Posts
507
Joined
8/15/2022
Location
Portland, TN
US
Edited Date/Time
10/21/2022 12:01pm
I am really struggling to find comfort with my GG and I'm ready to bite the bullet and fix the forks rather than sell it as it is overall more expensive to sell it and get something else (losses) than it is to spend some money to fix the front end.
I have vague front end feeling with "eh" traction and the braking bumps are absolutely sucking the life out of me. How do I know? I finally got a chance to ride a bike with some KYB forks on it and I didn't know whether to cry or quit. I had no idea what I was missing out on. The bike felt like I was riding on a cloud. It gave me such a massive sigh of relief to know my program and efforts weren't trash.
I have to absolutely death grip the bike unless the track is smooth as a highway.
Dilemma:
My budget is about 1,000 on the forks. I am trying to buy my first house and start a family and the excessive bike expenses are not permitted in this season. I am very comfortable with an SFF conversion price point, but will this solve the problems mentioned in the above paragraph? I have used the search function and read every thread about this twice now. If you think the SFF kits suck, explain why. I want to learn why they suck. If you think they're good, explain how and your skill level.
Rider details: 200 lb, 6'3", race 250B, 450B, +25 Open, maybe some other 'open' classes. Strictly ride motocross and live in the south riding clay, mid-soft dirts.
Forks: JBI DIY kit, 150 PSI, not set up too extreme hard or soft. Feels great and JBI transformed this bike. I have nothing but positivity about his work, I think it's just more the air fork than anything else. Stock maxxis tire. PHDS Bar mounts as well with the green elastomers.
Shock: Middle of the road settings again, 104mm sag, 5.0 kg/mm rear spring. Starcross 5 medium.
Share your experiences and if you have some advice I'd love to talk. Thanks everyone!
I have vague front end feeling with "eh" traction and the braking bumps are absolutely sucking the life out of me. How do I know? I finally got a chance to ride a bike with some KYB forks on it and I didn't know whether to cry or quit. I had no idea what I was missing out on. The bike felt like I was riding on a cloud. It gave me such a massive sigh of relief to know my program and efforts weren't trash.
I have to absolutely death grip the bike unless the track is smooth as a highway.
Dilemma:
My budget is about 1,000 on the forks. I am trying to buy my first house and start a family and the excessive bike expenses are not permitted in this season. I am very comfortable with an SFF conversion price point, but will this solve the problems mentioned in the above paragraph? I have used the search function and read every thread about this twice now. If you think the SFF kits suck, explain why. I want to learn why they suck. If you think they're good, explain how and your skill level.
Rider details: 200 lb, 6'3", race 250B, 450B, +25 Open, maybe some other 'open' classes. Strictly ride motocross and live in the south riding clay, mid-soft dirts.
Forks: JBI DIY kit, 150 PSI, not set up too extreme hard or soft. Feels great and JBI transformed this bike. I have nothing but positivity about his work, I think it's just more the air fork than anything else. Stock maxxis tire. PHDS Bar mounts as well with the green elastomers.
Shock: Middle of the road settings again, 104mm sag, 5.0 kg/mm rear spring. Starcross 5 medium.
Share your experiences and if you have some advice I'd love to talk. Thanks everyone!
From memory, I think the coppersmith option was around your price range and was reasonably even with the Xact forks and the KYB insert options, although all had there strength and weaknesses.
I had thought the coppersmith kit was like 2500 dollars or something. Do you have a link to the specific episode you're referring to? I am very very interested. That coppersmith kit looks like a winner, but I am kind of still wondering if the standard SFF kit could provide similar feel. Either way, I'm intrigued. I'll call them tomorrow to get some details regardless.
Edit: is this the same kit that was once $950, now advertised on their site for 1495.......? What the heck happened?
Edit again... looks like its 1075 which seems more reasonable. I might just be dense.
The Shop
I think I'm pretty happy with the shock performance to be honest. You know the saying, "the best you know is the best you've ridden" so maybe it sucks lol.
Sitting on $3k of suspension is not a choice. I bet that bike rides like a dream though! I'm glad you get to hop on it too hahaha total bonus.
