We Did It - Installed Progressive Springs

[mrc]

It all started when the shop wanted 5 hours @ $100 an hour just to tear down (plus tax) and reassemble the front of each bike. I talked to Chuck the owner of the other bike and he agreed this was too much money. I talked to a couple of favourites here Marcarl and Squidley, you may recognize the handles. They said take your time and you can do it. When my wife came home and found us in the garage with two bikes and the entire front ends removed. God bless her sole, she said………

 

Squidley....... said whatttt??????

Are you sure you know what you’re doing. Too which I replied. UUUMMMM . She walked away with a smile.

 

Here is a link to what it looks like with the front end removed.

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/album.php?albumid=735

 

Well 8 to 10 hours of work and we had everything back together. Took a little longer but I know every bolt is in and tight. What a difference in the ride. Thanks guys for the tips.

 

Carl :thumbsup2:

 

Brad :thumbsup2:

[Squidley]

Puts a smile on my face knowing that you guys tackled it Mark. It's a big project and you both should be proud of your accomplishment. I know when we finally do get to meet Rachel she's gonna give it to me

 

Good on ya Both

[Snaggletooth]

Congrats on the finished project. The folks here talked me into and through the Progressive install a few years ago and several other projects since then. I have taken on projects that I would have never concidered before without the advice and information available from these guys.

 

Gotta love 'em....they know their stuff.

 

Enjoy the Progressives. They are a huge improvement.

 

Mike

[Mel]

I rode a brand new 1984 Venture Royale until 2004, and I installed Progressive springs in the forks about 1989. Now riding a 2007 RSV and never thought about having Progressives in it. I don't have the front fork bottoming issues that I had with the '84, so it never occured to me that this mod. would be needed. Seems to me that the springs/air in the GEN 2 forks work fine. Why the change to Progressives?

[massey130]

I rode a brand new 1984 Venture Royale until 2004, and I installed Progressive springs in the forks about 1989. Now riding a 2007 RSV and never thought about having Progressives in it. I don't have the front fork bottoming issues that I had with the '84, so it never occured to me that this mod. would be needed. Seems to me that the springs/air in the GEN 2 forks work fine. Why the change to Progressives?

I was wondering the same thing. any opinions would be welcome.

[Sylvester]

I had the Gold Emulators installed in my front at about 29,000 miles and now with 131,000 miles I am still very happy with them. Just change the fork oil every couple years.

 

[mrc]

The front was bouncing and wobbling at 50km/30m per hour. At that speed with 6 lbs. of air in the forks I could get 1 inch bounce on the windshield. The Yamaha dealer at the shop told me it was tires. I put new tires on it and it didn’t change a thing. They then checked the bearings in the front end and told me everything is perfect and that’s how they ride. Just before Squidley move I road over to show him. Quick trip 5.5 hrs one way. Squidley looked at it, road it and raised the air pressure to 9. The bounce was almost all gone. A year later I was at 12 to 13 lbs in each shock to keep the front end stable. Yamaha said they know the front shock springs are too week but they wouldn’t cover the cost to fix it. They said it was not a warranty item. I was not going to pay them to fix it after that. Chucks bike started to get the same symptoms and that’s why two rookies tacked the job on our, with help from Squidley.

[Condor]

One of the big improvements to the 2ndGen when installing Progressives is front end dive when stopping. I've noticed the front end on the '99 is mushy when hitting the brakes... Been thinking about Progressives. However... after reading this thread I gotta wonder, Why does the whole front end have to come off to install them?? If that's the case I may just let'r dive. I don't know if this is normal or not, but on the 1stGen it really makes a difference. Most don't even hook up the anti-dives afterwards....

[Squidley]

Jack,

 

You can't pull the caps off from the top of the tubes while they are in the trees with the fairings in the way. You have to atleast pull the inner and outer fairing so you can bring the old springs out and install the new ones. I'm going to do it to the '99 I'm rebuilding, probably gonna get ahold of Mr. Rick Butler and pick his brain on what brand of springs he uses, I think he's got Race Tech in his Midnight

 

BTW folks, there is a typo here in this post, the maximum pressure for the front forks on a G2 is 7 lbs. If you go over that you risk a good chance of blowing out the fork seals

[Condor]

Jack,

 

You can't pull the caps off from the top of the tubes while they are in the trees with the fairings in the way. You have to atleast pull the inner and outer fairing so you can bring the old springs out and install the new ones.

 

Geeze, that's no fun at all. Chalk another one up for 1stGens.... What do we have to do when changing fork oil??

[Rocket]

Geeze, that's no fun at all. Chalk another one up for 1stGens.... What do we have to do when changing fork oil??

 

The 2nd gens will last long enough, for a fork oil change??? :rotfl:

Probably the same, as changing out the fork springs.

[mrc]

Probably the same, as changing out the fork springs.

 

Yup and that is the reason we did both at the same time

[RedRider]

Dang, and just when I thought there was nothing else to spend money on for my RSV.

 

"Santa!!!"

 

RR