mclovin
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Post by mclovin on Jan 29, 2021 13:01:18 GMT -7
I'm looking at Andreani fork kit for my MT 10. I see mixed reviews for them on a lot of other bikes. Anyone here have any experience with them?
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mclovin
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Post by mclovin on Feb 3, 2021 8:48:26 GMT -7
I finally bit the bullet and bought fork cartridges. I'd previously changed out front fork springs twice and although it was better, I don't think it was nearly as good as other bikes I had which I had done cartridges. Rather than spending $1200 for K-Tech or Ohlins, I decided to go with Andreani which were on sale from Fast Bike. I had to call and ask if Andeani even offered a kit for the MT 10 which they do. I should have them in about 2 weeks. I've had my forks apart and once you go through the process it's fairly easy. Looking forward to hitting the road with a better handling bike this spring. The rear has K-tech on it since It was a few weeks old.
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si
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Post by si on Feb 3, 2021 10:36:50 GMT -7
I finally bit the bullet and bought fork cartridges. I'd previously changed out front fork springs twice and although it was better, I don't think it was nearly as good as other bikes I had which I had done cartridges. Rather than spending $1200 for K-Tech or Ohlins, I decided to go with Andreani which were on sale from Fast Bike. I had to call and ask if Andeani even offered a kit for the MT 10 which they do. I should have them in about 2 weeks. I've had my forks apart and once you go through the process it's fairly easy. Looking forward to hitting the road with a better handling bike this spring. The rear has K-tech on it since It was a few weeks old. Nice, I'm sure they will be all and more than what I've heard of them Just out of interest what other springs have you used
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mclovin
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Post by mclovin on Feb 3, 2021 15:55:07 GMT -7
I am 250 lbs and the stock spring is way to light. I went with a 10 which probably would have been great on the track but beat the crap out of me on the street as did the stock spring. I then went to a 9.5 and it was a lot better. I have a K-Tech shock on the rear and with out a correctly sprung front end it felt like it wasn't doing anything. I also changed the spring on the rear K-Tech from 10 to 9.5. $595 isn't bad for a set of cartridges and I've mastered taking apart and setting up modern forks. You can take on a lot of new projects with youtube and learn without the trial and errors. Having a shop manual also helps.
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Post by willl84 on Feb 3, 2021 18:40:40 GMT -7
I am 250 lbs and the stock spring is way to light. I went with a 10 which probably would have been great on the track but beat the crap out of me on the street as did the stock spring. I then went to a 9.5 and it was a lot better. I have a K-Tech shock on the rear and with out a correctly sprung front end it felt like it wasn't doing anything. I also changed the spring on the rear K-Tech from 10 to 9.5. $595 isn't bad for a set of cartridges and I've mastered taking apart and setting up modern forks. You can take on a lot of new projects with youtube and learn without the trial and errors. Having a shop manual also helps. I'm looking at getting the K-tech 9.5 springs too, I'm the same weight. Thinking of getting the Ohlins rear as well also spring for my weight. Should make a nice difference. |
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mclovin
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Post by mclovin on Feb 4, 2021 8:55:05 GMT -7
Hold off buying 9.5 springs for a few weeks. The Andreani cartridges I am getting come with new springs. I will be pulling out a 7 month old 9.5 pair of K-Tech fork springs. I also have a pair of 11 month old 10 K-Tech fork springs. When you do it, call Skip at K-Tech and ask him what oil level. He recommended putting in less than stock and Len from K-Tech advised to go with 2.5 weight oil. It's not perfection but it made the stock forks a lot better. I took it down to NYC and was on the Cross Bronx Expressway. I've been on smoother motocross tracks. I would have had to be airlifted out if I had not done the springs just previous to doing that ride.
That's the box the fork springs came with. I also changed out the rear shock spring from 10 to 9.5.
