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Is there that much of a difference between the .38 and .40 springs in the sense of plushness of ride?

I currently weigh about 200lbs "neked" plan on losing another 10-15 so according to charts that should just bump me over to the .40 spring including all gear and boots.

So my question is how much difference between .38 & .40?

Do you have .38's? I know someone with a set of .40's who'd be willing to trade....

No still have the stock springs in my 05 I think they are .35?

I had .40's but switched to .46's

It's like a different bike now, I can over **** that I would not have dreamed of before.

I still find myself thinking "I can't go crossways over that rut, I'll crash for sure" then I do it and I'm just totally stunned

And it is still very plush

gtoron wrote:Is there that much of a difference between the .38 and .40 springs in the sense of plushness of ride?

I currently weigh about 200lbs "neked" plan on losing another 10-15 so according to charts that should just bump me over to the .40 spring including all gear and boots.

So my question is how much difference between .38 & .40?

I have a set of Fredette .40 I rode on twice before I swapped the frontend for a KX setup. I'll sell'm for half price $40.00 plus ship'n.


.

To answer your question:

Yes.

No.


The former if you have an 'ear' for your bike, the latter if you don't recognize the difference between 13psi/15psi in your front tire.

There is a difference between brands of springs of the same rate, too. Again...depending on your 'ear'. Actually, it would more like your arse noticing the difference than your ear..but you get the point, right? It's a figure of speech.

How about this: There IS a difference. Whether or not you will notice it is up to you. Unless you are changing them for a reason known to you, it's best to stick with the 'correct' rate as spec'd by people that have reason to know.

THAT said....

RaceTech's specs are consistently too high for woods applications. FRP's are too low. All according to what I think...which means absolutely nothing. The best suspended bike is the one that is suspended to suit YOU..the way you ride and the conditions you ride in.

Wibben's post is of note. He could have figured, 'Whatever I've got is OK'. He would've been wrong. The point is, his riding has improved a lot with a better suspended bike. That improvement leads to a bigger smile on your face while you ride. Fighting a bike that is NOT up to the task will lead to frowns instead of smiles.

Can't have that!!

The fellas on this site seem to have very sensitive "Ears" for their bikes.

Re: 'The fellas..'

Not particularly. Any dirtbiker (street biker..take your pick) with some miles and a care one way or the other will be that way.

I used to ride every weekend with Marty. He'd been on bikes since he was a little tyke..couldn't reach the ground..his dad would start it up..give him a push..he'd ride 'til he ran out of gas. Not that the historical basis is of particular matter..but he knows how to ride. I made a one click change to his shock once when he wasn't looking. He knew it immediately. Stopped shortly, said, 'What did you do?' I professed innocence. Then he told me what his bike was doing, and it was exactly in accordance with the change I'd made.

And that was on a stock shock which generally is NOT reactive too much to lo-speed changes.

If you ride a few times a year, you likely won't have the seat TIME to notice small differences. If you ride thousands of miles a year...you will.

Well...if you care enough to pay attention you will.

It's nothing peculiar to riders on this site. Someone in high school would do well to recognize the value of input and benefit from people that've been riding for 30+ more years than he's been alive..and hundreds of thousands of miles at that.

You're still in high school carvr?!

skipro3 wrote:You're still in high school carvr?!

He hides it well doesn't he?

The 'lil train that could...


I know I can...I KNOW I can...I KNOW I can!!!!

I'll pass that dang test suuner ore layder!

Here's to 'ya!!

Was going to go the Honda XR spring route. Guess I should have mentioned that.

canyncarvr wrote:To answer your question:

Yes.

No.


The former if you have an 'ear' for your bike, the latter if you don't recognize the difference between 13psi/15psi in your front tire.

There is a difference between brands of springs of the same rate, too. Again...depending on your 'ear'. Actually, it would more like your arse noticing the difference than your ear..but you get the point, right? It's a figure of speech.

