Hyperpro Fork Springs

First topic message reminder :

Hi on the day I bought my Silverwing I noticed in the receipts etc it had Hyperpro fork springs fitted.

I thought great, saves me a few bob etc.

But where we live its the roads from hell, all potholes and uneven etc etc so its always been a struggle with these springs reacting in too hard a way.

As I`m mainly on these type of roads I was going to pop 10w oil in to see if that helps and the chap who was going to do it for me, bit with me, thought its much better to pop some std springs in for the best results. I rarely get over 55/60 these days on mainly very back roads.

I agreed but I simply can not find any 2nd hand std springs, been looking for a year.

I`ve had great advice on how to do the forks etc if I can just get my hands on some std springs in the UK ( where I am ) or even Europe.

The Hyperpro`s are superb if you get on to even half decent roads and push the SW but I just need the older type to go in.

Be handy if I could find someone who wants to upgrade theirs and do a spring swap.

I`ve been offered a set of forks for £150 ( way beyond me at the moment ) plus quite a bit of post or a long drive but the chap can`t say if there are std springs in there so too pricey a risk.

Has anyone tried the Hyperpo`s with thinner oil or does anyone know anyone this way who fancies a set so would do a swap please.

Or does anyone have any std springs on the shelf they might like to just turn in to Hyperpro ones. I`d cover costs etc and even chuck in a few bob as thanks.

Thanks for the help etc.

I used a small 16" pry-bar with a curved and very sharp 12mm chisel end to tap out the races; They are more difficult to access than on the motorcycles that I have also changed bearings on as the steering head seems to be quite a lot longer
.

Change the fork oil first. Hyperpro is a 20W that comes with the spring kit. Fork oil viscosity is very different between manufacturers find a high quality synthetic oil 10w or 15w and you can even mix them to another viscosity as long as they are same brand.

Hyperpro is all spring no spacers where as OE springs have about 3-4 inch spacer on top longer spring is better.

I might be doing this tomorrow- I have Amsoil Shock Therapy in 5 weight (my brother swears by this stuff in his Vmax), which I used on my 2000 ST1100 recently (and it rides/ handles very well even on OEM springs). I have a second quart for the SWing. I want better handling and less crashing but don’t want it riding too harsh. I’ll report in after I have a chance to try it on a longer trip (like the first 150 miles or so).

Just an update- thanks to all on the forum- did a little reading in different threads, and installed the fork springs today- took about 2 hrs start to finish (didn’t rebuild the forks as the bike only has 9956 miles on it), and the fluid was clear red without the ‘glitter’ indicative of bushing wear. My new springs were as others have said a little longer that the OEM ones, so spacer was left out and I used the Amsoil 5 weight fluid. It went well and was straightforward. I can have the forks off in ~ 30 minutes, so I didn’t do the steering head bearings. There’s no notchiness in turning the front wheel with the wheel suspended, so I’ll keep the bearings for a future change. Some here have indicated the tapered rollers didn’t make too much of a difference on the SWing -they were useful, however, on the ST1100, as that bike had a decent deceleration wobble, so both STs have the tapered bearings- on the ST-Owners.com site, people who do that swap torque the bearings to 20 ft-lbs, loosen, then just finger tight due to the ‘wedge effect’ of the tapered bearings (I did that with mine and the bikes handle well without wobble or weaving). If it’s nice tomorrow, I’ll post how it went with the new springs and 5 weight fluid.

Thanks for all the help!

OK, one last statement about the HyperPro springs. I took the scooter for about 100 miles today and all is well despite using 5W fork fluid. It now rides very well, does not crash on bumps, handles very well, and overall, I’m very pleased with the performance now. It actually feels like my ST1100 on the road. That one has Progressive suspension. For the price ($169) it’s not a bad upgrade at all.

I'm happy you like the improvement with springs and oil. Old oil thickens with age and use, and new oil can make huge improvement all by itself.

Amsoil 5W is very similar in viscosity to Honda SS7-8 fork oil or Showa who makes Honda fork oil. Oil is measured at two different viscosities.

Amsoil 5w 4.4 at 40C and 15.9 at 100C. Honda SS7-8 3.76 at 40C and 16.44 at 100C very close in viscosity to OEM oil.