo
However; - the Kawasaki manual has some errors in it and does not show all the info. We had a backup Clymers manual which helped, but it had some errors as well. I suggest doing ONE fork at a time, so the unassembled fork can be referenced. During the rebuild, EVERY part was carefully inspected and cleaned. Think Kawasaki would do that. LOL. Curby was great about this.Spend 8 1/2 hours with Curby rebuilding the front shocks on my bike yesterday. The OEM springs had started to relax too much, causing some front-end diving, to the point where my tool-bag would hit the fender. Had a slight leak on one. Curby is good. The key is to have all the right tools-and he has them (I thought my tool collection was good...). You also need a place to get the bike off the ground. We disassembled the complete front end... tire, fenders, calipers, windshield mounts, fork tubes and all the stuff inside. Used an impact wrench to take out the bottom bolts on each fork (imporant: without an impact, it will only spin, since nothing is holding it inside the tube). Replaced oil seals, dust seals, and a other parts. We cut the OEM metal spacers to 7" since the Progressive springs are longer (did not use PCV). MUCH better stopping power and corning. Feels more precise. The Progressive Motorcycle Springs provide a soft spring rate initially for a plush ride, but resist excessive bottoming as the spring compresses. Used Amsoil 10W Medium weight.
All parts replaced with Kawasaki Part numbers :
http://home1.gte.net/res0ak9f/bike.htm
Starman.
I'm not sure there is anything wrong with our suspension. Alot of the riders in magazines are used to "tighter" suspensions , like you find on the streetracers..It really depends on the load on the bike. For an average sized rider ( 165-185 lbs ) The shocks/forks on the 750 are fine...for the intended purpose. If you weigh more or want to scrape up some footpegs at high speeds...you can at least adjust them "stiffer" if you want. I actualy think the springs in the rear are a bit stiff to start with..but that's my opinion...I don't weigh that much...lol. The 750 is not a canyon racer , and shouldn't have that tight of a suspension. What is right for you may not be right for someone else...or what they like. Just looking at the rear shocks..there are seveal options on the 750 ..there are four settings ..I believe these are for rebound dampening..you can also add air ( see your manual for psi limits)..this is compression dampening..Although they make it sound like a pre-load adjustment..haven't really noticed a change in that when adjusting. However...most bikes can benifit from well made (and tailored to the rider and riding style) after market shocks. Basicly , don't go by what someone else says...go by what you think you like. Knifemaker"bamvtwin" <[email protected]> wrote: > >
You get the springs for the front (forktubes) and shocks for
the rear. I have both and it doesn't stiffen the ride!
They are > literally > > progressively wound so that the first
part of the travel is soft, > > then the rate gets higher
because the 2nd half (of the travel) of > the > > coils are
more tightly wound. They lessens brake dive, improve > >
handling and make the bike feel less "sloppy" when two up. The
> front > > springs are practically a must and for only $60 or
so you can't > beat > > the performance for the buck, besides
your fork oil needs changing, > > doesn't it? The rear shocks
have an adjustable preload collar. This > > determines/adjusts
"sag" which depends on a rides weight. > >
Re: Progressive Springs - Progressive part # 11 1128 was
$57.95 from MAW well worth it! I also used Amsoil
(synthetic)10W fork oil a 9" height with the spacers cut to
6 29/32". If anyone is on a tight budget you can transmission
fluid instead of "fork oil" because it too is a quality 10W
oil.
Bruce Detroit
I did the spring job myself. Replaced the oil seal and dust cover. I cut the stock spacer down. Not a big deal to cut, it is just a light tubular steel piece. Make sure you cut it STRAIGHT. The only problem I had was getting the bottom allen bolt out (this hold the entire inside assembly together. Very tight; I stripped the allen head and ended up making a straight slot out of the allen head, using heat, and used an impact wrench. I suggest you avoid what I did (at one point I though I would be buying alot of new stuff). Get the exact fitting (forgot the size) allen tool and use an impact gun to jolt the bolt loose. I was alittle hesitant to do the job, but now having done it I could repeat it in a 1/2 hr. as long as that bottome allen bolt comes out. Call out if you get stuck. The progessives are really good. Not harsh. Very controlled. Cut the spacer to the length that the instructions indicate. I was tempted to cut them alittle shorter to make sure the ride was soft enough (I have an 88 w/ air forks so I figured I could make it stiffer if I wanted) but ended up doing as they sd. Glad I did. Ride is good. And as the famous Grambo said " easier to take off alittle more than add it back on" GC
I'll second this with the bottom allen bolt. I almost stripped mine. I ended up taking it to the shop and having them break it loose. I also used a piece of 1 1/2" PVC pipe to drive the fork oil seal into its seat.