Tank Slap - Motorcycle Forum

Kwacky wrote:Cheers Rossgo. How was it horrible? I expect it to be bouncy but what was the handling like?

40 miles away

It's very weird experience. Personally I don't think I could of done 40 miles with it like that. To the garage and back was 10 min ride there and back! I personally would ring up recovery. That's my own opinion I don't think it's safe to ride like that. Also if you have recovery and paying for it then make them work for their money. But again this is my own thought process.

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

Agreed with Kiwi and Blade - just seen they have posted just before myself

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

Worth jacking up the preload? Go steady on the way home!

How did it go?

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

I rode it home.

I decided to see what it was like. If I didn't like it or didn't feel safe then I was going to pull over and call recovery

It is weird, it's like being on a little rowing boat on a still lake. Steering was slow, as to expected with the rear squatting down. So no dramas on the way home. It's now at the back of the garage. I'll have to see if I can swap the shocks over at the weekend.

Glad you managed to get it home. Yes that was my experience of it but hard to explain! I really didn't enjoy it to be honest. I remember it was on balmy CBRRR and trying to find a shock was hard work. I had to order one from the states. Theres a lot of breakers over there with motorcycles!

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

Have you found you need new bike trousers and jackets getting a bit tighter too. Maybe the shock isn't to fault.

How's your leak?

"Sort of" related....
I was at Cadwell earlier this week.
Had a cr@p day, damp then dry-ish, then wet, then dry-ing...
Thought I'd taken everything with me, discovered that my mojo had gone missing somewhere. My trackday buddy had booked me into Advanced with him so we could tag each other.
His s1000rr coped well with the constantly changing conditions, rain mode & abs etc helped. 1st session I stayed with him, until I spun my back out trying to overtake him up the mountain, then tucked my front braking for hairpin a few seconds later.
Instead of improving & relaxing I seemed to get steadily worse & worse, slower & slower all day. I called it a day when my front hopped as I carved round Chris 2 halfway through the second afternoon session.
When I was unloading my bike that evening I found my L/H stanchion saturated with oil. I looked in my van & to the left of the wheel chock was damp with oil.
My riding was pants, and that is not even beginning to be an excuse for my numpty riding, however looking back I wonder how much the (reduced) damping was undermining my confidence.?

You've only got 2 wheels and 2 sets of suspension. When one is not working right the other is unable to as well.

You're lucky you didn't get injured!!!

When I arrived at Porto I realised I had a small residue of oil on my fork leg, first session I came into to assess the oil situation and it had completely gone. I always check the bike over for things like that

I check my bikes over. It was a sudden failure and not as a result of poor maintenance.

Cav wrote:You've only got 2 wheels and 2 sets of suspension. When one is not working right the other is unable to as well.

You're lucky you didn't get injured!!!....

Karma seemingly took the day off Cav.
The photo's have just been released, and there is one of me on the mountain with the offending stanchion central on the image & the leak clearly evident..:


I really don't understand how I can have missed it all day.?

Kwacky wrote:I check my bikes over. It was a sudden failure and not as a result of poor maintenance.

Consider me well and truly told Kwacky..

That was aimed at Cav. Just in case he was suggesting I hadn't noticed a weeping shock

Kwacky wrote:That was aimed at Cav. Just in case he was suggesting I hadn't noticed a weeping shock

LOL, nonetheless it landed fairly soundly & appropriately at the feet of this negligent muppet.

StMarks wrote:

Kwacky wrote:That was aimed at Cav. Just in case he was suggesting I hadn't noticed a weeping shock

LOL, nonetheless it landed fairly soundly & appropriately at the feet of this negligent muppet.

Don’t be too hard on yourself, you’ve got a lot on your mind St Marks, with the impending zombie apocalypse and all

Kwacky wrote:That was aimed at Cav. Just in case he was suggesting I hadn't noticed a weeping shock

No no... I know the difference between weeping and "it just shat itself" My mate had his shock fail on him within one session and spit him off track that very same session. We only found that out once I'd gotten the bike to his workshop and checked it over a couple of weeks later. He was in hospital for a while with spinal trauma

St. Marks - do you not have a cable tie on one of your fork legs to check how much stroke you're using? That forces me to check the stantions every session. The shock is a little different as it's a lot less accessible.

I don't suppose you know if that oil was building each session or not?

Cav wrote: do you not have a cable tie on one of your fork legs...?

My Cable tie is on the right stanchion Cav (permanent feature) I would like to think I'd looked at it at sometime during the day ?

Cav wrote:I don't suppose you know if that oil was building each session or not?

Well, actually I do.: That picture would have been taken on the second session, later pictures show more oil deposit & by the time I was back home everything below the stanchion mid point was utterly saturated (like it had been dipped in a bucket of oil). I assume that the damping oil will have been sprayed out under pressure, straight at the fork leg area.

Good these Versys 650 Grand Tourers aren't they.?

I was advised against putting a cable tie on the fork leg as it can damage the seal itself. There is a proper accessory sold that does not do this.

Use a suitably sized o-ring. Cut it cleanly to get it around the tube and the a dot of superglue to re-join the ends.