Posts
394
Joined
10/20/2011
Location
Honeoye Falls, NY
US
Edited Date/Time
11/20/2015 12:47pm
I just bought this yesterday:
Anyone have suspension recommendations? I am 50 years old, 215#, amateur motocross rider, and the forks seem really soft. I am considering shipping the forks and shock to Race Tech for heavier springs and gold valves.
Anyone have suspension recommendations? I am 50 years old, 215#, amateur motocross rider, and the forks seem really soft. I am considering shipping the forks and shock to Race Tech for heavier springs and gold valves.
85 kx 500
86 yz 490
all the while my buddy had his 83 cr480 i dont really have a good explaination for why i never bought a 480 it was so much better than any of the bikes i had
he ran ohlins shock and simmons anti cavitator fork kit
i would love to ride it today i bet its still a really good bike
dont ever sell that thing
Do you know if suspension is stock?
I havent ride mine yet, but the what almost everyone say is change forks to 86-88 model, a lot to read about it here and other places.
The rear is supposed to fade quickly due to heat, there are aftermarket shocks or modify the stock shock.
There are also some who think the prolink is to progressive, there is a "simmons link" who change the ratio.
Hope someone with racing experiense can say what they think
The Shop
As for the forks find a set of later year 43mm cartridge forks and swap the guts out. You'll need to do a slightly mod to the base valve but otherwise it's a near drop in.
Enjoy the bike it's one of the best evo open bikes of that time period.
http://www.vintagemx.us/cgi-bin/largephoto.cgi?C=RcPWzTTRv5Dn1vzY
Judging from the name and location I think he may well be a regular poster here.
I have an 83 CR250 and run Ohlins with the Simon Link - great setup for me and I go about #210. VMX racing in NM is selling the link. The Ohlins aint cheap! I run the emulators in my forks and like that set up also.
Got sidetracked while I was typing - 450exc beat me to it on the Fox shock.
I am very possibly getting my good friends 480 if I can get first chance at it once the lawyers get done fighting in probate. I probably won't ride it much because I could never start it. But it will mean everything to me if I can get his bike and I'll never get rid of it
Did you have a 19" rear rim on your bike Mike? You guys have great looking 480s
Sgt Hubbsrds shock is a steal at 300.
If my friends bike didn't have an Ohlins already I'd get the shock before I was certain I was getting the bike
My KX came with the same rate spring a modern stock KX 85 comes with
I will give you this advise, you need to modify the bottoming cone just a little bit and make a spacer for the difference in diameter at the comp. dampening bolt.
Don't tell anyone I told you this
Memory tells me that the 81/82 shocks had a rate around 10kg/mm and the 83 was closer to 6.0
I got a pair of 87 Honda forks when I bought this bike.
Would I be better off sending my forks to Race Tech and have them set up with Gold valves, or swap the guts out with the 87 Honda forks?
And I assume I would still need stiffer fork springs if I swapped the guts out?
Pit Row
The 87 guts were the factory works parts of the time and are a better setup than using emulators in the 83 forks.
If it was my bike I would buy the fox shock for the rear.
Up front I would swap the guts and put new springs in for my weight and be done with it.
I didn't know that (good to know). That said, I would send the 87 forks & 83 lowers to Race Tech and have them make the swap/rebuild them to your weight/skill level. And while your at it I would have them hard anodize the legs too. Also, I would have them arch the brakes. It like $400 for both drums, but I had it done to my 480 and you won't believe how much better the bike will brake (huge monumental difference)! and you want be able to stop this beast.
I agree that racetech should be able to do the swap.
Never heard that one...where did that come from?
Tape a strip of sand paper to your drum and then spin the brake plate while applying pressure to the brake arm. Repeat till you see the whole pad is sanded. Mount everything and adjust the brakes to just barely rub. Go do a few hard stop embedding runs and then readjust.
Works great.
Mike,who arcs the hubs? I think that's the best way, its just I could put that money to something else
They measure the id of the brake hub. Maybe even clean it up if for some reason it is out of round. Then they chuck up you brake plate with shoes installed and fixture the brake pads open just slightly over the measured drum id. Spin up the brake plate and cut it to the drum id. Now you get full contact of the pad.
I use 180/220 grit paper to make the process quicker.
You need to do it every time you put new shoes on.
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