How about this: There IS a difference. Whether or not you will notice it is up to you. Unless you are changing them for a reason known to you, it's best to stick with the 'correct' rate as spec'd by people that have reason to know.

THAT said....

RaceTech's specs are consistently too high for woods applications. FRP's are too low. All according to what I think...which means absolutely nothing. The best suspended bike is the one that is suspended to suit YOU..the way you ride and the conditions you ride in.

Wibben's post is of note. He could have figured, 'Whatever I've got is OK'. He would've been wrong. The point is, his riding has improved a lot with a better suspended bike. That improvement leads to a bigger smile on your face while you ride. Fighting a bike that is NOT up to the task will lead to frowns instead of smiles.

Can't have that!!

XR springs are great...imo and all that. Now...not springs made for an XR...but Honda springs.

They are hot wound (uh..not cold) for one..and they do a great job. I've ridden with Eibachs (a spring mfg) of the same advertised rate as my Honda springs..and the Honda (red wings on the package and all) springs are far superior.

Keep in mind what you're after preload-wise. The OEM springs are generally 470mm in length. OEM config includes one heckuva preload..to the tune of around 35mm. DON'T do that with your new springs. A preload of only 5mm or so will work much better. IF the Honda springs are 530mm or so..you can see there's a bit of a space problem. More correctly, a LACK of space problem. Your preload spacer may only have to be a few mm thick.

Washers designed for that purpose would be best. Still, you can go the sched-40 1" PVC route, but cutting it that thin can be a problem.

Use a miterbox..or a powered miter saw! Back the pipe with either a board or antother piece of pipe..just as you would any cut you want to be nice and square with no 'lumps'.

Cutting a PVC slice 4mm long by hand is tough..and filing square that small sliver is tougher.

You're gonna love 'em!! Guaranteed!!

If you don't love them, my name ain't Mortimer Alzheimer!!

canyncarvr wrote:Re: 'The fellas..'

Not particularly. Any dirtbiker (street biker..take your pick) with some miles and a care one way or the other will be that way.

I used to ride every weekend with Marty. He'd been on bikes since he was a little tyke..couldn't reach the ground..his dad would start it up..give him a push..he'd ride 'til he ran out of gas. Not that the historical basis is of particular matter..but he knows how to ride. I made a one click change to his shock once when he wasn't looking. He knew it immediately. Stopped shortly, said, 'What did you do?' I professed innocence. Then he told me what his bike was doing, and it was exactly in accordance with the change I'd made.

And that was on a stock shock which generally is NOT reactive too much to lo-speed changes.

If you ride a few times a year, you likely won't have the seat TIME to notice small differences. If you ride thousands of miles a year...you will.

Well...if you care enough to pay attention you will.

It's nothing peculiar to riders on this site. Someone in high school would do well to recognize the value of input and benefit from people that've been riding for 30+ more years than he's been alive..and hundreds of thousands of miles at that.

Compared to the other dirt-biking community I belong to, TT, the majority of those guys would have considerable less 'ears' for their bikes. I'd have to consider myself a 1,000+ MI per year rider and I definitely can tell the difference between 13 and 15 PSI up front.

I also agree with the shock thing - on the KDX I could just barely get a feeling of one-click, but on my RM which has an MX revalve, I can tell a huge difference from one or two clicks on both the forks and shock. Still way too stiff all together though

Just a guess..but I'd suppose someone riding a 400-500-and+cc thumper wouldn't have much of an ear for anything. No pun intended. How finely do you have to tweak/tune something that big to have enough power to get what you want done? Doubt that's an issue with the average woodsy huge displacement biker.

If your goal is to get the best performance out of your bike you can...a tin 'ear' isn't going to help.

...if you know what a tin ear is. If you don't, look it up.

Mr. Wibbens wrote:I had .40's but switched to .46's

Your running 46's what did you do about rebound?
.

what did I do about it?

What DID he do about it?

do about what?

I'm lost