KLE 500 - Front fork oil change?
 

Hi guys,

This week I've made my first trip with the KLE. I'm still away from home so no photos for now.
It runs just fine, enough grunt for 2-up with allit panniers, top box and the whole kit, but I've that the front fork is really soft, which doesn't really help when highway riding...
So I've been thinking of changing fork spring and oil to make it a little better... But I don't know wether this will help that much. Given that I don't have the money (nor the desire) to substitute the whole fork... What do you guys think? Has any of you tried the same? Am I expecting too much from the poor bike?

Also, I'd like to change the preload of the rear spring, but it doesn't look as though it can be done by hand or with the tools I have... Is the special tool necessary or can it be done with some tool tweaking? If the first one... Where can I buy it?

Thanks for reading :)

Hi Bloowitt,

I Dunno about the fork stuff as Ive not come to looking at that yet.

As for the rear shock, Just get a flat screw driver and a hammer and knock it up to the maximum. Dont bother with the other stops but go to the top notch coz the back of the KLE is way to soggy.

Be sure to cover the end of the screw driver with something to stop it digging in the shock.

It will ride much better once you get that shocker up, even more so if your touring with 2 up.

Hope this helps?.



Roy:thumbup1:

You could try putting some air into the forks - I know they are meant to be run at atmospheric pressure but I have heard others have done so, cheap also you just need a bicycle pump.

exactly there is no need to change oil in fork, just input some air in fork..you will find pipes like one on tyres on top of the fork...you must be sure to put same air pessure in both fork but you can mesaure it with air pressure meter, I cant find exactly what pressure should be maybe you will find it in service manual?

air pressure
 

hi the manual says 0 kpa/adjustable.
i have tryed to put on pages from cd manual but cant do it
if i can figure out how i wil put on
hope this helps
any other help needed and i will look to see if it is on manual
nmc

Hi!

Thanks for the replies, and sorry for not coming back earlier, but my router died and I've been pretty much offline.

The manual basically says that air pressure on the forks shouldn't be messed with, but it looks as if lots of people have done it and their bikes haven't exploded... Should have a look at it.

Anyhow, truth is that once I changed the rear preload, the bike feels much more stable and rebounds less on the front end (I was travelling at preload setting 2 with a pillion and allit boxes, so you can figure how much fun I had...), so I'm not really in any hurry to change anything now, and can look more into it. Will post if I end up changing springs and oil.

Apart from that, I guess I'll have to replace the broken sidestand switch, if just to keep the warranty, so the money is going into that first...

i have the kle repair manual but I could not find any information about adjusting the front fork air pressure.

The is the air pressure range for the forks?

The previous owner of my kle has modified the air presure. How can I restore the pressure to factory settings?

The manual sais it 0kpa ... does this mean it is void?

Thanks!

adiroiban, I think what the manual says is "0 kpa adjustable", which means you should adjust it at about atmospherical +-0 kPa , which, really, isn't that much of an ample range;)

I don't know how to reset it, but maybe just having the valves open would stabilize it at atmospheric pressure. You know, doing this at your own risk, as I'm not sure.

I have `reset` the forks by puting it on a rear stand and then releasing all air.

After that the forks were very soft and the seat lower with about 2 centimeters.

But they were to soft for city comuting so I have set them to 1 bar. The bike is againt taller but it does not go over from when breaking or changing gears.

I changed the fork springs with progressive ones. :thumbup1: Totally different riding now.

Anyone of you guys fat bastards like myself? 95kg of lard arse... If so, some spring recommendations would be great...

Cheers
Ian