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Post by willl84 on Feb 4, 2021 9:07:23 GMT -7
Hold off buying 9.5 springs for a few weeks. The Andreani cartridges I am getting come with new springs. I will be pulling out a 7 month old 9.5 pair of K-Tech fork springs. I also have a pair of 11 month old 10 K-Tech fork springs. When you do it, call Skip at K-Tech and ask him what oil level. He recommended putting in less than stock and Len from K-Tech advised to go with 2.5 weight oil. It's not perfection but it made the stock forks a lot better. I took it down to NYC and was on the Cross Bronx Expressway. I've been on smoother motocross tracks. I would have had to be airlifted out if I had not done the springs just previous to doing that ride.
That's the box the fork springs came with. I also changed out the rear shock spring from 10 to 9.5.
Funny you should say that. I emailed them yesterday with my weight (260 with gear) and they recommended the 10.5 front and 105 rear with 5wt oil. No mention of level change. It was Skip who replied to my email |
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mechie
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Post by mechie on Feb 4, 2021 13:41:30 GMT -7
I ran Andreani in my FZ07. Had to play around with oil heights and oil weights to get a good feel. After that I loved them.
But the FZ07 suspension was garbage to begin with.
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mclovin
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Post by mclovin on Feb 5, 2021 7:03:09 GMT -7
Skip and Len at K-Tech are great but they are recommending track set up, not street. I am almost 260 now and I ordered 10 front springs and a rear shock per Len. I bought them through Adrenaline Cycle which is a performance shop down here in Swansea Ma. Justin (owner) told me that he thought it was too heavy for the street. He hit it perfectly before on my FJ 09 but I went with Len's advice and got the 10's. Got them installed and set up and guess what.....The bike was just as miserable as the stock set up. I went and discussed with Justin and he said I kinda told you so, that the 10 was a track set up and a track set up on the street sucks. He was 100% correct. I ordered a set of 9.5 fork springs for the front and a new 9.5 spring for the DDS Lite for the rear. Like a new bike. Great handling but the harshness was gone. Tracks are smooth and so stiff springs are great for resisting cornering forces but don't have potholes and bad pavement to contend with. I would come of a highway on to a pothole ridden exit ramp and couldn't keep a line because I was getting battered by bad pavement. When I went to the lighter springs, it was game on, transformed the bike to the animal I knew it could be. I still think there is better performance to be had from the front end which is why I'm doing Andreani cartridges. If you can't afford cartridges right now, correct springs will make a big difference. I'm not an expert and I am only telling you my experiences. Call Adrenaline Cycle and ask him. He is a K-Tech and Ohlins dealer. He has a Dyno on premises and rents bikes for track days. BTW, changing the rear shock spring on K-Tech DDS Lite is very easy. I've subsequently learned how to do this stuff myself. 
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mclovin
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Post by mclovin on Feb 5, 2021 7:06:29 GMT -7
I have a pair of K-Tech 9.5 and 10 front fork springs to work with stock cartridges.
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Post by rracerfz10 on Feb 5, 2021 8:43:37 GMT -7
I'm about the same weight as you guys, 250lbs with gear. Sounds like 9.5 all around would work for me as well. Now my question is can I just change the spring on the stock rear shock? I've done Racetech gold valves and springs in the forks of both my VFR800 and CBR1100XX back in the day and was happy with the results. I don't think I need more than a respring for weight on the FZ10 though. Thoughts?
