A couple of FXR Q's

[BIGBOPPA]

1. Will it make much of a difference to the handling of the bike to put a set of shocks on that are 1" longer than stock? Will it affect the rake angle much or is it negligible? I ask because I have a friend that has a NIB set of progressives that are made for a '92 FXR that he is offering me for a song. Mine is an '86 FXR, and the late model and early model FXR's have the shocks mounted in a different spot at the top, and there is a 1" difference in stock lengths.
2. Is it possible to upgrade the wheel bearings to the later model sealed bearings, and if so, is it a job worthwhile doing or not?
Thanks for any advice.

[plugeye]

Originally Posted by BIGBOPPA

1. Will it make much of a difference to the handling of the bike to put a set of shocks on that are 1" longer than stock? Will it affect the rake angle much or is it negligible? I ask because I have a friend that has a NIB set of progressives that are made for a '92 FXR that he is offering me for a song. Mine is an '86 FXR, and the late model and early model FXR's have the shocks mounted in a different spot at the top, and there is a 1" difference in stock lengths.
2. Is it possible to upgrade the wheel bearings to the later model sealed bearings, and if so, is it a job worthwhile doing or not?
Thanks for any advice.

1" is extreme for your model, but it might surprise you and work well. if its too much you can add some preload to your forks to compensate. worth a shot, as its sure to quicken the turning.

the stock tapered wheel bearings are excellent imo. nothing against sealed bearings, but the stockers when cared for will last & last. sealed dont require the maintenance, but are usually overlooked & forgotten as a maintenance item.
for non-sealed i inspect, clean & repack the bearings at every tire change. good practice, cheap insurance & peace of mind.
with sealed bearings, make sure you use a little anti-seize or grease on the hard surfaces & axles, they oxidize/ corrode slightly making it difficult to remove the axles & bearings when replacement is due.

[ripp13]

I have a 86 fxr as well.....i put a 1" longer set of konis on the back.....didnt seem to affect the handling at all......just made it sit up a bit higher....ie more ground clearance....rode it like that for about 10 yrs then decided that I wanted the lower stance look so I fabed up some new lower shock mounts and moved them back...moved them so far back so that it ended up being lower than wot it was std.... Have done lots of mods over the 20 so yrs i have owned this bike....if you want to know more you can e-mail me....ripp13@hotmail.com.....or mob 0417006542 I am in oz as well

cheers ripp

[POPS87FXR]

1st which progressives? if they are the 418's or 440's and 1 inch more lift is ok with you, go for it, if they are 412's and you are already running Koni's you may be trading down.

As to the sealed bearings, there is a good upgrade kit available through Drag specilties, to convert you current wheels.(easiest and cheapest)

If you are talking about going to a set of sealed bearing wheels, like I did here is the set up;

Rear is a bolt in as far as spacing goes, remember you current pulley and roter will need the center hole opened up .240 to clear the lip on '00 and later HD wheels or go with '00 ones. Measure the distance and put in the correct length spacer, if I rember right it is a 3/4 on the pulley side and 1/4 on the rotor side.

Front is another story. You can uses old style wheels in new front ends but not he other way around unless it is a wide glide, as the inside distance between the legs is too small for the wheel to fit correctly,as you cannot space the older calipers.

I switched my legs over to a set of '03 FXDX tubes and calipers, or you can just change out the lowers.

Now I do not run a speedo on my bike so the fact that there is not a cutout in the rotor was not a deal for me.

I have done this for another guy who wanted his to have a speedo so I ground a cutout in his new rotor. we then found the correct drive unit as far as thickness went and carefully (very carefully) rebent the lock tab to fit the cutout. measure the distance and turned a set of spacers on the lathe.

Or you could go to a Dakota Digatal speedo with the pick up mounted on the pulley side of the rear wheel where it counts the number of times the pulley bolts pass it. If I was to ever clutter up my bike with a speedo again this is what I would do.

You could also just run a tach and use the rpms to judge speed, on my FXR 2000 in second is 20 mph (school zone) 5th gear 3000 is 70 mph.

Remember any project is possible given the correct amounts of time, effort, determination and money, not nessacerly in that order.

You can email me at connieandjd@yahoo.com if you want to.

[BIGBOPPA]

Originally Posted by ripp13

I have a 86 fxr as well.....i put a 1" longer set of konis on the back.....didnt seem to affect the handling at all......just made it sit up a bit higher....ie more ground clearance....rode it like that for about 10 yrs then decided that I wanted the lower stance look so I fabed up some new lower shock mounts and moved them back...moved them so far back so that it ended up being lower than wot it was std.... Have done lots of mods over the 20 so yrs i have owned this bike....if you want to know more you can e-mail me....ripp13@hotmail.com.....or mob 0417006542 I am in oz as well

cheers ripp

G'day Ripp,
I dont care about the sitting higher bit, it is just the handling I wasnt sure about, as lifting the back higher would affect your rake angle I should imagine. The main reason I like the FXR is for its superior handling and dont want to compromise that in any way.
Hows things up there in Qld at the moment? we are having really unseasonal weather down hewre the last few weeks, mid spring and we have been having winter temperatures and snow in places where it has never snowed before, even in winter!!! GD sure is weird!.

[Homesick]

Man, I don't know if this'll help, but I usually hear about handling being hurt by lowering a bike from stock. Never heard good or bad about raising one.

joe