[a10ken]

how do folks, has anyone tried to improve on the std  soft front suspension setup yet, i am going to have a go when i put the interceptor to bed for winter

[Oldie but Goldie]

Fitted TEC adjuster and works fine. A little bit stiffer. Also Hitchcocks sell similar pieces.

[a10ken]

yea i looked at them, didn't fancy raising the bars to accommodate the adjuster, also with the stiffer spring rate the fork oil could do with going up a grade as the damping will be affected

[Dr Mayhem]

down the road I'll be looking at a valve kit and some straight wound springs (poor man's anti-dive) 

[darmahman]

I did the Hitchcock stiffer springs and preload adj. Works like a charm. Preload adjuster is all the way backed off and it is perfect. Basically it compresses the new springs slightly even when turned back all the way. Very high quality piece.  Plus I changed to 7 1/2 weight oil.
Still tho I don't like the feel above 65. A little bit too wandery for my taste. Going up one size front and rear on tires next. I think the bike is under -tired. Plus Ohlins rear shock is on the way.
By the way, I am 200 lbs.

[58webbing]

Although the handling on my interceptor was OK I did not like the way the front end sagged when sitting on it or the way the gaiters closed right up when braking.
According to the specs the front fork travel is 110mm. When I took my bike off the centre stand and put it on the side stand it used 15mm of travel. When I sat on the bike (I weigh 89kg) it used 50mm of travel so my conclusion is nearly 50% of travel is used before riding over bumps and using the front brake.
As the suspension characteristics suited me I did not want to fit stiffer springs but to increase the ride height and available travel, this I did by fitting some 16mm spacers. (photos attached)
The gaiter pictures show on the stand and me sitting on the bike, the parts are a nylon spacer 14.5mm thick and 35mm dia. and the aluminium spacers are 3mm thick, 35mm dia. and reduced to 33mm for 1.5mm to fit inside the fork spring spacer tube. The assembly picture shows the parts in order prior to fitting.
The front end does not dip so much now when I bounce myself on the bike with both front and rear suspension moving together.

[a10ken]

hi 58, thats pretty much what i had in mind to right down to the 16mm spacers, however i will be using heavier oil to slow down the rebound action as the springs will be under an initial higher tension.

[58webbing]

Hi Neophyte,

I dont think you will need to change the oil as the std. damping is very good. 16mm spacers will not increase the spring rating by much but will increase the ride height and make available some more travel.

[a10ken]

i will be looking at the grade and amount of oil as the front end clacks anoyingly

[a10ken]

p/s forgot to mention but i am 77kg stood here in my work gear.

[mattsz]

As the suspension characteristics suited me I did not want to fit stiffer springs but to increase the ride height and available travel, this I did by fitting some 16mm spacers. (photos attached)

Sorry, but as I'm not always the sharpest tool in the shed: it looks like all you've effectively done here is make a taller cap, which I can see would raise the right height (as well as increase the wheelbase slightly?) and retain the spring rate (since the compression of the spring hasn't changed)... but I don't see how this arrangement increases the available travel.  What am I missing?

[a10ken]

the fork length stays the same but the spacers reduces the available space inside by compressing the spring slightly therefor increasing pressure on the spring and causing the fork to extend taking up some of the sag raising the ride height slightly

[58webbing]

Today I had a good ride around with the 16mm spacers and found the effort of making and fitting them well worth while. I deliberatly headed for bumps an hollows at speed to see what happened. The gaiters showed the ride height increased, the steering "seemed" more precise on bends, the braking was less dippy and no difference to rebound damping was noticed. So, overall I am very pleased. Also the handlebars were effectively raised too.
With no load to the forks the std spring spacers were flush with the top of the forks which to me seemed unusual compared with lots of other forks I have worked on where the springs always protuded somewhat. I think that spacers up to 20mm thick could easily be added with no ill effect, though more effort would be needed to refit the caps, more than that the springs would have to checked to make sure they dont become coil bound on full compression.
As we all are different weights and have different riding styles and preferences adjusting the forks with just spacers is a simple 1st step.

[a10ken]

cant argue with that.

[58webbing]

With regard to the clacking "from your forks" could it be the backlash in the floating disc. There is not anything in the forks that could cause that noise (apart from something very seriously wrong) however rocking the bike back and forth with the front brake on does cause a "clacking" noise and that is the front disc. This would appear to be normal, at least for the Interceptor.