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Photo by George Guille, It's going to be a long 300km... Bolivian Amazon

I haven't been everywhere...
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Photo by George Guille
It's going to be a long 300km...
Bolivian Amazon



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  #1  
Old 5 Dec 2005
*Touring Ted*'s Avatar
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XR650R HARDER SPRINGS
Hi guys. Does anyone know where i can source a harder rear suspension spring and also fork springs.

Also , does anyone know the rating of the original springs, front & rear

Thanks in advance , ed
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Old 7 Dec 2005
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I wouldn't recommend changing the front springs. they don't need it with 29 litre tank + 20kg on front rack. they are motocross-stylie so they are wickedly firm for touring off-road.

rear spring ... talk to K-Tech in Derby. they made 20% stiffer rear springs for me and Martin. its a very special spring so don't compromise: the bottom windings are smaller diameter to clear the swing arm as a constant dia will foul and break it! you may have to send your's for them to copy if they didn't keep the pattern. the rear rebound damping is not adjustable so beware! the stiffer spring can cause some interesting handling as the shock heats up and the rebound damping drops off or, in my case, lobbed me off! if I had my time again, I'd consider replacing the shock.
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Old 7 Dec 2005
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Cheers for that rich.. Ill give them a bell and have a word with them. May I ask, what extra weight were you taking at the rear and may i ask your weight ?? (if that aint too personal)

Ed
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Old 7 Dec 2005
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for the long-range bits, there was an extra 40kg of racks, fuel and water at the back plus 15-20kg of luggage. all in, the bike was 250-260kg with 50 litres of fuel and 11 litres of water and food + gear for 10 days at a time. dressed for action, I weighed in at around 110kg incl body armour and back-pack with more water.
I generally ride standing up on tricky stuff.
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Old 31 Dec 2005
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Hey Rich. Iv just been on the phone to K-Tech. They said they've always had the XR650R spring on there pattern so i was just wondering why you had to send yours ? Is it a different spring ? Its got me worried that they will send me a spring that will found my swingarm arm now

They also said the stock is a 9.5 and 20% is 11.5 Is this the same with your spring ?

Cheers mate
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Old 31 Dec 2005
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well, there must be some confusion! I expect they had light weight ones "in stock", but they told us they didn't have the 20% one and would have to get it made special. maybe its a regular item now. they're good guys there, so I'd get the one you want and just check its narrower at one end before you strip your bike and find they sent you an XR600 part
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Old 9 Jan 2006
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I whant to fit a harder spring to my xr650l.Is the spring the same as xr650r or is it different?Can I get the spring from the same guys or from someone else rich?
What is costs involved if I may ask?
Cheers
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  #8  
Old 9 Jan 2006
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Its a different spring to the XR650R. same people, similar price (£50), but ask for the 20% stiffer one for the XR600. it fits the XRL shock.
if you haven't already done the following, try dropping the forks 20mm through the yokes and increasing the fork damping to 10W by changing the oil (I did this by draining 2/3 of it out and adding 15W to the remaining 7W). then reduce the compression damping by a few/several clicks. it improves the handling and steering significantly. because the oil change increases reboungd damping, it makes it a bit harder to wheelie, but that's no bad thing when you have a lot of gear on the back.
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