The upper fork bushes were worn
Compression damping shims and valves
Shims and piston pulled apart for custom tuning caps and , once the oil has drained , pulls each leg apart . After chatting about what can be done to improve the forks , Dennis and Robert decide they can upgrade the pistons to 25mm midvalve items and fit their R3 compression tune for the shims , a spec they developed back then . After Dennis casts his eagle eye over the internals he says the lower bushes are fine , but the upper bushes are worn - due to Aprilia spec ’ ing the cheaper steel rods rather than the anodised aluminium items . To stop it happening again , Dennis polishes the rods so they create less friction - for less future wear . It ’ s knowledge like this that makes the difference in fork life and performance . With the forks rebuilt , Robert runs them through his shock dyno to test the performance
of the new mid-valves . Turns out , the spec needs bolstering as it ’ s lost some compression support - so they pull them apart again to add a # 20 shim between the # 22 and # 18 shims . Another cycle through the dyno and Robert ’ s happy with the damping and the response from the clickers . So , the springs go back in and the air gap is set - 110mm with the springs in place .
SHOCKINGLY HARSH While Dennis has been fettling the forks , Hayden Fitzgerald ( an ex-NZSBK rider ) is put in charge of servicing and improving the rear Ohlins suspension unit . According to the numbers , the spring is the standard one supplied by Aprilia , but Hayden wants to check for sure . Their spring tester lets them measure each coil / spring to make sure it meets its rating spec . Hayden
30 KIWI RIDER