Some encouraging news regarding progress legalising the bike. Received a copy of the excise paid certificate by email today, right on time as promised by the company. Also was informed that the bike is ready for its emissions test, great, so off she goes tomorrow morning to Bangkok by Logispost. So with 2-3 days mailing either side of the seven days they require the bike for the test, they promised the bike should be back with me 2/3rd May. I asked what if it fails (it being a carb bike and all that) and was told they have never had a bike fail, don't worry! Im not getting my hopes up and remaining optimistic, however I do feel it's going positively in that department, fingers crossed.
As the bike is ready for off-road use and I was waiting on the excise tax being finalised I spent some time sourcing parts to convert to Motard if required so I can join in some road trips.
After a lot of research I settled on a gearing ratio of 2.8. This is the combination of a 15 tooth front sprocket and a 42 rear. This should give me a nice cruising speed of around 130km/h @ 7,000 rpm. Peak power stock on the WR is around 8,250 which relates to 152 km/h. I believe the engine limit is 10,500. So im hoping this will give a nice smooth ride, accelerating and cruising. If not I have a selection of sprockets that came with the bike - 47/50 rear and 13/14 front, so plenty to juggle around until a nice compromise is found. This website is great if your thinking about changing sprockets on your bike, it tells you all sorts of relevant information. It even tells you how many links of chain is required for your particular bike/gearing combination.
http://www.gearingcommander.com/
I found a set of 17" Supermoto spoked wheels on ebay. Black Rims and blue hubs should go nice with the bike. I tried for alloys for the added benefit of the Cush Drive, these are better for reducing wear throughout your drive train when changing gear/throttling etc, spoked wheels do not have these. The rear wheel was offered in two different sizes, width wise. 4.25" or 5.00". Now 5.00" wheels will fit and I think this goes for most dirt bikes but you have to factor in consideration for the chain rubbing on the side wall. There are chain blocks/guides you can buy to deflect the interference, you can also dish the wheel which is a process of loosening off one side of the spokes a certain amount and equally tightening the opposite side to off-set the wheel and hub. Also different tyre manufacturers have different profiles for the same sizes depending on the tread/carcass etc. I all seems too much of a hassle so I went with the 4.25", quarter of an inch wont be missed (thats what she said anyway!).
Here's a handy link to rims sizes and tyre applications:-
http://www.dropbears.com/u/utilities/tyrerim.htm
I settled for Pirelli Supercorsa SC2's. 120/70-17 front and 150/60-17 rear to compliment the rims. Never tried these before but have heard great things about them. These are more track/fast road orientated so should provide good grip (in dry conditions off-course). I really wanted to give the new Angel ST's a go but unfortunately they don't have the required sizes in stock, but they were kind enough to order some for me which will take a while. I hear the Angels are a great touring tyre that will give good grip in all road conditions with a good life.
Finally and most importantly I made an effort to upgrade the brakes as there will be a lot more forces being applied than off-road. The stock front rotor is 250mm diameter and ive increased this to a 320mm EBC rotor. I read that the diameter doesn't make a difference to stopping power, only heat dissipation and feel, I agree with the last two benefits but the first one thats just nonsense. If you apply mathematics, force x distance(radius) = Torque, which simply put the same force (braking pressure from the pads to the disc) applied at 160mm from the centre point (fulcrum) will be greater than that of 125mm. And as mentioned earlier because of the greater surface area there will be better heat dissipation reducing brake fade. I also got a fresh set of brake pads to swap over with the front rotors. I don't think its a good idea to use the same pads with different rotors.
I went for a spin off-road on some simple trails the other day just to get a feel for the new suspension settings. I had to add a fair bit of pre-load to the rear (ok i like Thai food and beer). I thought i might have had to order a stronger spring but it all worked out fine. The front forks were good when I received the bike but the rear was far too soft. The bike sank almost immediately when you sat on it, even for a small local fella I think this would have been way out. It would have been more like a Viking rowing boat than a dirt bike off-road, sea sickness tablets required.
So it felt pretty good. Still a long way from it being just right (is there such a thing with suspension!). I enjoy messing with suspension, there is definitely some satisfaction in feeling the difference you've just made from a few clicks here and there. I will say though, and forgive me again if im teaching some to suck eggs, its of the utmost importance to set your sag correctly before messing with rebound/compression. There is an excellent book which i have from Racetech "Motorcycle Suspension Bible". It covers everything you need to know and their methods are precise and clear. Suspension is an area where many bikers neglect and is an area which can make the biggest impact on your ride. I use to ride a gixxer thou a Bira for fun, after the track if I didn't ease of the front rebound/compression it use to rattle my teeth out on the way home and were only talking 2-3 three clicks difference!
Below is the Racetech book. If anyone would like to borrow it or needs a hand setting their sag I'd be glad to lend it out or help set your suspension, no worries.
The mess below it is the sheet of paper I used to set the sag, aye i doesn't make much sense to me now either!
There was an area when setting up my sag that I wasn't aware of, or rather I thought didn't make much of a difference but it does and it can also indicate problems with your suspension. If you compress your front forks and slowly release, take the measurement and compare it with raising the forks and slowly releasing, you will get two different dimensions. This is called the "stiction zone". On a dirt bike this can be anywhere between 10-25mm depending on your model. The WR came out at 10mm. Now you can see by only measuring one way you could be out by 25mm when setting up your sag which is quite a lot. The average of the two gives you a more accurate reading when calculating it all out.