My next plan is to get forks sorted on my '09 WB165. My background with my toys is building cool stuff that wasn't meant to go together, so tinkering with different parts and getting things machined is no big deal. Option 1: Get the Riders Edge works kit and hope that is the business Option 2: I found a deal on some YZ250 KYB sss forks which seem to be known as a great unit My riding is mostly 1-2-3 gear with lots of uphills containing baseball to basketball sized rocks mixed in with slippery roots. I'm on the fence because I'm not overly confident that the 50mm's can really be made great for this kind of riding, and I don't really have much to compare to. Thoughts?
i am thinking that you would save a bunch if you made the zokes work, zip ty worked hand in hand with the factory techs a year or more ago. he claims to have finally found a great set up. just a thought, you might give him a call. how much more would you have invested in another set of forks ?? plus the set up of the new ones ????
I'm riding alot in rocks like that and no roots, just ruts and gullies many times ... Sometimes at ~20mph or better .. I got to thinking that my forks were a little too stiff for the really loose rocks and were not getting enough stroke movement, quick enough, and this was causing the bike to be tossed off line in too many cases ... The last change I made to get the wheel to set and track properly over most loose rocks was to add some preload via the clip-ring (to get the forks starting higher in the stroke for some ~cush on the top) and drop another 5cc of oil from the outer chamber to soften the CMP a little more ... Probably still a little stiff for many but I like some feedback up front ... Definitely helped plant my wheel more over that stuff .. Feels alright other places on the trails also ... So I'm saying the Marzocchi 50s are ok for me. I'm sure you can get either to work ...
Hmmm how did you add the preload? Sounds like you were experiencing the same as I was. The other thing I noticed was my rider sag is only 55mm....indicating the springs are too heavy.
There are grooves on 5mm spacing to adjust preload. For smaller adjustments, you can change the size of the lower spring spacers by cutting or making new from PVC pipe. Here is Jake's preload adjustment write up: http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/txc-forks.2960/#post-42293 Your forks can be made to work very well.
Poopy do you have open or closed chamber 50s? I set up my open 50s like Vinduro's set up advice in tech section- I am also using Motrex 2.5 wt- my forks are very supple and compliant in rocks/roots/logs/cross ruts.
I have the closed chamber jobbies. I will look into the preload adjustment and was also thinking of the lighter oil, mine have 5wt. But after measuring the sag in the front, I'm pretty sure the proper springs will help a bunch. After todays pogo stick impersonation I am officially done with them as they are and need to fix it up.
Yep, if your sag numbers are way off, you'll most likely need new spring rates or you'll probably never get a good feeling up there ... On the CC models, you also must bleed and air out of the inner chambers also as a starting point ... I used Vinduro's set up also and it worked well in most places except the slower stuff with lots of medium to big rocks (creek bed riding) was just beating me up too much ... This was probably due to the few stack changes making a stiffer ride altogether on my forks .... So I kept dropping the oil level (from 280cc to 240cc) in the outer tubes down to add softness to the stroke (Clickers already wide open) and got a pretty smooth ride at the lower speeds ... Next was the issue with bigger loose rocks described above... 5cc less oil and 5mm more pre-load seemed to help here ... For whatever reason, my forks feel best starting off high in the top of the stroke ... After this last pre-load increase, so far, the forks feel really good in ~every place I'm riding now ...Next week I'm in more open type fire-road \ turn-row \ field riding stuff so I'll be verifying that I have not regressed any of my previous acceptable fork actions in these riding conditions ... The people here in CH all helped with this (ESP MH) as I knew zero when I stated trying to dial in my suspension ...And as you can read, I'm still winging alot of it but for whatever reason, my forks are fine for me and ATF is the only cost I'm had to endure to date ... No pogo stick rider here either ... my rebound is set very slow ... I do small MX tracks also ... Please, no second-bounces for me off a jump
Do the YZ250 KYB SSS forks have the same axle toe out offset as what the Husky's run? This could upset (or maybe improve) handling???