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dkim213
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Post by dkim213 on Feb 6, 2021 23:15:05 GMT -7
I'm about the same weight as you guys, 250lbs with gear. Sounds like 9.5 all around would work for me as well. Now my question is can I just change the spring on the stock rear shock? I've done Racetech gold valves and springs in the forks of both my VFR800 and CBR1100XX back in the day and was happy with the results. I don't think I need more than a respring for weight on the FZ10 though. Thoughts? I had an R1 shock revalved for more rebound by GP Suspension. They also machined some delrin spring adapters. I’m running a 575lb/in spring on it. I’d say you can change the spring if someone sells spring to stock spec. Otherwise, you probably need some adapters. |
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Post by willl84 on Feb 8, 2021 11:21:54 GMT -7
I'm about the same weight as you guys, 250lbs with gear. Sounds like 9.5 all around would work for me as well. Now my question is can I just change the spring on the stock rear shock? I've done Racetech gold valves and springs in the forks of both my VFR800 and CBR1100XX back in the day and was happy with the results. I don't think I need more than a respring for weight on the FZ10 though. Thoughts? K-Tech sells springs that fit both the stock forks and stock rear shock. That's the route I'm going to go. |
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Post by rracerfz10 on Feb 8, 2021 11:28:20 GMT -7
I'm about the same weight as you guys, 250lbs with gear. Sounds like 9.5 all around would work for me as well. Now my question is can I just change the spring on the stock rear shock? I've done Racetech gold valves and springs in the forks of both my VFR800 and CBR1100XX back in the day and was happy with the results. I don't think I need more than a respring for weight on the FZ10 though. Thoughts? K-Tech sells springs that fit both the stock forks and stock rear shock. That's the route I'm going to go. Thanks man. Let me know how it goes. |
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Post by willl84 on Feb 8, 2021 18:22:50 GMT -7
K-Tech sells springs that fit both the stock forks and stock rear shock. That's the route I'm going to go. Thanks man. Let me know how it goes. Will do. Still trying to decide on spring rate. Skip at K-tech said to get 10.5/105 for my weight but mclovin said a few posts back that's more race and not really street oriented and they ended up going down to a 9.5/95 and it was much better for the road. |
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Post by rracerfz10 on Feb 9, 2021 9:37:13 GMT -7
I saw that. I'd honestly err on the softer side for street use honestly. With a spring rate closer to being correct for your weight you'll have the ability to up the preload more for track use if you need to but you can only make it so soft if it's too stiff to be comfortable on the street. Know what I mean?
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mclovin
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Post by mclovin on Feb 9, 2021 18:10:57 GMT -7
Thanks man. Let me know how it goes. Will do. Still trying to decide on spring rate. Skip at K-tech said to get 10.5/105 for my weight but mclovin said a few posts back that's more race and not really street oriented and they ended up going down to a 9.5/95 and it was much better for the road. I have a set of K-Tech 10 fork springs and will be pulling out a set of 9.5 after I install Andreani cartridges and springs in a few weeks. I'll sell them for maybe $60 if you're interested.
FYI. Skip and Lenny at K-Tech really know their stuff. I'm not pretending to know as much or contradicting them. As I said before, my local K-Tech dealer recommended going lighter than they had recommended for the street and I didn't take his advice and I had to learn the hard way. I believe that they are concerned with cutting edge track performance.
I think you can get the forks working well enough where your not getting battered and can be confident in keeping a line on rough pavement. I also changed fork oil weight and amount per K-Tech recommendations. I have no idea if changing the spring on the rear shock will help. In fact I didn't even know that you can replace them. If you do change the rear spring, you should let us all know how it works out. I have the 35 DDS light rear shock and it's perfect. I got my forks in the decent range but I want them to be as good as the rear which is why I'm doing cartridges.
I'm just sharing experience and good professional advice that worked for me. I'm not an expert but I'm smart enough to listen to the experts.
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Post by willl84 on Feb 9, 2021 18:58:44 GMT -7
Will do. Still trying to decide on spring rate. Skip at K-tech said to get 10.5/105 for my weight but mclovin said a few posts back that's more race and not really street oriented and they ended up going down to a 9.5/95 and it was much better for the road. I have a set of K-Tech 10 fork springs and will be pulling out a set of 9.5 after I install Andreani cartridges and springs in a few weeks. I'll sell them for maybe $60 if you're interested.
FYI. Skip and Lenny at K-Tech really know their stuff. I'm not pretending to know as much or contradicting them. As I said before, my local K-Tech dealer recommended going lighter than they had recommended for the street and I didn't take his advice and I had to learn the hard way. I believe that they are concerned with cutting edge track performance.
I think you can get the forks working well enough where your not getting battered and can be confident in keeping a line on rough pavement. I also changed fork oil weight and amount per K-Tech recommendations. I have no idea if changing the spring on the rear shock will help. In fact I didn't even know that you can replace them. If you do change the rear spring, you should let us all know how it works out. I have the 35 DDS light rear shock and it's perfect. I got my forks in the decent range but I want them to be as good as the rear which is why I'm doing cartridges.
