Maintenance & Technical > KX500 Original

fork settings

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musturbo:
I noticed riding today if I get into heavy bumps   the front will go into a violent high speed wobble.  Not fun at 50 mph.  Couldn't find anyhting loose, fine on the regulat terrain.  Just  going thru the rough stuff. Guessing it is my genius in suspension tuning. Help!

KXcam22:
Musturbo,
  I think either a touch too much compression damping, or too much spring preload (if there is any). Basically with the power on over rough stuff with your weight back (not much weight on the forks) the forks ricochette off stuff instead of absorbing with the first few inches of travel. Does that sound familiar? Hope this helps. Cam.

musturbo:
That is exactly what happened.   Thanks man.

GDubb:
My bike does the same thing when I go wide open across the flats at the dunes... so far I just put my weight as far back as I can and pull back harder on the bars, but when I let off the throttle and the front end gets heavier it can get pretty scary. Sounds like what you are talking about Cam... can I fix this with the adjustments? or do I need to consider springs and valves? I weigh right at 170 so I think the stock set-up should work for me... hopefully just adjustments then?  More notes... it handles the whoops fine, the faster the better, and have never noticed a hard bottom-out on big landings. Any advice is much appreciated. Suspension baffles me for some reason, so unless I can get some specific instructions(which I know is hard to do over the computer) I just leave it alone.

KXcam22:
GDubb,
  Are you running the stock fork springs? They might be a touch soft but you should be able to tune it with the clickers and oil level.  I tend to run my compression damping a touch soft (better for rough trails and general riding) and increase the oil level to stop any bottoming.  Increasing the oil level simply reduces the total amount of air in the fork.  The smaller air volume compresses faster and adds a rising rate to boost the fork spring. This only acts in about the last 3" of travel.  If you like whoops you might like them even more with a bit stiffer fork springs.  Helps stabilty in the whoops too. Hope this helps. Cam.

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