48mm Cone Valve question

Johnny Depp wrote:

Just take a bit out and try again? Mark your lower fork leg with a dry erase marker and see how much of it gets wiped...

Just take a bit out and try again?
Mark your lower fork leg with a dry erase marker and see how much of it gets wiped to check your travel, it may be using a bunch but you can't feel it because it's so progressive?

MXD wrote:

That's what I did, I took 10cc out of each leg. I know it started with 400, I was just curious how close that was to...

That's what I did, I took 10cc out of each leg. I know it started with 400, I was just curious how close that was to the upper limit. I have a thin rubber o-ring on the right tube and I can see that I still have .75-1 inch of travel left even though it feels like it bottoms.

CarlinoJoeVideo wrote:

I believe I'm at 380.

Have you gone softer on your compression clicker?

MXD wrote:

I started out at 12 clicks out (if I remember right) and I wasn't using all of the travel. I started softening it and hitting the...

I started out at 12 clicks out (if I remember right) and I wasn't using all of the travel. I started softening it and hitting the same big flat land over and over. Somewhere around 16 clicks out, I got down to where you see in the pic below. I continued to soften all the way to 20 clicks out and even though I could feel it diving quicker and not holding up as well, the ring only got to this same spot. That's what led me to believe the oil level might be too high at 400cc's

MXD wrote:

I started out at 12 clicks out (if I remember right) and I wasn't using all of the travel. I started softening it and hitting the...

I started out at 12 clicks out (if I remember right) and I wasn't using all of the travel. I started softening it and hitting the same big flat land over and over. Somewhere around 16 clicks out, I got down to where you see in the pic below. I continued to soften all the way to 20 clicks out and even though I could feel it diving quicker and not holding up as well, the ring only got to this same spot. That's what led me to believe the oil level might be too high at 400cc's

CarlinoJoeVideo wrote:

That's pretty good, you are close to the bottom. But I hear what you are trying to accomplish. Have you messed with the preload at all...

That's pretty good, you are close to the bottom. But I hear what you are trying to accomplish. Have you messed with the preload at all?

It's a cool feature allowing you to run your set up a bit softer but still get hold up by adding tension to the preload. I'm typically 1.5-2click in from all the way out. Every 1/2 turn you will feel a click

MXD wrote:

I bought them off of a WP employee and he said they should go all the way to the lug. A few friends of mine have...

I bought them off of a WP employee and he said they should go all the way to the lug. A few friends of mine have CV's on their KTM's (mine is a 17 KX450) and they all said the same thing, theirs bottoms on the lug as well. If not for that, I would assume that this was the end of the travel because they feel great. The preload came set at 3 clicks or 1.5 turns out. I didn't mes with it as I don't know what the initial preload looked like and I didn't want to potentially introduce any negative preload by backing off and damage anything.

bvm111 wrote:

Overall do you think they are an improvement on your KX450 over the TAC?

MXD wrote:

Huge. I bought a 16 KX450 in September of 2015. I rode the suspension bone stock for a few months and got it working pretty good...

Huge. I bought a 16 KX450 in September of 2015. I rode the suspension bone stock for a few months and got it working pretty good but it would never stay there. What worked one day, would need tweaking the next. That, and the pressures would rise between motos sitting in the pits from the sun beating on the tubes. I had FC revalve them and it was better in some spots but not as good in others so that was a wash. I came across a set of well set up KYB spring forks off of a 2010 KX450 last summer that were set up by Enzo. Those were a huge improvement. Aside from the obvious improvement of no more air pressures, they gave me a much larger window between supple and good bottoming resistance which is what I struggled with on the TAC fork. With the TAC fork, it seemed that I could have one or the other but no good mix of both. The bike turned better, gave me a more confident feel and much more comfort in the high speed choppy stuff. The only complaint with the KYBs is that to get the small bump compliance that I preferred, I had to run them so soft that they bottomed a bit too easy. I was just about to buy some different perches and play with the oil level when I came across the CV's for a smoking deal so I grabbed them. I have since sold the 16 and bought a 17 which is what these are on now. The biggest things I noticed about these were that they feel like they have endless travel and the bike has insane front end traction in bumpy or rutted turns. I'm running these things so soft right now trying to find the limit and they are definitely bottoming but it's hard to feel it. With a traditional fork, when they bottom, you feel it. These are different. It allows you to run them so soft and really find that comfort.

If I had to rate them on a scale of improvement from 0 to 10 with the TAC fork being the baseline of 0, I would say the KYB's were a 6-6.5 and the CV's are the 10. I think the KYB's could be better with some fine tuning and probably get to 7 or 8 but the CV's are still better. To sum it up, if you can find a fresh set of KYB's that don't need anything for less than $1000, jump on it and you'll be stoked. If you find a set for 500-700 and they need springs, a revalve and you think you might want to dump a little extra cash into them to make them better, sink a bit extra and go for the CVs. Either way, you'll get most, if not all of your money back as long as you buy them right.

MXD wrote:

I started out at 12 clicks out (if I remember right) and I wasn't using all of the travel. I started softening it and hitting the...

I started out at 12 clicks out (if I remember right) and I wasn't using all of the travel. I started softening it and hitting the same big flat land over and over. Somewhere around 16 clicks out, I got down to where you see in the pic below. I continued to soften all the way to 20 clicks out and even though I could feel it diving quicker and not holding up as well, the ring only got to this same spot. That's what led me to believe the oil level might be too high at 400cc's

CarlinoJoeVideo wrote:

That's pretty good, you are close to the bottom. But I hear what you are trying to accomplish. Have you messed with the preload at all...

That's pretty good, you are close to the bottom. But I hear what you are trying to accomplish. Have you messed with the preload at all?

It's a cool feature allowing you to run your set up a bit softer but still get hold up by adding tension to the preload. I'm typically 1.5-2click in from all the way out. Every 1/2 turn you will feel a click

MXD wrote:

I bought them off of a WP employee and he said they should go all the way to the lug. A few friends of mine have...

I bought them off of a WP employee and he said they should go all the way to the lug. A few friends of mine have CV's on their KTM's (mine is a 17 KX450) and they all said the same thing, theirs bottoms on the lug as well. If not for that, I would assume that this was the end of the travel because they feel great. The preload came set at 3 clicks or 1.5 turns out. I didn't mes with it as I don't know what the initial preload looked like and I didn't want to potentially introduce any negative preload by backing off and damage anything.

mx317 wrote:

What spring are you running MXD? Also who set yours up? I had Billy at Powerband do mine.

MXD wrote:

5.0nm springs. I bought them off a guy that works for WP Factory Services so he set them up for me. I can email you the...

5.0nm springs. I bought them off a guy that works for WP Factory Services so he set them up for me. I can email you the spec sheet with the shim configs if you want to take a look. A lot of guys around here use Powerband but doesn't he pull the actual cone valve out and replace it with traditional shims? I wonder what the advantage to that is. Everyone loves his set up so it must be good.