I have had the fork springs fitted for about 5 months & the rear spring fitted this month & I am super happy with the results.
Anyone that has riden a stock D-Tracker knows the bike is like a bouncy castle with horrible spongy forks that dive into the ground like their made of jelly. The rear end can be beefed up by fully adjusting the pre-load rings & clickers but this still isn't enough for fast hard riding & makes the bike ride very bumpy/jittery when riding normally due to a over woundup rear spring. The forks & rear shock are quality KYB adjustable units but suffer from very weak unprogressive springs.
There wasn't a company in the world that could sell me upgrade springs for my D-Tracker!! YSS suspension (Thailand) knew nothing, infact useless & could not help me. Racetech suspension (USA) didn't want to help me & we're pretty vague & unhelpful on emails on anything D-Tracker. No seller on ebay was prepared to guarantee their springs would fit a D-Tracker!!
John at Moto-pro (USA) was my last resort. He is super helpful on emails & spent weeks researching the spring sizes for my bike, based on the SF model in the US. He & I we're happy to take the gamble & his spring predictions for my bike, my weight & riding style were spot on! I bet he gets it right for you as well.
The new springs & clicker settings has given this bike a genuine very firm but progressively plush ride. It feels like a KTM or a Husky now!!! Jumping from my bike onto a standard original D-Tracker is absolutely night & day in comparison.....in fact it would be rude to compare them.
Your looking at about $90usd for the front fork springs & about $110usd for the rear spring & you wouldn't believe how well worth the upgrade is, as power is worth nothing without a great handling bike.
btw a compression tool is not needed to fit rear spring...just a heavy vice & 2 strong guys!! Hold the top of the shock with the vice & get 2 guys to pull the spring back (maybe less than 0.5cm in needed) & this makes it possible to catch the pre-load rings onto the thread & just start rotating like normal. Takes 10 minutes :thumbup:
FRONT fork springs:
First thing is to thank John at Moto Pro for getting me the perfect springs for my D-Tracker (SF).
Fitted the .52kg/mm fork springs about 5 months ago & they have stopped the diving & given me back the correct ride height & sag. Put some new 5wt oil in while the forks were off & set the clickers to 7 from firmest & it's actually quite a nice firm SuperMotard ride but a surprisingly comfortable plush ride over the bumpy stuff now as well.
I would recommend even with a lighter weight rider....maybe 180-190lbs a .48kg/mm would be good. A .50kg/mm for a 200-210lbs rider & a 0.52kg/mm for a 220+lbs rider. Ask John if you don't like my estimates!
These above spring will fit any D-Tracker (SF) perfectly. Any Kawasaki mechanic or good Thai mechanic can fit them in less than 2 hours including fork oil change....easy
Can't stop riding like a nutter at the moment with lots of slamming the brakes on!! For a 230lbs man, this makes for fast riding almost magical....finally the D-Tracker rides like a proper SuperMotard.
REAR shock spring:
This is a heavy duty rear spring for the SF.
It's a 7.4kg/mm & that's what John @ MotoPro recommended for me. I'm 235lbs & wanted a firm ride for fast SuMo road riding! It is not to hard for the record & still needed 1cm of pre-load ring winding on the spring to make it perfect for me.
Clicker settings are a personal thing....I think i added 4 extra clicks of harder compression & 6 extra clicks of harder rebound & bingo!
I wouldn't recommend getting less than 6.4kg/mm even for a light weight rider.
I think the angle of the linkage is different on the S to the SF which means the spring is harder of the SF, as there is more leverage etc....I think!! In fact there are probably only less than a handful of Japanese Kawasaki engineers on the planet that know all the spec differences between an S, SF & D-Tracker-X models. :crazy: .....that's why I let John do the calculations for me!!
This is the spring John sent me:
The original D-Tracker spring below, off my bike!
This spring has a very nice progressive feel & still absorbs the little bumps very well but comes into it's own when I start throwing the bike into undulating fast twisty corners. Feels fantastic & has great predictable handling. :thumbup:
Can actually have a normal sized pillion passenger on the back without having the bike sitting to low or bottoming out on bumpy corners anymore. :thumbup:
Kurb-hopping & jumping speed humps at 70+km/h is effortless. :thumbup:
Slamming on the brakes at 140km/h is now safe, predictable & easy......does not dive into the ground!! :happy2:
Anyone that has riden a stock D-Tracker knows the bike is like a bouncy castle with horrible spongy forks that dive into the ground like their made of jelly. The rear end can be beefed up by fully adjusting the pre-load rings & clickers but this still isn't enough for fast hard riding & makes the bike ride very bumpy/jittery when riding normally due to a over woundup rear spring. The forks & rear shock are quality KYB adjustable units but suffer from very weak unprogressive springs.
