Commando forks have a max travel of 6".
The fork slider travel I can't actually measure at the moment without taking stuff apart but I would guess it's at least 4.875".
Approximately 4.15 inches. It can't be more than the distance the springs become coil-bound and the forks should become fully compressed before that happens.
Oops. My bad. 6" was the amount given in the service manual specifications, but I should have remembered from past experience with the forks that actual travel in use was a lot less. Just another senior moment.However, the damper assemblies reduce the fork movement to just over 4 inches.
I modified 20mm showa dampers to fit in my commando. They are similar to the one's that Cosentino engineering makes for commandos. Individual compression and rebound valves in each fork with shim stack secondary circuits for separating the high speed and low speed damping responses...what testing are you doing?
Indeed I do.You realise that the spring rate and damping in the front forks and the rear shocks affect the steering as you brake and accelerate ?
Yep we all know thatYou realise that the spring rate and damping in the front forks and the rear shocks affect the steering as you brake and accelerate ?
Thanks everyone! I'm trying to ride pretty hard on country roads to test it. I don't feel it bottoming out, but I'm wondering if I could be getting more compression out of the setup. It won't compress further, so I know I'm using all I have, but it seems like there's a good bit of fork showing above the seals and I'm wondering if I should be investigating if there's something prematurely binding it up or something.
I really just want to know if it is stopping short of full compression. One time I didn’t get the front axle straight and the fork was binding, and I’ve been paranoid about the fork since. I don’t ride it for high performance. I have a Ducati 999s if I want to go too fast for my own good.I think what you might mean to say is, "get more travel out of the set up". The maximum travel is 4-1/8" as LAB pointed out. After your fork slider moves 4-1/8" there will be a clunk as hard parts of your slider bushings collide with the slider or fork tube. Tuning for the maximum length of travel with the OEM fork dampers is only a single aspect of suspension that isn't the most significant one for road riding...
In the case of the OEM suspension, just go for a feel that is in between , the best tire grip without feeling harsh or feel like the tire is skipping (heavier fork oil), and being so soft that the handling is sloppy (lighter fork oil). The OEM parts kind of suck. If you are going to stick with OEM dampers at least upgrade them to Jim Schmitt's damper upgrade parts kit. You still will only be tuning performance with only oil viscosity choice, but at least your parts tolerances will let those different viscosity choices actually change the response more accurately... (Just my opinion..)
I should specify, that it was binding on compression before and that's what I'm looking to measure.I really just want to know if it is stopping short of full compression. One time I didn’t get the front axle straight and the fork was binding, and I’ve been paranoid about the fork since. I don’t ride it for high performance. I have a Ducati 999s if I want to go too fast for my own good.
I ride it just hard enough to have fun.