I put in a good ride yesterday on my New FE501 played with the clickers a bit. (a lot) on the compression side. Still just less than 30 miles so far. The 4CS forks as has been said before do in fact blow through the first 2/3rds of the travel or mid range since they are compressed already to the proper rider sag when aboard the bike. So I should say Mid range.. No bottoming out to speak of but the mid stroke blows right through and then gets harsh. Compression adjustments seem to do nothing to help this or make it Better. WTF? I got close to 14 thou. in this thing with add ons. 6th gear is nice on open fast 2 tracks but I shouldn't have to back off knowing what is going to happen in an "Oh Shit" moment. When you hit an old dryed up tire track mud hole left behind by a Border Patrol truck during the last rains. If the forks are right you just pin it. I had to back off a few times and this was in excess of only 60 to 70 miles per hour.
By the way this bike is plenty fast and fun when you do pin it.
I have a set of .48KG springs as was recommended in the forks. May have to go to a .50KG set. They don't really bottom out with these springs and I weigh about 235lbs without my gear. I have a 6.4 rear spring and consider myself an intermediate rider. Rider sag is right at 106 mm or about 4.25" and the static sag is about 34 to 35mm or with my tape and the wheel hanging for a topped out measurement. Its sitting static at 1.375"inch compressed, sitting straight up on the ground, full of gas. I think the shock works great so far, I went in a few clicks on the high speed compression. Rebound seems good. at one click out. The bike can be weighted at the lead side of a jump and bunny hopped up and over small obstacles easily with the rebound set correctly. The 4CS compression adjustment is about useless in my opinion.
The forks need to be done. They suck so far. And I don't consider myself a very good rider and didn't think I would notice or even recognize these common complaints everyone has posted about the stock 4CS forks. Those who don't notice this on these forks or don't have them redone must be a slower rider than I have ever been.
View attachment 54331View attachment 54332
My buddies 7 year old takes terrible pictures but this first one wasn't really too bad as I was going about 45 mph and just starting to get a bit sideways into a drift with my feet up on the pegs.
Shock will get done too just to freshen the factory oil, maybe a slight re-valve if recommended and install my X-Trig preload adjuster.
A BRP submount with a Scotts stabilizer is going on right away also. Needed in the deep sand washes around here. Got a new GT 216AA tire from ZT and new Tubliss set ups for the front and rear to go in and give a try, but will wait and hold off until the rear tire is about half shredded. It goes away fast on this bike from the looks of it already at under 30 miles. As for the damper, I could just swap the one over from the KTM forks off my G450X but its a GPR and It will be staying on there. I'd just have to buy the frame post mount. I'm guessing I'm too spoiled and just gotten used to having that option to just turn the knob on the damper/stabilizer when in the sand from my other bikes.