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Edited Date/Time
6/6/2016 9:21am
I have a 2008 Suzuki RM250 and I had the lower stock triple clamp bored out in order to fit RMZ Showa A Kit forks.
Either I gave the machinist the wrong measurement or he took too much out but the clamps are not gripping the fork enough and I am finding the front end twists out of line in even the most pathetically small crashes.
I was intending to buy a 2nd hand set of stock RM clamps and get them re machined properly as a replacement, however it has been several months and I have not been able to track any down. I don't want to pay Suzuki OEM prices or fork out for an aftermarket set.
I have a spare set of stock triple clamps from my 2015 RMZ450, these will fit with the RM steering tube.
HOWEVER, the offset of these clamps is 1mm less (21.5mm as opposed to RM 22.5mm)
To make the RMZ clamps work I will have to fabricate new steering stops onto them, before I commit to this I want to understand what a 1mm reduced offset will do to the RM?
Will it be a positive change? Has anyone changed the offset on their RM and would anyone recommend this?
Any info would be awesome!
Either I gave the machinist the wrong measurement or he took too much out but the clamps are not gripping the fork enough and I am finding the front end twists out of line in even the most pathetically small crashes.
I was intending to buy a 2nd hand set of stock RM clamps and get them re machined properly as a replacement, however it has been several months and I have not been able to track any down. I don't want to pay Suzuki OEM prices or fork out for an aftermarket set.
I have a spare set of stock triple clamps from my 2015 RMZ450, these will fit with the RM steering tube.
HOWEVER, the offset of these clamps is 1mm less (21.5mm as opposed to RM 22.5mm)
To make the RMZ clamps work I will have to fabricate new steering stops onto them, before I commit to this I want to understand what a 1mm reduced offset will do to the RM?
Will it be a positive change? Has anyone changed the offset on their RM and would anyone recommend this?
Any info would be awesome!
However, multiple aftermarket companies makes clamps with 2-3mm more/less offset so your 1mm will probably be ok, you can always adjust the forks in the clamp also, like you should do between hardpack/sand and slow/fast tracks.
Regarding steering stops I don't know on the suzuki.
I believe the RG3 triple clamps for the rm250 s were 20mm offset.
1mm change in offset wont be drastic
The Shop
Ride engineering clamps for the rm 125 are either 22 mm or 20mm
My aim isn't to change the handling of the RM, but with the RMZ clamps being the cheapest and easiest option for me at the moment I am curious to try them out. I've not played around with triple clamp offset before so I think it will be an interesting little project.
Worst case if I don't like the change, I can just remove the stops I'm going to add to the RMZ clamps and go back to the current RM clamps I'm using now.
I'm hoping to get to work on this at the end of this week/early next week so will report back on my progress!
Russ, I know you have tested heaps of different options on RM, how did the RMZ clamps experiment go? I am on the same boat right now, thinking of either putting the RMZ clamps on, or bore out the stockers. RMZ ones are Xtrigs, 21,5/18,5mm adjustable.
Ill see if I can dig up an old 06 RM250 test as they cut the steering tube off and moved it back a few mms for the 06 model. I guess extra trail worked well on those bikes. The rmz450 teams would run the rear wheel slammed all the way back against the stops.
Do you know what is a good option on getting better stability with this chassis ? Had another 06 RM250 a few yrs. back with RG3 suspension work done that was slightly better afterwards, but was still unstable.
Looked for 24mm clamps for better stability on this bike (22.5mm oem) & it looks like the 00-03 models came with 24.5mm oem clamps. Do you know if they will bolt up to the 06 chassis ? I've never ran an aftermarket link, but would consider it if it really helps cure the ill handling. A steering stabilizer would not be an option since they're very pricey & not looking to invest that much money into this bike.
OP- Sorry for the hijack...
I found OEM RMZ clamps and Neken RMZ clamps to lack the clearance at the lower clamp and therefore rubbed just a little. I posted photos of this in my RM250 Enduro Build thread.
I personally would go with an RMZ clamp over a bored out RM clamp. Mainly for peace of mind. Boring out a stock clamp is quite a challenging process and requires a very good machinist to do the work.
Handling wise I cant say the RMZ clamp made much of a difference, and if it has its not a negative one as I really like the way my RM handles at the moment.
With regards to the handling issue H4L posted, I've found the RM to be way better with a slightly stiffer fork spring. I'm 13 stone and originally ran my RM with a 5.0 shock spring and 0.42 fork springs. With this set up I would encounter some 'sketchy moments' as the forks rode a little low in the travel.
I'm now running a 0.44 spring, which holds the front end up higher. To compensate I have softened the valving a little but it still works very well.
Funnily enough I have a Pro Circuit 05-07 RMZ link which is 1.5mm longer than the stock RM link.
I used to use it but no longer do with my current set up.
I would be willing to sell if you are interested H4L?
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