You need to compress the spring so that you can remove the lock/retainer so you can get the spring seat off. So yes.
yes that I need special tools or yes that its a simple task? By chance anyone know if there are any links to a how-to?
Thnx Ruckus! Do u actually work for GMD? (looking at ur sig) Im impressed that you took the time to reply thnx again, I have TWO unanswered emails to GMD (NYC) about some work that he/they performed over the winter break from the guy I bought the bike (F4) from. I find it amazing on how some guys can stay in business, Ill NEVER take any bike of mine to that shop.......doesnt say much about the GMD name in my book either. Ive had nothing but clearance (lock to lock) issues and handling problems since I got the bike.
After your second email wasn't answered, did you call to see if you could get some answers or just assume they were read and ignored? It may be something they did wrong and can take care, or they may tell you to get lost. Wait until you talk to them before you start bad-mouthing them.
Yea silly me for thinking that a business who posts their email addy on their site that they may actually read and reply to it. fwiw- I had already spoke to Mike once for about 15 minutes about what he actually did to the bike since the previous owner didnt have a print out or anythng documenting what he did. And just from that call he seemed unsure about where the fork height was set to....during this call he just seemed like he was too busy to be tied up on the phone as long as he was so I emailed him twice sharing some of the problems I was experiencing, I even included some photo's......it doesnt take long to shoot someone an email if u prefer talking on the phone, I figured I was doin him a favor by emailing him and giving him the time to reply at his leisure. Never happened tho.
I'm not trying to start a flame war, tech isn't the place for it. In your original post it didn't sound like you gave them much of a chance to address the problem before you went off on them. I'm not sure what they can, or should, do about work done for someone else with no documentation. A better course of action would be to let them look at the bike and see if they can spot an obvious problem. You never said what they did that limited your lock-to-lock. Explain please.
First off lemme apologize if I came off like a prick, however, this subject gets me a lil annoyed. About two months ago I bought a bike (F4) locally that was set up by GMD. The bike was stripped down (no body work or tank) went it was brought to and returned from GMD. The bike remained stripped and parked in this guys shop thru the winter/spring as he never got a chance to put it back together and ride it afterwards, he's a part time bike builder/mechanic. GMD apparantly felt that this particular bike needs some radical changes to its front AND rear ride height (both ends raised quite a bit) to make it perform optimally (I have no problem with that as it was a motivating factor for the purchase and I was very excited to get it on the track). These changes left no choice upfront but to put aftermarket clip-ons BENEATH the yoke as there is not enough tube above the yoke for attachment anymore. However, once I got her home and began to put her back together I noticed I was going to have clearance problems once I bolted the upper bracket in place and sat the instrument cluster in place, mind you at this point I havent even placed the snorkel tubes in place. I cldnt even get close to lock to lock, I came very close to start making cuts/mods to improve the clearance when I decided to throw the snorkels on only to find that I had even less turning radius now making the bike unrideable, with the bars set at 12 oclock I was lucky if I cld reach 11 & 1 oclock w/out hitting. This is when I decided to call GMD seeking their help as they must of had some information on what needed to be done to make this work......they didnt really have much to offer on the phone he suggested that I try cutting here n there (at this time I may have not mentioned the snorkels being in the way) so I decided to email them pics to show them the problems I was having. No reply! After discussing this problem with several guys on this forum who have or still do race F4's they suggested that I try different bars and or dropping the front end again to allow clip-on placement above the yoke again. Since I still had some faith in GMD abilities in setting up a bike properly I opted for the bar change and found that XX bars wld fit beneath the yokes and allow better clearance, they did. But I have to becareful making hard turns in the pits cuz the levers do still hit the fairing causing sudden stops.....I mean sudden too! Soooo now Im happier cuz I got her up n running, 3 weeks ago I took her out to the track and she felt pretty damn agile all thru the tight stuff but suffered from MAJOR head shakes from 120mph on up. The bike felt great below this speed but I cld literally tell every time I hit 120 just by the headshake. I came home dbl checked my front wheel and it is balanced correctly, brand new tires front and rear. The bike is undersprung for my weight at both ends so my friend and I think the head shake cld be from the rear squatting too much unloading the front but I wanted to ask a professional so I emailed GMD again sharing my head shake problem and again I received NO REPLY. My friend just had some work done by him and he even told me the poor guy is overloaded with work so again my thoughts were well Ill email him this way he cld email me when he has time rather than my interrupting him while he's in the shop. I suspect if my email was more 'sales' related the guy or who ever replies for him wld of returned my email immediately. IMO, I just think its bad business practice to not provide a person the support needed to make UR mods work properly on a bike. So far he hasnt.
When you installed the XX clip ons did you modify them so you can pull them up flush against the bottom of the top triple tree clamp? I do know that there are more clearance issues on the F4 than the F4i. As for the shake- Do you have a steering damper installed? Are you sure that the steering neck bearings are in good shape and are adjusted correctly? Also, what do weigh and what rate spring(s) are installed front and rear?
KMF- I filed the other edge of the clamp a tad to allow them to slide up a bit but no they do not sit flush against the yoke bottom, Id say about a 1/4 inch gap. Do you have any pics by chance showing exactly where u grind some material away? After looking where I had to grind the XX bars (thin part that ties collar to bar) I opted not to just cuz it looks like it'd weaken it too much. Are urs fitted to an F4? No steering damper yet. And Im hoping the steering bearings are fine since the bike was at GMD, Id think they wld of checked but Im gonna check them out myself to be sure. I weigh 195# w/out gear. The front springs are stock (.75 i think) and the rear Ohlins shock has a 1093-49 spring which according to an Ohlins distributor who emailed me said that spring is for a 175# rider WITH gear. Sooooooo Im hoping that is the reason for the headshake.
You need to grind them near the base where they start to come up into the riser. If you are not sure put some ink or dyke em or whatever on them in that area and pull them up and rub them against the triple so you know where to clearance them. We have only run them on the F4i. On the F4 we ran the stock bars and I extended the forks 10 mm so that there would be room to play with. That spring is a 742 lbs spring that is too soft. The funny thing is that one Ohlins shock came with a 742 lbs spring on it and the other came with a 900 lbs spring on it. My suggestion would be either an 825 or an 850. As for the fork springs we are running .925 with 10 mm of base preload with the fork oil level up higher with the 170 lbs rider. We ran .95's initially but the rider prefered the .925's and the lap times were faster. At your weight I would suggest the .95's w/10 mm of base preload to start. Alot of it depends on what you like to. Some people do not want the front to move alot so they run stiffer springs than what someone who likes the front to dive more under braking. Their is no magic setup that works for all. You need to get a good baseline and then adjust from there, making sure you take good notes so you know what you changed and what it did.
More than happy to help anyone out. To answer your question. Yes, I run the Jacksonville, Fl store. Give me a call or email me your number so I can call you and we can help you out.
