Oh, and here's a tidbit I found in my records as well, relating to the caps:
The GTR1000 (ZG1000 A9 to A16) - Concours for US models - from '94 onward has just the preload adjustment. Part numbers and costs per fork are as follows:
11012-1885, cap
92055-1050, O-ring
1994 ZG1000-A9 Concours FRONT FORK (ZG1000-A9)
1995 ZG1000-A10 Concours FRONT FORK (ZG1000-A10~A13)
1996 ZG1000-A11 CANADA ONLY FRONT FORK (ZG1000-A10~A13)
1997 ZG1000-A12 Concours FRONT FORK (ZG1000-A10~A13)
1998 ZG1000-A13 Concours FRONT FORK (ZG1000-A10~A13)
1999 ZG1000-A14 Concours FRONT FORK (ZG1000-A14)
2000 ZG1000-A15 Concours FRONT FORK
2001 ZG1000-A16 Concours FRONT FORK
2002 ZG1000-A17 Concours FRONT FORK
2003 ZG1000-A18 Concours FRONT FORK
2004 ZG1000-A19 Concours FRONT FORK
2005 ZG1000-A20 Concours FRONT FORK
2006 ZG1000A6F Concours FRONT FORK
Jenny e-mailed me an install guide for the fork caps:
[I stumbled on to some excellent articles about setting up your bikes' suspension at
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~kenru...torcyclist.htm and /racemoto.htm. An edited version is attached at the bottom of this article. The articles indicate that sag should be set between 1/4 total travel for fast riding and/or smooth roads to 1/3 total travel for normal riding. According to the ZR-7 specifications, the wheel travel for both front and rear is 130mm (I have not verified this yet), which I calculate would require approximately 33 to 43mm (1¼ to 1 ¾ inches) of sag.
The articles at
www.zr-7.com on installing PVC spacers are OK. Philip Darnell started with 1” then settled on ¾”spacers which he said gave him a sag of ¾”. Josh Leonard started with 1 ¾” (!!) then settled on 1”. Based on the above, these would be set-up for sporty riding on smooth roads. However, neither of these guys have indicated what load the bike was carrying for the set-ups they used. Regardless of this, the only way they can adjust the sag now (for a change in load and/or riding comnditions) is to change the spacer.
Instead of using a fixed spacer, I have replaced the stock 41mm fork top caps with ones which have preload adjustment. This means I can easily change the front preload to suit the load and/or the riding conditions. Originally I looked at getting fork caps from a 1994 to 2002 Kawasaki GTR1000 (ZG1000 Concourse), but finding one at the wreckers with stuffed forks is impossible (they won't separate parts from a good fork) and I was quoted $125 AUD new. So I ended up buying a set of second-hand '95 ZX6R fork caps complete with preload and damping adjusters for $50 AUD.
On these particular fork caps, with the preload fully wound out, the part that goes into the stanchion is 42mm in length. The adjuster will compress the spring a further 16mm when fully wound in.The stock ZR-7 caps have a set preload of 13mm, which Kawasaki says suits the average rider of 68kgs when all the other settings are as per the owner’s manual. I weigh about 66kgs, so the stock settings suit me OK for normal riding. I removed the stock spacer, which is 220mm long, and replaced it with a shorter spacer and washer totalling 191mm in length. This has the bike at the same amount of preload as the OEM set-up with the adjuster fully wound out. (Note the top of the adjuster with it fully wound out just clears the bottom of the stock bars.) So, with the preload fully wound out, the only difference between the stock set-up and mine is that the air volume of the forks has now been reduced due to the area taken up by preload part. I assume this would have an effect similar to having raised the fork oil level and in theory should prevent it from diving so far under hard braking. I confirmed this on my test ride.
If you read the information on suspension set-up at that web address I e-mailed you a while back then you would see that for best results you should adjust the preload so that the bike uses about 1/3 of the total suspension travel when carrying it's normal load (i.e. you or you and pillion, etc).
Cheers,
Jenny.']
I'm back
Hi there
The Aussies can finally get onto this forum again!
Jarel was kind enough to forward on my e-mails regards the fork caps. The caps I got are from a 1995 ZX6R. If you look at the schematics at
buykawasaki.com for '95 to '97 ZX6R's (ZX600-F1 to F3) the part numbers are 11012-1937 for the cap and 92055-1321 for the O-ring.
Yes, you can use an ordinary washer like I did instead of paying $10 for the OEM part.
I am so impressed with the result that I'm not going to bother installing the progressive springs.
Cheers,
Jenny
