New Crosstourer owner Suspension question K-tec valves with hyperpro springs

[linkomthsed]

Hi,

I'm a new owner of a 2018 highlander crosstourer and trying to sort out its suspension to upgrade it to deal with my overweight self (150KG). so far Its got a hyperpro rearshock with external res built to my weight for the rear which worked wonderful and is no longer to soft. the issue i have is the frount which was very stiff and harsh to start with so i went with K-tec valves with hyerpro springs as per recommendations of leask racing who I'm working with however, to my shock somehow its now even stiffer and worse. I have also got someone else to ride to who is lighter then me as i though maybe i was just siting at the lower end of the progressive fork and would get better once i have lost weight but found the same result but had a much better way of wording it. in his words "its like a wizard has hidden the non-existent compression dial and set it to 100 clicks hard"

What i wanted to see is if anyone here has done the same combo of K-tec valves + hyperpro springs and had the same result ?

For me i feel this upgrade should have done the opposite result but then i don't really know what I'm talking about as i have no experience in this area and have never once had to change the suspension on any bike i've had in the past. It just leads me to thinking maybe the k-tec valves don't like the springs or the springs don't like the k-tec reccomended oil or something is wrong with one of the parts. The bikes booked back in with leask racing on the 8th of June to put the stock springs back in to see if that makes any difference.

[CiprianStoica]

I am about to install k-tech valves in my forks in the next few days. I will let you know how things will go and if I get the same feedback with the stock springs. Hopefully not, as I was looking to eliminate the stiffness of the standard valves and not increase it.

One thing comes to my mind, according to some k-tech documentation the oil level with the valves should be 150mm, which means 2cm less oil than standard and even less than the hyperpro recommended level which I think is 125mm from the top. Maybe this is worth checking.

[thetrecker]

Hi,
any report on this post please?

Tom

[CiprianStoica]

I did manage to install the K-Tech valves eventually. I asked K-tech about the installation instructions but they refused, saying that only an authorized center can install them. I searched online for some installation documentation for KYB forks and found some documents I can upload if needed.

Long story short, I disassembled the forks, and removed the cartridge and the pistons, for that, you would need a cartridge holder and a vice in order to hold it as you unscrew the pistons. I struggled with just a vise and I managed to scratch some parts of the piston but the problem is it took way too much effort as I couldn't secure the piston and keep it from spinning. Also, a cartridge holder tool would be great, but I think you can improvise that easily.

I installed the piston kit with Loctite thread locker along with the supplied needles. Assembled the pistons.
Now comes the tricky part, I found two files for the SSK piston kits, one saying that I should shorten the rebound adjuster rod (the plain pipe that pushes the rebound needle) by 1.5mm and another one saying that I should leave it stock. This last file seemed older that the first, so I shortened the rod by ~1.5mm (make sure that both are the same length - as a personal opinion, I don't think shortening is actually necessary).
Both files specified 150mm as oil height so I just did it like that. I also changed the seals, bushings, and cap o-rings.

I didn't want to buy K-tech oil so I brought Motul Factory Line 5W which seems to be at around the same density.

Results:
I am actually really impressed. It's way better than stock, that's for sure. Compression still feels on the harder side, but nonetheless, it's better and rebound dampening is really effective now. I would say that for road and touring use it's actually a good setup. As I also offroad from time to time, I would like it to be a bit softer and use more of the available fork travel but I'm not looking back.

Hope it helps

[thetrecker]

Thank you Ciprian Stoica,
Interesting that you fitted 5w oil and it still feels on the harder side. I fitted 15w oil and hyperpro springs ( the oil was in the spring kit) and it is on the harder side too. I had Motul 10w at hand when I was doing the job and wondered about using it but thought Hyperpro knew more than me.

Tom

[CiprianStoica]

I considered that the new valves are made to work with K-Tech oil so I found something similar in density.

I don't think that, in these conditions, the standard oil spec and oil height still apply so that made me think that Motul 5w is the way to go.