I bought the DR 650, which Rocky Mountain ATV MC built back in 2017, Everide the YouTuber bought it and eventually decided to sell it. The first video below is from Rocky Mountain and describes their build; the second is Everide's video. Both are worth a watch. Those videos should bring you up to speed on the bike and what has been done to it so far. This installment will be a short description of how I decided to change the fork to make it closer to a 1st/2nd gen cartridge fork.. Yesterday a large box of parts came from Procycle, including the new Cogent Dynamic DDC (Drop-in Damper Cartridges) and Adjustable Fork Caps. The DDC is a shim stack puck, which you simply drop into the fork below the spring, change the oil to 5 weight oil reassemble the fork with a set of new (included) spacers, and go ride. I have a few photos, it was easy. Remember, if I can do it, you can do it. Just follow the simple directions from Cogent Dynamics, and follow the torque specs from Cyclepedia's Suzuki DR 650 service manual, which you can pick up from Amazon for $9.99. Suzuki DR650 SE 1996-2014, S 2015-18 Service Manual This is the Procycle suspension page for the DR 650. I've ordered the Mojave Pro rear shock, which will probably come in three or four weeks, I will update the blog with that install then. I won't offer a review until all the work has been done. So, here are the goods. Three bottles of fork oil, the DDC's are blue to the left and right of the old spacers and fork caps which are in the middle. Below the blue DDC's are the new spacers, and below them are the new adjustable fork caps. The spacers to the left and out of photo are for the adjustable fork caps if I were not adding the DDC's. First up, I needed to pull the faring off the gas tank to make room to access the triple clamps. Next up, I pulled the wheel. Then I pulled the brake and supported it with a bungie. Use a wood wedge to force open the caliper which makes reassembly much easier. Then remove the brake line from the fork, it is held both near the top and near the bottom. Undo the top triple bolt and loosen the fork cap with a socket, don't take the fork cap off, just loosen it. This makes it much easier to break the fork cap free since the lower triple is still holding the fork. Now you can loosen the lower triple bolts and slide the fork out the bottom of the triples. Get an oil pan ready, it is time to dump and pump the shock oil. Screw off the fork cap by hand, turn the fork upside down over your oil pan and pump the fork until most of the oil is out, this should take no more than a minute. Then let drain into the oil pan for 15 minutes. Repeat for both forks. I bought the Cogent Dynamics install tool but you could just as easily add the DDC by using a cheap magnet on a stick. Place the magnet on a stick onto the DDC then slide the DDC into place in the fork. Slide the spring over the magnet on a stick and pull out the stick. Add oil according to specs and pump the fork to let the oil settle into the fork. Once the oil is well set, fill with 600 ml of oil, top up if necessary, and using a fork oil level tool remove the fork oil to the required level, here 130 mm below the fork cap. I pumped the fork tube here a bit and spilled fork oil, sigh. Instead, pull the fork tube up, drop in the washer, and the spacer, and thread on the new adjustable fork cap. Set aside and finish up with the other fork. Best spill a little more oil, one can never spill too much oil. Sigh. There, all done, notice the oil splotches I had to wipe up. Yes, after this was all done, I washed up the mess. Now reassemble the bike reversing everything you did earlier. Try to get the right fork on the right, and the left fork on the left. The wheel won't go on right if you don't. Make sure the fork overhang at the top is the same for both forks. Clean up the spedo sensor, lightly grease the axle, and make sure the parts are reasonably clean, and if necessary, greased, before reassembly. Then torque the fork cap to 16.5 ft lbs, the upper triple to 21 ft lbs, the lower triple to 19 ft lbs, the axle to 47 ft lbs and the front axle pinch bolts to 7ft lbs. Torque everything but the front axle pinch bolts. Once reassembled, take the bike off of your jack or other support, hop on and give the forks a couple of good solid thrusts. This will allow the pinch bolts and axle to correctly align. Now you can torque the pinch bolts. I still had to fit and tighten the faring but that only took a few minutes. Go ride. What I noticed immediately: the bike is taller, and the suspension is stiffer, or less bouncy, your choice. Even just working the fork in the garage while standing on the bike the suspension was noticeably less soft and springy. Rebound was dramatically better without a hint of pogo sticking. I expect I will like the change very much. The cost of this is quite inexpensive but for most requires both the DDCs and new springs. Justin over at Rocky Mountain had already put in the Race Tech springs which are the stiffest spring available for the DR 650, but then I am a big guy, and the Safari tank can hold over 8 gallons, with a full adventure pack, I suspect the bike will need all of that spring and the DDCs better rebound and compression damping.
I will update the suspension part of the build when I get the Mojave Pro rear shock.
Comments
|
AuthorMaddog Categories
All
|