I'm just sharing experience and good professional advice that worked for me. I'm not an expert but I'm smart enough to listen to the experts.
Consider them sold when the time comes, I'll take them. I'll buy the 95 rate spring for my stock rear shock form K-Tech and get them both swapped |
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mclovin
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Post by mclovin on Feb 10, 2021 7:24:43 GMT -7
I have a set of K-Tech 10 fork springs and will be pulling out a set of 9.5 after I install Andreani cartridges and springs in a few weeks. I'll sell them for maybe $60 if you're interested.
FYI. Skip and Lenny at K-Tech really know their stuff. I'm not pretending to know as much or contradicting them. As I said before, my local K-Tech dealer recommended going lighter than they had recommended for the street and I didn't take his advice and I had to learn the hard way. I believe that they are concerned with cutting edge track performance.
I think you can get the forks working well enough where your not getting battered and can be confident in keeping a line on rough pavement. I also changed fork oil weight and amount per K-Tech recommendations. I have no idea if changing the spring on the rear shock will help. In fact I didn't even know that you can replace them. If you do change the rear spring, you should let us all know how it works out. I have the 35 DDS light rear shock and it's perfect. I got my forks in the decent range but I want them to be as good as the rear which is why I'm doing cartridges.
I'm just sharing experience and good professional advice that worked for me. I'm not an expert but I'm smart enough to listen to the experts.
Consider them sold when the time comes, I'll take them. I'll buy the 95 rate spring for my stock rear shock form K-Tech and get them both swapped Great. I like to see parts get used rather than sit in a box in my garage. As you live in Massachusetts, we can probably meet up and I can give them to you. FYI - Skip recommended going to a 2.5 weight fork oil and dropping the level. I'd give him a call when your ready to do it and ask him. The combination worked pretty good.
My cartridges are due to get to me as soon as next week based on what Fast Bike Ind. told me. Being bored out of my mind, I'll probably jump on doing them pretty quickly and have the current 9.5 springs pulled out.
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mclovin
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Post by mclovin on Mar 25, 2021 12:03:48 GMT -7
Consider them sold when the time comes, I'll take them. I'll buy the 95 rate spring for my stock rear shock form K-Tech and get them both swapped Great. I like to see parts get used rather than sit in a box in my garage. As you live in Massachusetts, we can probably meet up and I can give them to you. FYI - Skip recommended going to a 2.5 weight fork oil and dropping the level. I'd give him a call when your ready to do it and ask him. The combination worked pretty good.
My cartridges are due to get to me as soon as next week based on what Fast Bike Ind. told me. Being bored out of my mind, I'll probably jump on doing them pretty quickly and have the current 9.5 springs pulled out.
I ordered Andreani cartridges back in Feb. It took almost 5 weeks to get them. I went out to the garage and took the forks apart and as soon as I saw the stock cartridge end, I knew the Andreanis were wrong. Completely different ends plus the Andreanis were about 8" longer than the stock. Just to make it a little worse, I had bought the Andreani fork tool shown in their instructions, as it's brand specific and they listed the wrong tool part number in the instructions. That was the end of the Andreani experiment. I called Fast Bike Industries and they are the distributor for Ohlins, Andreani and Nitron in the USA, they gave me discounts on the Ohlins cartridges and 2 Ohlins tools that I needed. They arrived last week and I finished installing them last Saturday. They do work well and are easy to set up. With that being said, the stock front end with the correct spring weight does work fairly well. BTW, I see no advantage with Ohlins vs K-Tech. Both work great but K-Tech is less money.
So with that being said, I have a set of 9.5 and 10.0 K-Tech springs for the stock MT 10 forks. In a surprising twist, the K-Tech springs for the stock cartridges are not the same as the ones that work with K-Tech cartridges. I'm asking $60 a set. Will has first dibs if he still wants them.
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