Fork Springs

clark54 said:

Hey guys, I have a 2011 CRF 450R with a 2016 TS LT with the TSS. Was having problems with the forks bottoming out on smaller stuff. Went from .49 to .54 fork springs with 350cc of 7W oil.

Rode yesterday and forks still bottom more than I would like. Think the next step is valving and or more/different oil?

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Valve , heavier oil and heavier spring.. If you have to pick one valve.


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We build Custom rate fork springs to individual riders specs. Give us a call and we will help you out with the right springs. Most riders are running between .58 and .62 springs depending on rider weight, Track kit, and skill level.

Springs are the primary issue in snow bikes. We start there and then go to valving and oil. 90% of my riders stop after a set of our springs. Some opt for our full build and valve package.

clark54 said:

Hey guys, I have a 2011 CRF 450R with a 2016 TS LT with the TSS. Was having problems with the forks bottoming out on smaller stuff. Went from .49 to .54 fork springs with 350cc of 7W oil.

Rode yesterday and forks still bottom more than I would like. Think the next step is valving and or more/different oil?

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I race supermoto on an 05 CRF450 in the summer, and decided with the power and upgrades it already has it would be a great snow bike for me so I put a timbersled kit on it. I am running .52 springs and 15w maxima oil. Works wonderful for supermoto, I didn't change anything for the snow and it takes some decent hits to bottom it out. I can't remember what I did for oil level, I believe it was high though, like 400cc or something of that nature. Give that a shot first. Mine are also revalved very slightly. I went off the DIY revalve guide on supermotojunkie.com for the CRF450. Honestly it didnt seem to make too much of a difference. Try your hand at thicker oil first. I mention Maxima because according to some of the road racing suspension guys its a bit better quality and the oil weight is accurate to what is printed on the bottle.

Only rode once so far (2008 Ktm 530 and 16 Timbersled 137 with fixed strut) and noticed the forks were bottoming and had far too much ski pressure, bike felt like it would really benefit from heavier springs. Didn't bother to check fork sag I knew it was way off, ordered up the heaviest I could get from Slavens Racing for my open cartridge forks .60n/mm, put them in yesterday and the wire they were wound from was so thick I had to trim down my spring guides. Checked fork sag and going off what I'm looking for on the dirt sag numbers were pretty good at 30mm static and 60mm rider in Street clothes with me at 205lbs. Will be riding tomorrow and will report back but bike feels alot better, just bouncing on it in the garage the suspension compresses close to evenly front and rear. I will report back soon.

6.0 fork springs worked great, a major improvement both on and off trail. I was able to lean the bike as far over in the powder as I want and front end just stayed planted and didnt feel like it wanted to wash at all, I gave up leaning before the bike did. On trail I was just able to get up on the tank like on the dirt and lean the bike and it felt great, the snowbike doesnt like steering input like on the dirt, key is to let the bike lean and dont mess with the bars, lean with the bike more like on a street bike. I was able to still bottom the forks and noticed it really hard once jumping mildly onto hard trail, though I havent touched my clickers and this bike is valved super plush for eating up rocky singletrack, I will play with that next. Anyways I bet there is a ton of people that would really benefit from heavier springs, snowbike just have way too much weight on the front for dirt spring rates, I went from 5.0 to 6.0 so up 5 rates for my 16 LT timbersled with a fixed strut.

wow good info for new snowbike riders.
thank you

nonfatwater7 said:

I race supermoto on an 05 CRF450 in the summer, and decided with the power and upgrades it already has it would be a great snow bike for me so I put a timbersled kit on it. I am running .52 springs and 15w maxima oil. Works wonderful for supermoto, I didn't change anything for the snow and it takes some decent hits to bottom it out. I can't remember what I did for oil level, I believe it was high though, like 400cc or something of that nature. Give that a shot first. Mine are also revalved very slightly. I went off the DIY revalve guide on supermotojunkie.com for the CRF450. Honestly it didnt seem to make too much of a difference. Try your hand at thicker oil first. I mention Maxima because according to some of the road racing suspension guys its a bit better quality and the oil weight is accurate to what is printed on the bottle.

Click to expand...

Good to know. I just picked up a motard and I'm surprised how stiff the front is. My hope is that this will make it a good ride in snow but the fork travel is less by about 1.75" than the dirt equivalent model.

I'm guessing a shorter but well sprung and damped fork is better than a longer travel but too plush, but if that were true all you guys would be getting supermoto forks to use on your snow bikes.