Hi, can anyone of you guys confirm the standard position for the top yoke where it is clamped to the suspension tubes on my 2007 blade. Thanks
If you mean how far up the yoke are the tubes? Mine are flush with the top, only with the caps protruding above the top of the yoke.
About 6mm of tube protruding from top yoke. If standard forks they have a circlip that locates them... if that circlip has been used they are easily set to factory position.
Mine are standard fork tubes with KTech cartridges and springs, after reading the reply from Muffking, 6mm is slightly more protruding (by about 2 - 3 mm) do you prefer this, and does it have any noticeable changes to the handling
Raised my standard forks by 6mm yesterday and I'm enjoying the difference, it's quicker to turn in but slightly less stable through the rear. theres still plenty of stability though.
I thought I had put them back in as standard... I refitted the circlips so that the forks would not go through the yoke any more than standard... maybe I'm including the height of the "fork caps" that MuffKing mentioned in his post?!?! At any rate, a picture speaks a thousand words... here's what mine look like:
Just so I am clear on this, you now have 6MM more fork tube protruding above the top of the Yoke, so the front geometry is now set slightly (6mm) lower. Therefore the more fork tube protruding above the top Yoke (thus lowering the front geometry of the bike) the quicker the bike will turn in.
I find all this suspension stuff is very complicated, but also very interesting. I have now managed to get hold of Haynes Manual, if I am reading it correct the clip is there as a handle bar limit/stop, but effectively prevents/limits the amount you can lower the front, it also refers to the standard setting "the top of the fork tube must be level with the top of the yoke" as stated by Muffking! The setting you have should make the bike turn in quicker, as explained by slasherr, have you noticed any difference?
Having been out to double check on both my bikes, I should point out that my RR5 road bike is flush, but my RR6 track bike has exactly 5mm showing plus the cap (measured with a vernier gauge), presumably adjusted by the previous owner due to it being a track bike. I do notice that the track bike turns in quicker, but that may not be solely down to the geometry as there are no weights in the bars either.
Yes, you need to be careful with the clips, they have a tendency to slide out the bottom of the clip-ons. I used a small flat head screwdriver from below to keep in place while tightening the bars. A Honda mechanic advised they may not be located correctly if the forks are not in the factory default location.
It's complicated... firstly, my forks had been completely re-built and pre-load/rebound/compression set as per the builder's best guess of my weight and riding style. Secondly, I tried bloody damned hard to ensure the circlips were in place, so that the forks went back in to factory position... and in fact, I am fairly certain they have, and that they are no more/less dropped/raised than they were before I removed them!!! Thirdly, by the time I got the forks back and the bike back together, I had ridden it only 10 miles in 6 months. So, all I noticed (or expected?!?) is that the bike was more stable under braking, as the re-built forks were doing their job better... I certainly didn't notice any difference regarding turn-in... but that may be coz I wasn't expecting any, coz I think I put the forks back in exactly as they were. Bloody hell...... I feel like I need to strip the front end again, and double-check that the circlips have located correctly