There wasn't a company in the world that could sell me upgrade springs for my D-Tracker!! YSS suspension (Thailand) knew nothing, infact useless & could not help me. Racetech suspension (USA) didn't want to help me & we're pretty vague & unhelpful on emails on anything D-Tracker. No seller on ebay was prepared to guarantee their springs would fit a D-Tracker!!
John at Moto-pro (USA) was my last resort. He is super helpful on emails & spent weeks researching the spring sizes for my bike, based on the SF model in the US. He & I we're happy to take the gamble & his spring predictions for my bike, my weight & riding style were spot on! I bet he gets it right for you as well.
The new springs & clicker settings has given this bike a genuine very firm but progressively plush ride. It feels like a KTM or a Husky now!!! Jumping from my bike onto a standard original D-Tracker is absolutely night & day in comparison.....in fact it would be rude to compare them.
Your looking at about $90usd for the front fork springs & about $110usd for the rear spring & you wouldn't believe how well worth the upgrade is, as power is worth nothing without a great handling bike.
btw a compression tool is not needed to fit rear spring...just a heavy vice & 2 strong guys!! Hold the top of the shock with the vice & get 2 guys to pull the spring back (maybe less than 0.5cm in needed) & this makes it possible to catch the pre-load rings onto the thread & just start rotating like normal. Takes 10 minutes :thumbup:
FRONT fork springs:
First thing is to thank John at Moto Pro for getting me the perfect springs for my D-Tracker (SF).
Fitted the .52kg/mm fork springs about 5 months ago & they have stopped the diving & given me back the correct ride height & sag. Put some new 5wt oil in while the forks were off & set the clickers to 7 from firmest & it's actually quite a nice firm SuperMotard ride but a surprisingly comfortable plush ride over the bumpy stuff now as well.
I would recommend even with a lighter weight rider....maybe 180-190lbs a .48kg/mm would be good. A .50kg/mm for a 200-210lbs rider & a 0.52kg/mm for a 220+lbs rider. Ask John if you don't like my estimates!
These above spring will fit any D-Tracker (SF) perfectly. Any Kawasaki mechanic or good Thai mechanic can fit them in less than 2 hours including fork oil change....easy
Can't stop riding like a nutter at the moment with lots of slamming the brakes on!! For a 230lbs man, this makes for fast riding almost magical....finally the D-Tracker rides like a proper SuperMotard.
REAR shock spring:
This is a heavy duty rear spring for the SF.
It's a 7.4kg/mm & that's what John @ MotoPro recommended for me. I'm 235lbs & wanted a firm ride for fast SuMo road riding! It is not to hard for the record & still needed 1cm of pre-load ring winding on the spring to make it perfect for me.
Clicker settings are a personal thing....I think i added 4 extra clicks of harder compression & 6 extra clicks of harder rebound & bingo!
I wouldn't recommend getting less than 6.4kg/mm even for a light weight rider.
I think the angle of the linkage is different on the S to the SF which means the spring is harder of the SF, as there is more leverage etc....I think!! In fact there are probably only less than a handful of Japanese Kawasaki engineers on the planet that know all the spec differences between an S, SF & D-Tracker-X models. :crazy: .....that's why I let John do the calculations for me!!
This is the spring John sent me:
The original D-Tracker spring below, off my bike!
This spring has a very nice progressive feel & still absorbs the little bumps very well but comes into it's own when I start throwing the bike into undulating fast twisty corners. Feels fantastic & has great predictable handling. :thumbup:
Can actually have a normal sized pillion passenger on the back without having the bike sitting to low or bottoming out on bumpy corners anymore. :thumbup:
Kurb-hopping & jumping speed humps at 70+km/h is effortless. :thumbup:
Slamming on the brakes at 140km/h is now safe, predictable & easy......does not dive into the ground!! :happy2:
