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Getting Traxxionized!

timanderson

timanderson

Guest
Guest
After 2 seasons and 25K miles, I’m treating myself to a suspension upgrade.  The Guhl reflash unleashed the torque that the C14 is supposed to provide, and all my other upgrades and farkles are working well, so it’s time for better suspension.  My forks are on the way to Traxxion Dynamics for stiffer springs, AK-20 cartridge dampers, new oil and seals.  Traxxion has a Penske 8983 rear shock in transit to me as well. It will be a few weeks before I get everything and get it all installed, but I’m looking forward to giving the new suspension a good workout!  ;D

I know many of you have done similar upgrades, I appreciate all the forum notes on this as it helped me decide what I wanted to go after.
 
Your list is way too long  :great: :great:

What do you think of Braking/Brembo Front Rotors and K&N Airfilter ??

In case you can find an after-market 270mm rotor for the rear, pls let me know since i m still looking for it.

Oh by the way, an Antigravity or Ballistic battery upgrade is also nice to have :)

at
 
Att,

I haven't had any issues with brakes or rotors so I haven't looked at replacement rotors yet.  I did replace the pads with EBC HH pads when the stock ones were worn.  K&Ns are fine, but I think the OEM filter is likely just as good, and even if the K&N is slightly better, I don't think it would be noticeable from what I've read.

And I do have a Shorai lithium battery, great unit, but I forgot to add that to the list!
 
 
Tim Anderson said:
Att,

I haven't had any issues with brakes or rotors so I haven't looked at replacement rotors yet.  I did replace the pads with EBC HH pads when the stock ones were worn.  K&Ns are fine, but I think the OEM filter is likely just as good, and even if the K&N is slightly better, I don't think it would be noticeable from what I've read.

And I do have a Shorai lithium battery, great unit, but I forgot to add that to the list!
Click to expand...

+1 on the Shorai battery, they rock! Had one in the ZX14, wish I had kept it and put the OEM battery back in. Would be sweet in my C14.

As for air filters, it is malarky when K&N says they flow better than stock and/or add HP.

Brock Davidson of Brock's Performance (first 200+ mph Texas Mile ZX14R was tuned by him) did extensive dyno testing with K&N Street, K&N Race, and OEM and found absolutely no change in HP or torque between any of them. All same same. And of course, the K&N Race has to be trashed early because it clogs up faster than a street filter.

So just buy OEM air filters, and oil filters too if they are cheaper than brand names. I always get an Amsoil oil filter when I order for my bike or care, but that is merely a convenience, nothing more.
 
It s quiet dusty in my place, i have to clean up the Airfilter after every 3,000 miles so the whole idea of having K&N one is about saving :), i dont trust and i think i dont need extra HP from the bike anyway, K&N regular oilfilter also cheaper then Kawi one for me.

As for Shorai, they are good cuz they have the same size with stock battery but so far from my reading, Antigravity uses the highest quality cell, then Ballistic and most important of all, both of them are made in the States while Shorai is made from oversea.

I change the Brake Rotor cuz the stock ones look just ....ugly and on my other bikes, Braking & Brembo perform great.

at
 
Your Brembo rotors would perform much better if you purchased the Brembo mono-block calipers too. But those probably cost half of what your bike is worth, so nevermind.  :rotflmao:

I can't get K&N air filters cheaper than OEM anywhere, but I don't pay for air filters anyway, I have a maintenance contract and its all free. I'll worry about it if I ever let the contract expire.

Thanks for the 411 on Antigravity, I'll check them out. Just cause they are made in the US doesn't mean they are better than the Shorai, which are made in Japan I think.
 
It's not always just about which is best. Sometimes sometimes Made in USA really is good enough or even best.
 
Deepsea said:
It's not always just about which is best. Sometimes sometimes Made in USA really is good enough or even best.
Click to expand...

Sometimes, but if that was universally true, you would own a Harley-Davidson as your only motorcycle. No?  :beerchug:
 
Yeah right...HD    Ha, ha.... that's a good one.  They are a fashion statement, not a sport tourer...
 
