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Hi All
im new here and need some confirmation on local (in Holland) suspension work i had done on my CRF 450 2012.
i had the front and rear re-sprung and re-valved. they put a eibach .46 front and a 51 rear. ive had 3 days riding on them and have tried to dial them in (not my area of expertise ), my main concern is the race sag.
im getting 95mm race sag with 40mm static sag, (spring length 245mm) if i try to get 100mm the static is nearly 45mm to me this says it is to hard, the reply i got was that it is PERFECT???.
can anyone here help clarify please.
thanks in advance

You should have a 0.42/4.9 , 0.46/5.1 is too stiff if your a novice at 141 lbs , the bike stock is sprung for a 180 lbs rider with a 0.49/5.5 , it will beat you to death with the springs you have , and you won't be able to get the sag(rider/free) correct keeping the spring length in spec with the springs you have , the stiffest you would want is 0.44/5.0

JimDirt wrote:You should have a 0.42/4.9 , 0.46/5.1 is too stiff if your a novice at 141 lbs , the bike stock is sprung for a 180 lbs rider with a 0.49/5.5 , it will beat you to death with the springs you have , and you won't be able to get the sag(rider/free) correct keeping the spring length in spec with the springs you have , the stiffest you would want is 0.44/5.0

Thanks for the reply Jimdirt, and excuse the ignorant question im about to ask, the front forks blow through the stroke with only two centimeters of travel left even when im taking it easy and not jumping!, ?, i was told it was re-valved and oil height adjusted.

Could it be that it has a soft stack and low oil level to compensate for the front stiff spring ?, im guessing thats why it bottoms so easy, soft stack, low oil, stiff springs. am i right?

Rear, i wont get the right sag numbers anyway with stiff springs thats for sure.

im guessing thats the story im going to get, same for the rear.
Just trying to prepare for when i go back to the shop, really not cool when company's try to take advantage of customers with lesser knowledge

CRFDaffy wrote:

JimDirt wrote:You should have a 0.42/4.9 , 0.46/5.1 is too stiff if your a novice at 141 lbs , the bike stock is sprung for a 180 lbs rider with a 0.49/5.5 , it will beat you to death with the springs you have , and you won't be able to get the sag(rider/free) correct keeping the spring length in spec with the springs you have , the stiffest you would want is 0.44/5.0

Thanks for the reply Jimdirt, and excuse the ignorant question im about to ask, the front forks blow through the stroke with only two centimeters of travel left even when im taking it easy and not jumping!, ?, i was told it was re-valved and oil height adjusted.

Could it be that it has a soft stack and low oil level to compensate for the front stiff spring ?, im guessing thats why it bottoms so easy, soft stack, low oil, stiff springs. am i right?

Rear, i wont get the right sag numbers anyway with stiff springs thats for sure.

im guessing thats the story im going to get, same for the rear.
Just trying to prepare for when i go back to the shop, really not cool when company's try to take advantage of customers with lesser knowledge

p.s im riding medium to hardback

The springs should hold the bike up if they are correct for your weight , if the springs are stiffer , then it should hold the bike up even better , the oil level and valving is for comfort and the terrain type your riding

I re-valved (myself) my 450X basically with a Endurocross setup , its extremely plush , but the springs i use (i am over 200 lbs and bottom B,top C , and i am 55 going on 56) are a size stiffer for my weight and hold the bike up but the ride is still very plush without bottoming , and even with the springs you have the bike should not bottom , especially on flat or near flat terrain , so a inspection of the forks is necessary to make sure what going on in there

I would do a service on the forks and make sure what the oil level actually is , by draining the oil in the outer chamber and measuring it , it will not be 100% accurate as some oil will linger in the tubes , but it will be close enough to get a idea how many cc's are actually in there , while its apart you need to take the rebound rod , and compress it and make sure it returns out the the fully extended position , if it sucks back in , that might be the issue

If the Free Piston seal is bad it will affect the bottoming , as well as not enough oil in the outer chamber

Do you have the spec sheet on what was actually done ??