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purpose of these fork cap extenders

19K views 23 replies 11 participants last post by  MacBayne 
#1 ·
:dunno

hey i bought my gsxr and these were already on there. I have looked it up but i still dont get what its supposed to do, and if its even setup correctly on my gsxr. About to put mx bars on and dunno what to do with them. :suicide

any input would be appreciated



 
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#5 · (Edited)
They turn lead into gold and are engraved with micro print telling where Hoffas body is buried.

Seriously, these bikes handle better if they are raised up front and back. I have my fork tubes flush with the triple (stock setting is 5mm sticking up) and have a 5mm shim under the stock. It made a nice difference in turn in. Some people want to go a little farther but run out of fork tube length. Hence the fork extenders.
 
#6 ·
thanks for all the replys

They turn lead into gold and are engraved with micro print telling where Hoffas body is buried.

Seriously, these bikes handle better if they are raised up front and back. I have my fork tubes flush with the triple (stock setting is 5mm sticking up) and have a 5mm shim under the stock. It made a nice difference in turn in. Some people want to go a little farther but run out of fork tube lenght. Hence the fork extenders.
so i can raise my front end?
 
#7 ·
I have fork extenders AND my forks are still below my triple. So yeah....
 
#9 ·
our bikes like the front and rear to be raised. BUT, where your cap extenders are at now serve zero purpose. they should be at least flush with the upper tripple, and a 6mm shim in the rear shock upper mount. then if you have an aftermarket shock w/adjustable ride height, crank it up. i have 6mm shims and im +10mm ride height adjusted maxed out. this bike handles feakin awesome on the track. absolutely ZERO issues.

too bad she is sold, and is coming to a race track near you next year by the new owner. wera, ccs, and a few ama races (their shooting for). droppig her off o enshaw for a SBK build next week for the new owner.
 
#14 ·
to each their own i guess. i do know for 100% certainty that with my forks caps flush with my ohlins 20mm FPK kit, my elka tipple clicker rear shock shimmed 6mm + fully raised (+10mm), this bike handles absolutely perfectly on the track.
 
#16 ·
Now that I am on a computer, I am not saying your setup doesnt work, or at least well enough for you.

Point was you said he "should" be where you are. That simply is not the case.

Example being my bike right now is 13mm taller in rear, and only about 10mm in front. YOUR bike is 16mm rear and 25mm. If I tried to ride your bike as it is set up right now, at my pace, at barber motorsports part... and assuming the springs and damping were right for my weight... Your bike would not hold a line over the T4 crest over the T5 crest, and over the T13 crest.

How do I know this? My bike at the start of my last race there was 3mm taller in front, and 2mm shorter in the rear. That puts me a lot closer to a similar rake and trail to you. It simply didnt work. But that setup DID work well at another track.

I change my setup by several MM and my damping, and even my springs, for nearly every track I go to.

Point is, there are some generalizations for this bike. It likes to be taller on both ends. But how much depends on a LOT of things; track, pace, weather, tires, tire sizes, riding style and a bunch of other shit. Saying anyone "should" have any given geometry is foolish. :cheers
 
#17 ·
thats not what i was saying MJ. i was making a recomendation as to what MOST of us are using and what works. and you cant argue what works for me on my bike, as its tried and true for me and it was thebest set-up bike ive ridden in the past 10 years. i did alot of research on it, i then bought it, installed it, set it up, then rode the shit of it on the track and had zero issues. cant argue with that huh? lol
 
#18 ·
Then say what you mean. :dunno

And Yes. I can argue. Sure it handles good enough. Better than any bike you have ridden before. blah blah. But there is absolutely no such thing as a bike that handles "100 percent perfect" on every track for every situation.

If you are not fast enough or dont know enough to notice it is not perfect is moot. Saying it is "perfect" is just incorrect :lmao. What it is is good enough for you. Nothing wrong with that. Just call it what it is, and know that your setup likely can be better in a lot of situations, and may not work for everyone. :thumbup
 
#19 ·
Bringing up an old topic since this was discussed at the track last weekend, but wanted to get some opinions. From what I can tell, my height in both front and back is completely stock. From what I’ve read in here, both the front and back could both go up with positive results. If I were to adjust the forks alone, what would be a good distance to start? I.e. if I were to go from 5mm exposed to 5mm past flush (fill in whatever numbers here, that’s what I’m looking for), would that get me to the proper rake angle to better improve the handling. Not saying that one adjustment fixes everything, but if there’s a small adjustment I can do to generally improve the handling, where should I start?
 
#20 ·
go out and buy the Racetech Suspension Bible. that will tell you all about it. changing one suspension item will actually change many others. if you only physically change how far the forks are in the triples, you will change the rake angle, trail, weight bias, steering angle, and that is only on the front end.

moving the forks down in the triples also may be a bad idea if you go down too far as there is limited contact surface area to provide the friction needed to hold the forks in place.

by "improve handling," what are you talking about? do you need quicker turn-in, or more stability at high speeds? do you desire less force needed to change steering direction?

unless you are throwing down ridiculous track lap times, your bike needs no handling improvements.
 
#23 ·
Just run them flush with the top triple. That puts the actual tube inside the triple 1-2mm. I wouldn't go much if any farther than that.
 
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