  :eek:fftopic:  Like anything in this world, "best" is only a matter of opinion. What one might consider the qualities and such to label something. In this case, "best", may be totally different from what the next person may have in mind.  As to a Harley being a Sport Tour, Harley does not label their bikes as such.
    Although with similar riders, obviously the sport tour should be faster and more nimble. But I have seen quite a few Harley riders that ride their Harley's quite aggressively when they want. And the truth be told, hold their own within reason. And IMO, ride way more sport on their Harley, than a good amount of Concours owners that I have ridden with, ever would on their Connie's. He!!, I've run away from Connie's on my Cruiser. So although not labeled or meant to be a sport tour. Other bikes can hold there own just fine on most of Americas roads and highways.  ;)
 
Tim, I curious on your thoughts after you get your bike back togeter and on the road. I have been looking at doing the same thing but have also looked at race tech.
 
Sure, I'll post my impressions once I get some miles on...  I did get get the forks back and the new Penske shock is here.  Forks are back on the bike, I may do the shock install this weekend, it will be my first so we'll see how it goes!  Doesn't look too hard.  25 degrees here so I probably won't get out for ride for a bit.  Tires just don't work very well below 35, IMO.  But I'll post impressions once I've been able to push it a bit.

Tim
 
I pretty much went the same route. After reflashing the ECU, I soon started realizing the engine was writing checks that the suspension couldn't case.  I put Traxxion springs and dampers on the front and an Ohlins shock on the rear. It was a huge improvement.
 
Exactly, Fred!  After the Guhl reflash and the Area P slip on, the engine department has pretty much unlimited check writing ability.. plenty enough for me at least.  I rode Honda VFRs for many years, and other than stiffening up the fork springs, they had pretty decent suspension, so I never had to go aftermarket.  On the C14, I felt there was definitely room for improvement.

Took a brief post-assembly test ride last weekend and the Traxxion fork upgrade feels great - much less dive under braking, very firm control, but very compliant over sharp bumps, hardly feel them on the front!  The Penske needs some adjusting... Supposedly was set up for me and the bike, but the sag is a bit too high and the ride is quite harsh - sharp bumps coming right up thru the seat.  So I think I need to increase the preload a bit and the compression damping a lot, but I have not had a chance to play - we are in single digit temperatures up here this week.  But if I can get the shock to feel like the forks do right now, I'll be in business!

Tim
 
 
Tim Anderson said:
The Penske needs some adjusting... Supposedly was set up for me and the bike, but the sag is a bit too high and the ride is quite harsh - sharp bumps coming right up thru the seat.  So I think I need to increase the preload a bit and the compression damping a lot, but I have not had a chance to play - we are in single digit temperatures up here this week.
Click to expand...

It sounds like you need less compression damping but you should wait until the temperatures get to 50 before you dial in the shock damping.
 
Fred,

Dan at Traxxion said they put in 750 lb. springs.  With the 8 mm of preload the shock came with, I measured the sag at 1.25".  I thought that was too much since the Penske manual recommends .875" - 1.1", but after talking to Dan he says that is the race sag value and for general street use it should be 35-40mm or 1.38" - 1.57".  So I backed off the preload to 4 mm, but I doubt that will change much.  I expect to reduce the compression damping significantly as well.  I have not had a chance to try it with snow on the ground and sand in the streets here.  Dan said he would swap the 750 with a lighter spring if needed.  Fred, what spring rate do you use?  I think we are similar weight, I'm 185, 200 with gear on.

Thanks,
Tim
 
Well, I was asking about your front fork springs, not your rear shock spring.

I'm using an Ohlins rear shock with a 140 n/mm spring (which was rate tested at 137 n/mm), with 9mm of factory pre-load applied, plus about 14 clicks on the adjuster. This is giving me about 34mm of rear sag with rear trunk mounted and all bags empty and a nearly full tank of gas, which I'm real happy with.

