I've decided to do this. Donor forks are purchased. Machinist selected. Now just need to find a suspension shop in Central Ohio willing to do the tuning. Suggestions?
don't know anything about them but found this: http://www.fcrsuspension.com/locations.html Look to know thier shite. I'd give them a call. The other option is to ship it to Ed McCoy's Offroad center out here in NV. He did a great job on mine and is reasonable. Shipping costs would suck and I'd call him first. He will remember my forks I am sure....
Have had mine in for a little over a year. Definitely a huge improvement over stock but I still need to do some tuning. The progressive rate springs need to go and I need to tighten up the compression stack. Even with the bleeds all the way in it's too soft. It bottoms easily and dives a ton under hard braking. The potential is there, just need to spend some more time with it.
Hey guys, Can one of you who has taken apart a set of stock and other 45mm Zokes confirm if the sliders (the chromed part) are the same length? Diameter should obviously match and I would think the bottom thread for the axle clamps all interchange as well. I need to replace a scratched slider on a F800GS fork and it might be easier and cheaper to find one from another bike. Anybody with some leftover parts from their Shiver conversion? Thanks, Lukas
Can't confirm size but I do have the slider tubes from the donor forks off an Aprilia RXV450. They are about to go up for sale on fleabay. If you want to make me an offer let me know... open to offerse. Have the fork tubes and tripples.
The sliders from shiver 45 is 30 mm shorter than bmw original, so you can´t use them with bmw:s upper tubes.
Why is that? The BMW travel is less but I'm not sure how much. Seems it should work if the lesser travel equals out?
The innertubes limit the stroke, they stop against the top cap. Therefor Shiver has shorter tubes, they allow to be comressed more, They are a bit longer fully extended and shorter compressed. I am going to use BMW innertube with Shiver outertube, that means it will leave maybe 30mm unused length of the chrome slider when it bottoms. If you mix them the other way it will be the dustseal limiting the stroke.
Well, I have both the inner & outter shiver RXV tubes avail. I used the stock BMW tubes for my conversion.
FinStrom is right. That way the ridigity of the fork isn't just as good as the stock forks have, which ofcourse isn't that nice thing in this heavy bike.. Different thing is that do you notice it or not..
Thank you, that is good info, although not what I was hoping to hear... Unfortunately I haven't been able to find out who sells Marzocchi sliders separately, anybody know a competent source? BMW is very very expensive...
I have had great luck with contacting Marzocchi directly. Not sure the price will be any better tho for what you need. Sending you contact info via PM. BTW are you running the stock BMW internals or upgraded Marzocchi? I have the marzocchi fork tubes from the RXV. If you are running the stock internals what I have won't work. If you have upgraded Marzocchi internals with the bottom foot adjuster then mine will work for you.
Excellent work fellas. I have the HyperPro springs in my forks now and I'm no where close to where I need to be. I'll definitely be referring to these threads in the future. I'm sure there are a lof of us out there who are going to need a similar upgrade. Time to find a machinist and suspension guru.....
I have a couple of new sets of 45mm Marzocchi Shiver forks from when Cannondale went under. Are they the same? I would love to find a use for them.
If you know the specs on these forks then I can tell if you they woudl work or not. The travel needs to be as long or longer than the stock BMW marzocchi's. If they are as long or longer they can be shortened. So do you know the travel? If so I might know someone interested in a set.
It's not only about the stroke but also the length. Shortening is fairly easy, extending them is not.
Correct. They need to be as long overall and the stroke need stroke needs to be as long or longer. As you said, shortening is easy and lengthening is harder. They are not like fake boobs. You can't just make them bigger for a few bucks.
You need a higher rate spring (USD forks dive while braking), what are you running for float? .8-1.5mm?