To progress or not...
Recently at the last KLR Tech Day at Doc’s, Groenie gave my ‘08 baby girl a little bit of love by adding a set of HG Progressive Springs, provided by Michael Steyn of Dual Purpose Adventures www.dualpurpose.co.za, at a cost of ‘a report on their performance’.
I’ve now had these fitted for a little over a month and have tested them on both tar and dirt and here’s my report.
A pic below taken at the tech day, many Thanks to Slowmow
, shows the difference between the standard forks and the progressive forks – basically a longer spring
As someone who is not hugely technical, I have found that the front of my bike feels ALOT more stable.
Positives - Both over speed bumps, pot holes on tar as well as dips, bumps and stones (yes I often don’t miss them) on the dirt, I feel like I ‘skip’ over everything , compared to before when I felt like I bounced over things.
- Braking, mostly tested the front end on the tarbetween 60km and 110km. When those surprises happen and one has no choice but to brake hard, I no longer feel like my front wants to dip and my arse wants to rise. I find the front handles more smoothly now and I no longer have a fear of braking hard on the tar – which also means I might find I start receiving speeding fines :laugh:. I’m not saying that there is NO dip, but it has drastically reduced since having the progressive forks fitted
- Wet tar – my tyres are Mitas E07, on the recent Golden Gate Bash, I was loaded and travelling from JHB to Heidelberg in rain I was surprised at how comfortable I felt , the front felt solid on the tar in the rain, with the general handling a lot more responsive.
- Wet dirt – I am thankful that I have not had to test in thick mud and have only had some mud puddles and lightly wet sand, my experience though (fully loaded bike) was great! On the muddy bits, the front was very stable, and through the puddles, I never felt unsure and gladly started to seek them out .
Negatives – The only negative thing I have to say is that my back end now feels soft and now needs attention. I have been told by several guys now, that this is the norm.
Conclusion: I am very happy with the mod and would recommend it :cheer:
Many thanks to Michael for the forks, Groenie for fitting them and letting me help and also to DocKLR for his specialised tools (PVC pipe) and assistance at the tech day.
Recently at the last KLR Tech Day at Doc’s, Groenie gave my ‘08 baby girl a little bit of love by adding a set of HG Progressive Springs, provided by Michael Steyn of Dual Purpose Adventures www.dualpurpose.co.za, at a cost of ‘a report on their performance’.
I’ve now had these fitted for a little over a month and have tested them on both tar and dirt and here’s my report.
A pic below taken at the tech day, many Thanks to Slowmow
, shows the difference between the standard forks and the progressive forks – basically a longer spring
As someone who is not hugely technical, I have found that the front of my bike feels ALOT more stable.
Positives - Both over speed bumps, pot holes on tar as well as dips, bumps and stones (yes I often don’t miss them) on the dirt, I feel like I ‘skip’ over everything , compared to before when I felt like I bounced over things.
- Braking, mostly tested the front end on the tar
between 60km and 110km. When those surprises happen and one has no choice but to brake hard, I no longer feel like my front wants to dip and my arse wants to rise. I find the front handles more smoothly now and I no longer have a fear of braking hard on the tar – which also means I might find I start receiving speeding fines :laugh:. I’m not saying that there is NO dip, but it has drastically reduced since having the progressive forks fitted- Wet tar – my tyres are Mitas E07, on the recent Golden Gate Bash, I was loaded and travelling from JHB to Heidelberg in rain
I was surprised at how comfortable I felt , the front felt solid on the tar in the rain, with the general handling a lot more responsive.- Wet dirt – I am thankful that I have not had to test in thick mud and have only had some mud puddles and lightly wet sand, my experience though (fully loaded bike) was great! On the muddy bits, the front was very stable, and through the puddles, I never felt unsure and gladly started to seek them out .
Negatives – The only negative thing I have to say is that my back end now feels soft and now needs attention. I have been told by several guys now, that this is the norm.
Conclusion: I am very happy with the mod and would recommend it :cheer:
Many thanks to Michael for the forks, Groenie for fitting them and letting me help
and also to DocKLR for his specialised tools (PVC pipe) and assistance at the tech day.