137 n/mm spring rate equates to about a 782 lbs

I had previously tried a 130 n/mm and found it to be too soft. I had to turn the preload adjuster almost all the way just to get it in the 35mm range, and that was before the bags were loaded. I then had Dan at Kyle Racing rate test a bunch of his springs so he could find one for me that was inbetween a 140 and a 130, since they don't make a 135 n/mm size, which is really what I needed. He really went out of his way for me, and I'm really glad he did, because it made a big difference.

http://www.hraefn.net/projects/spring_rates.php
 
Fred, I don't know what the spring rate is for the forks with the AK-20 kit, I should have asked them...  But with 4 rings showing at the preload adjusters, I'm getting 40 mm of sag up front.  Again, on my limited test ride so far, the forks felt real good - firm, very stable leaned over, less braking dive, but compliant over sharp bumps. So I'm happy there so far.

On the rear, my 750 lb. spring would be about 131 N/mm per your handy converter tool, so from your experience that should be good, and I should not need to go any lighter.  And with the 32-34 mm sag I'm getting with 8-4 mm of preload, sounds like my setup is pretty close to yours.  So I'm hoping the compression damping adjustment can soften it up enough over sharp bumps.  You mention you use 14 clicks - is that compression or rebound?  My stock settings from Traxxion were 18 clicks out from bottom on rebound and 10 clicks out from bottom on compression.  Although the compression knob on the remote reservoir doesn't really click, so I'm going to have to go by counting turns.  I need an opportunity to try some different settings there.

 
Parts only, what seems to be the going rate for the ak20 parts with a cog discount? ( shock too if anyone recalls)
Had race tech gold valves and springs installed last fall, thinking of the ak20 now instead.  My rear is still stock with 42k miles. A local traxxion guy quoted say 1100 + 300 labor

Thanks guys.
 
JS I would recommend calling Traxxion directly. If I recall correctly, they charged much less when I shipped them my forks. That was over two years ago, so prices may have increased, but I don't think they went up that much.
It was around $1,000 installed and they shipped the forks back to me.
 
Well, I can't see being able to Traxxionize in 2013, and the Ohlin's option is fading over the horizon fast. Still some FGRT forks to be found that work, but they are getting scarcer.

So I guess I'll wait and see how 2013 plays out. I can't imagine VA is going to be able to sit on my claims for another year, what with Congress calling them in to explain why they are making us wait so long. On the other hand, they might just not get it done this year no matter how much they get beat up by Congress (and the President).

My priority of what to do with the cash settlement / backpay is a) pay the Connie off, b) buy a small truck, c) do the suspension and re-flash on the Connie, d) retire and ride around and visit everyone I can in COG etc.

June 2014 will be hear soon enough, and the suspension has to be done before I retire.

Maybe I can go to the 2014 National and leave on my ride-about from there!  :great: :motonoises:
 
Called traxxion, spoke with a very nice gentleman, then spoke with my local guy.
My plan is to have my forks gone through to check the racetech install from September that never felt right. (Paid for the install) and go from there. If its close, than we can tweak it, if its borked, then I think the ak-20 installed would be the way to go for me. Paying twice for someone to be in my forks, sure as heck not wanting to do this the third time.
As for the rear the 8983 seems to be the ticket, they can do 1/2" low for my shorter reach? Do people have pictures of the rear shock install, where does the little can go?? I assume we lose the hydraulic preload of the stock spring too?
Lesson learned is do it right the first time, it’s more expensive the second.  :-[

thanks for the ear guys,
Joel
 
Hey ya'll haven't been on here in a while
the Concours is doing great with the pensky
shock and ak forks even though all settings
are still original
I'm so much. A procrastinator
I'm so glad to have this suspension
just wanted to say this
I let my membership run out so that needs
to be addressed
having great days on at 1400
Keep the shiney side up

Chuck
 
i can also give some feedback on my 8983 shock and ak20 front. (the front is not exactly the ak, they use racetech gold valves, revalved at traxxion, springs, isolator, that stuff is the same)

took a 3500 mile 8 day trip from minnesota to TN, i had put a few miles on it prior, rear compression softened about 1/4 turn. on the run down, this thing feels great, soaking up almost every road imperfection and handled great. the ride quality was a huge improvement. Once there came the super fun twistie stuff and wow did this thing wake up and perform. from say full extension to compressed to extended flipping side to side around some rollercoaster roads, this setup worked great!!
Super pleased with the results  :great:
 
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