It's springtime in more ways than one, folks.
It's been about three weeks since my last bloggy post, and that's basically because I always seemed to forget about putting one up here.
Until today. ;)
So, what's new?
Well, I'm back to my normal hours and pay at jerk, which makes it easier to put up with that stuff.
Jerk, that is.
If you work for a living, and everyone I know does, you know what I mean.
Also new is a change I made to the CRF-450X9 suspension last week.
According to people who know dirt bike suspension, my weight of 150 lbs. is too light for the springs in the fork and shock of my bike, and going with the next step lighter springs would be the hot setup for me.
Well, I decided to do this, installing the springs myself (and changing the fork oil at the same time) and taking it for a ride out on the ol' Pachaug rock pile loop last Sunday.
On that ride, I could tell that something wasn't right with the front fork because it felt too firm on the sharp bumps.
During this past week, I took the forks apart and basically dumped the oil out and refilled the forks with oil while being more careful to remove as much excess oil as possible while bleeding what is called the upper chamber within the fork.
Well, I just came back from a ride this afternoon (Saturday), and I'm happy to report that the fork is working as it should, again, so it does seem to me I left too much oil in the fork the first time.
Now, I'm fine-tuning the front and rear ride height, or adjusting how high I want the front to feel as compared to the rear of the bike via sliding the fork tubes down 2 or 3 millimeters, something I'll try on tomorrow's ride.
I tend to favor the front feeling a little bit higher versus having the rear jacked-up, and to be honest, I'm not sure whether or not I'll continue to use these softer fork springs or go back to the standard heavier fork springs with a slightly lower than standard oil level.
The reason I think this is because, stock, the fork worked and felt just fine to me, and I only changed springs on recommendations from suspension experts' websites and comments on forums regarding my weight.
My gut feeling is to go back to the stock springs in order to keep the front end up as I prefer, while using a lower oil level so the front won't feel too high or stiff all the time, and this should allow the fork to both ride a bit high as I like, and allow for supple initial movement over small and/or sharp bumps.
I'll probably do this during the coming jerk week, so, stay tuned for the results.
Post ride edit:
I started today's Pachaug enduro loop ride with the fork tubes lowered a few millimeters, but pulled them back up after about 15 miles.
I did this with the tools in my handy-dandy tool belt, called a fanny pack.
The bike felt a bit unbalanced with the forks three millimeters down, but pulling them back up two millimeters and leaving them at one millimeter down felt better.
The bike felt good for the rest of the ride (49.5 miles in all), and I do believe I'll leave the suspension settings like this for now.
I think with the next front tire change (coming in a few more rides), I'll add 5cc of oil to each fork and put them back to the standard tube position.
I will be sooooooooo happy once I get the suspension dialed to suit me, folks. ;)
The actual ride was pretty darn good.
I felt a bit tired during the second half of the ride, but I'm really not surprised because I have always felt tired at times for no apparent reason during this time of year ever since I reached about 30 years of age.
Maybe it's that springtime, huh?
Once I readjusted the fork tube height, I got down to a good ride - the bike felt good and I rode well enough to feel good about, especially while in my favorite pine-needled and whooped-out sections.
I typically have a good time through those parts, and today was no different.
The reason the mileage was only 49.5 and not the usual 55-or-so was because I took a shorter route while riding on the dirt roads in the more-populated parts of the Pachaug state forest.
You know - the part where you meet people riding horseback.
Today, I must have stopped 7 times and spent 10 - 15 minutes waiting for fooli-oohs on horseback to trot past as I gave them the right of way, all so I won't see one of them do a Christopher Reeve right in front of me (I hope) should ol' Paint get spooked by the sound of my bike's engine running.
-John
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