It holds the bike up and stops the forks choppering
So, if you can get it set up well but it takes setup, what do you mean by that? I do not possess the know-how to valve my own forks so if you mean multiple tries at valving, I might want to avoid that. If you mean some diligence with clickers, I am game. My primary concern is developing a level of plushness where braking bumps no longer beat my hands off the bars, requiring a total death grip 24/7.
Cant imagine spending all this money to still be unsatisfied ):
I'm not picky, and I can fix things with the clickers fairly decent. I just need a good base to start with. I feel like, at this time, I don't have that. I have spent alot of time trying to get there too and it seems like time to jump ship. Thanks for the input!
Why did i not like the SSF fork? It screwed up the turning. It felt strange in the corners and the extra weight on the spring side made cornering to the left feel different to cornering to the right.
In your case I would rather save a couple of hundred bucks and go for the Öhlins TTX cartridge kit. I think the retail is 1200-1300 bucks so it should be one of the cheapest full cartridge kits available.
First, a clarification: I rode a YZ450f in bone stock form. What an awesome bike! I have no idea how a KYB swap feels on an austrian bike.
Okay, so I have ridden SFF setups for a while in the past, based on the (un-?) luck of the draw - I had it when Kawi did it and then when suzuki did it. I can't know for sure, but I will stake it here that I probably wont notice the difference in cornering feel. I didn't then, and i don't see it now. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I can't see that being enough to push me away.
-What did you think of it on bump absorption and chop compliance?
-What about flat corner traction?
The bike is already a single function setup so adding a pound is not going to kill me. Heck, I would happily clamp some weight to the other fork over the cost savings hahaha.
The only thing I do not know right now is whether or not the existing valving is going to work optimally. I would not want to do this without that being set in place. So if I need a revalve for another $200 or so, now the kit is getting expensive and I'm not far off of a cartridge kit. If the valving is good and the SFF conversion is good, then I'm sold. I love the bike like I said, I am just getting killed from the handlebars like jackhammers. Thanks a ton for stopping in to talk man.
Put all your money into the forks. No matter if you choose springs or air, put the money there. Save the money from the shock and thank me later
Pit Row
What did you do to your forks? If you're big and fast (as I am) I feel like the comfort window gets smaller.
I'm really digging the coppersmith aero and the K-Tech kit now. As I said above, I kind of lean towards the coppersmith unless I get the 'all clear' to leave the valving alone. It does seem that new spring = new valving though \:
Since I only ride my 450 on a track, I don’t have to worry about having a different enduro set up so I just go spring conversion.
I’ve had the ohlins drop ins on a previous bike and it was really nice.
I did the race tech kit and it worked solid enough with some gold valves. Not really a massive difference from the Ohlins, maybe slightly less plush.
I’ve ridden some cone valves set up for close to my weight and tbh, if you’re not a pro racing supercross, it’s overkill. Totally cool if you have the discretionary income but I think most riders don’t need 5k forks.
On my 22, I haven’t converted it yet. Getting ready to and I think I am going try the TT KYB stuff. I’ve heard it’s a great package and easy to install DIY. Doing it in next couple of weeks, I’ll report back. Maybe I’ll make a video or something.
For me, I think I would try the complete ohlins cartridge setup simply because by the time I added shipping and taxes to get the coppersmith or other fork option here, the ohlins would be on par cost wise along with good local support. Plus I have always wanted to try ohlins stuff.
Are these the the TTX cartridge kits you're referring to? They have awesome reviews.
I did the race tech kit and it worked solid enough with some gold valves. Not really a massive difference from the Ohlins, maybe slightly less plush.
When you say race tech kit, are you referring to the single side spring conversion with gold valves in the damping side?
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I can totally relate to the harsh thing about overjumping too. If I don't ride smooth as blue bell ice cream, I am just getting blown out the entire time lol.
Which kit did you go with? Riding my bike back to back with a YZ450f showed me how much potential it had as well as how bad I was suffering.
At this point I am leaning towards a dual cartridge kit but I do not want to rule this option out either.
Addition: The luckies drop right in in the garage right? When you order them, the suspension supplier of choice (I would do protune or JBI) valves it for you? If I'm wrong please tell me a little more about the process. I would probably do the luckies today for 1000 since I've heard such great things.
Post a reply to: The final word on SFF spring conversions? Please advise (KTM/GG/HUS)