Hi all, I hail from sunny Belfast and I ride these beasts daily, for work and play. I like something that can survive the atlantic storm winds on the west coast of Ireland and the one and half days a year we get the sun! Working on these beasts is easy, spanners and a multi meter you can stick your pc based analysis and dealer prices where the sun also does not shine! A question for an excellent site? has anyone ever dropped the chain adjusters by 180 degrees and the forks by the around 2 inches, 50mm in new money? If so, has it had any effect on the three quarter tank wave effect during cornering at low speeds or has anyone any advise on how to improve the handling in general, which is excellent when low flying. Paulsarahlouise
Welcome: I have a 95' Sprint that I have played around with for 18 years. Between myself and the previous [original] owner it has been through a few chassis changes. It's forks were actually RAISED a tiny bit. Mine has the 17" wheels and runs a 180 rear tire and has RaceTech front springs. I am using Super III front calipers. I find if I want to take it "out to play" I only want to use about 1/2 fuel load. That helps keep the center of gravity a bit lower. Mine has some well sorted out Mikuni's, a set of Micron off road cans, some air box mods, etc. These are kind of a long beast for playing in the twisties. I have another bike I like better for that use, but I have run the Sprint up in the Southern California mountains a few times. ...J.D.
Hello and welcome, Paul. As far as I can recall, it was quite a common mod "back in the day" to rotate the chain adjusters and raise the stanchions through the yokes - partly to lower the seat height for those (like me) of a 'diminutive stature' - long hand for short arses - but also to lower slightly the CoG of a tall and heavy bike. I'm fairly sure that one of the reasons for the CRK being a much better handling bike than the factory spec'd original is that it's no longer carrying that huge, steel tank with its payload at capacity of around 5 imperial gallons of fuel - almost 3 stones in weight of liquid ballast! The CRK is, after all, fundamentally a standard frame and swinging arm set up with some pretty new clothes on a lighter, slimmer body. I'm sure you're already aware that the bike wasn't/isn't exactly known for it's cutting edge handling qualities or for the top drawer quality of the suspension components but, as Wire Wheels says, there are mods and changes that will improve things ... however, a word of warning - I understand that rotating the chain adjusters can lead to a rapid increase of wear of the rubbing block, to the extent that it can wear through the swinging arm itself if not addressed early. I'm not trying to teach granny how to suck eggs here but I suggest that you make sure, first, that the suspension components are all good - fork oil, springs and damping all up to spec., and that the rear shock is a good quality component before you try changing the geometry. At least then you'll have a known, good benchmark from which to progress through any improvement programme. Good luck and let's see some photo's of the bike, please!
Yes please post some pictures. Don't see a lot of them on here. These are very good looking machines. I have had mine since "back in the day". Reminds me of some women, lovely, but a bit of a handful. Again, welcome. ...J.D.
Thank you all for your welcome and info. For the irish weather on a daily commute the weight, sheer size is excellent, if anything on run outs I need a bigger tank! slow speed on a full tank is maybe the price we pay for all the rest. Old school biking, picking a line, riding the bike as opposed to modern electronics smoothing the twisties out for you, that said each to there own. I will get a couple of pic's up, some of the tricked up bikes on this site are nothing short of magic. Once again thank you all for your help .