Not some half-fast fix like a longer spacer! The springs in the forks on the 99 I'm riding most often lately (not the chopper) are sagging so bad I only have a couple of inches of rebound on them; then it's THUD as they bottom out!

I even tried swapping out the seemingly much better springs from the old 87 that I seldom ride, and they sagged too once installed on the 99... I really don't understand that one, as everything seemed to measure the same (except I had no scale to actually measure the actual spring rate of all involved):



But why would the springs which stood tall in the 87, suddenly sag like the others when installed in the 99s tubes?

I'm tempted to use the old "stretch-the-springs" with a come-along trick I resorted to on my old Kawasaki dirt bike when I was a kid. As I recall, I stretched them too much (like 6") and had so much pre-load that I almost never got the fork caps pressed down to get the threads to catch.

There's got to be an easier/better way???  

Has nobody ever contacted Progressive to see if they have something already in stock that we could substitute? Or would it require that they (or someone) be convinced to make a specific spring(s) for the LS-650?

If bottoming out is your problem then I'd put in thicker oil.

Did you change the oil when you swapped springs?

Some have said the oil viscosity drops after awhile.

general rule of thumb for springs

if it has the same wire diameter and the same number of coils... it's the same spring rate.  Now you can have different preloads with different overall lengths.

Springs with less coils have stiffer rates.
Springs with larger diameter wire have stiffer rates.
Springs with less coils don't last as long.

verslagen1 wrote on 07/11/09 at 10:51:44:


Yup I made sure I had the proper amount of "fork oil" in them... But I went cheap and just put some Dexron ATF off my shelf in them. I've run expensive fork oil and ATF in the same forks several different times over the years, and frankly, I've never been able to tell much difference!

And this bike is sagging so bad I'd probably have to put 90w gear oil in the forks to keep them from bottoming!  

  Heavier oil makes the compression stiffer than what it changes rebound  must be smaller holes in the compression part of the damping.

from your phpto you appear to be within the sevice limi of15.45"
any shorter then replace..
to refresh:
no scuffing on the inner tube sliding surface
no wear on the damper rod ring and oil lock piece,damper rod torqued to 18 > 25.5 ft lbs
use of oem fork oil seal installer(#09940-50112)
14.91 oz(441ml) #15 fork oil
ssm"when adjusting oil level,remove the fork spring and compress the inner tube fully"
"hold the front fork vertical and adjust the fork oil level with the special tool" (#09943-74111)
large pitch end of the spring on the bottom

hope this helps    T.C.

Gold Bond Presents,,,,,, Newest Concept of Measuring Instruments...


Its a Yard stick, man, from When? For that to be "a New Concept" it would be a pretty old stick, now wooden it?

just a guess: have you compared the tripple trees?

Adding more fork oil as serenity3743 suggests is a pretty good idea (in moderation of course) and will definitely increase the air-spring effect without having to install Schrader valves or anything.  

But I think the best way to go is to install some race-tech cartridge emulators.  Those add a modest 1/2" of preload and allow you to dial in as much compression dampening as you want, and you can control the rebound dampening independently by the oil weight.  I'm pretty sure the emulator kit #  FEGV-S3801 works for the Savage's 38mm forks.. but check.