CT 125/trail Suspension upgrades

[m in sc]

As a follow up on the rear shocks from treatland..., I've had these on for a bit and have to say, they are doing really well even when we 2 upped the bike a few times. (see link).

Option for rear shock, not yss

Ordered a set of these from treatland, these guys are awesome to deal with (have used them for other stuff). have a set of these coming considering the YSS shocks i ordered have a non traceable tracking number.. which means i think i got screwed or they will show up in may or june. who knows...

hondatrail125.com

The set of YSS shocks i ordered also showed up but i haven't tried them yet, might not on this bike.

 

[Mick In VT]

Has anyone tried the replacement fork caps from Chimera available from Steady Garage? They supposedly increase the preload by compressing the fork springs. There is a video on YouTube

Quality seems very nice.

 

[G19Tony]

Has anyone tried the replacement fork caps from Chimera available from Steady Garage? They supposedly increase the preload by compressing the fork springs. There is a video on YouTube

Quality seems very nice.View attachment 2208

I ordered a pair of red ones today.

 

[SneakyDingo]

You made it one step further than I did . Mine's still in the bag. I'm waiting for it to stop raining so I can do some servicing.

 

[m in sc]

section of pcv pipe cut to length will do the same thing.. just fyi.

 

[SneakyDingo]

I was drunk shopping when I ordered those . Apparently I also added some rear suspension to cart, but forgot to click buy.

 

[Allhatnocattle]

anyone have a report of how install went and how these chimera fork caps change the ride? Just ordered some

 

[Mick In VT]

anyone have a report of how install went and how these chimera fork caps change the ride? Just ordered some

You may have already received and installed the Chimera fork caps by the time I’m writing, but, for future reference, the install was very easy. I had watched the YouTube install video (see above) and followed the advice of putting a piece of tape on the handlebars to protect against scratches. I chose the raw billet aluminum, and like how they look. The front end feels noticeably stiffer and seems like it doesn’t dive as much when I brake to a stop. I don’t know that I can make a good evaluation about any possible change in performance on rough roads- too many variables for me to form a strong opinion, but I have no regrets if it provides even a modest improvement.

 

[m in sc]

I bought he YSS fork kit that was for sale on here, installed it last night. is MUCH better than stock, especially in regards to reaction under braking. i didnt pull the fork tubes, i collapsed the stock ones and used a syringe to pull the old oil out, which was fine. put in the 15 wt oil and set the level to 140mm from the cap seat top with a motion pro fork level tool. dropped in the valve, spring, then washer and cap and was good to go. rode to work this morning, and to lunch and back, about 30 miles total. took maybe an hour to get it all done last night. I already have upgraded rear shocks, so its overall much better for my usage. just .02

 

[Tim]

I'm 6'2" 290#
HAD a 2020 Honda super cub..
Traded it off for a Rokon.
Reason why, is the suspension didn't work out for me.
Absolutely LOVED. The super cub
But now I'm thinking about getting the 125 trail.. but I'll most likely need to upgrade the front suspension.
Hopefully the trail will be better for me.

 

[Shoot870p]

I believe they are very different animals. I hope m in sc drops by soon on this one for sure.

 

[SneakyDingo]

I've never done a fork oil change. Is there a video on this?

anyone have a report of how install went and how these chimera fork caps change the ride? Just ordered some

I just did the cap install this morning. I also flipped the bar mount so it's in the forward position for taller riders so I just did it all at the same time since you have to remove the bars to do that.

 

[stopper]

Just got my Chimera fork caps from Steady Garage in today (in anodized black) and got them installed. All in all, super easy to do and the the finish/quality is great. That video linked above is basically all you need to know.

After 15 miles of test riding, I'd say it's not some massive night-and-day change, but it's definitely an improvement and I'm pleased with the reduced nose dive under braking. My fork distance measurement (from the bottom of the fork to the top of the steering stem also changed from 28 1/8" to 28 11/16", so a 9/16" increase in fork travel while still giving it more preload.

One thing to keep in mind... If you've already rotated your OEM handlebar riser/brackets 180 degrees from the stock position (to give you a little more leg room and and more comfortable reach), then you won't be able to get to the fork caps without unmounting your handle bar again. Not a big deal, but figure an extra 5-10 min of install time.

 

[stopper]

I should also mention that once I finished installing, I took picture and was excited to post here...but then I started looking at my own pictures, and then back at my bike, and then back at the pictures.
My fork caps were sitting 3/16" above the steering stem top plate!



I started thinking I was crazy and started googling photos to see if this was normal, because I've never modified the fork. and the service manual clearly shows that they should sit flush. I looked back at the photos I took the day I bought the bike and sure enough, the chrome bolts were floating above as well! So much for quality control.

So I had to loosen the 4 allen-head bolts holding the forks on and tap them down. This moved the gap to just above the dust boots so I had to loosen the top of them up and shimmy them up a tad. What a pain!

 

[SneakyDingo]

I installed mine. I was pretty happy with the lack of fork dive end result. But I wasn't as attentive so I gotta say great catch - I totally missed that even though as you say it's really explicit in the manual it needs to be flush. I went out and had a look at mine and it's the same, but probably the worse thing is that it's uneven - we're not talking crazy amounts here, feeler gauge sort of measurements instead of a ruler, but it's definitely not flush and not even on both sides. That's since been corrected.

RE: removing the handlebars to get to the caps after rotating the mounts, when you look at the torque involved with the 6mm hex bolts, the manual indicates it's a 27 Nm torque setting. I feel pretty ok with using my cordless drill on the lowest clutch setting to snug everything up and then tightening it with the torque wrench by hand after that.

 

[m in sc]

mine came right out w the bars in place. and yes, the clamp is reversed as well.

 

[SneakyDingo]

mine came right out w the bars in place. and yes, the clamp is reversed as well.

I don't have the sensitivity to use spanners and do it by hand, but that'd fit below the bars pretty easily. I guess I could use the ol luggage scales trick and some math.

I use a torque wrench instead. That definitely doesn't fit. Probably why they taped the bars - it's visible in the original Youtube video as the socket is taller than where the bars are in the normal position...


and it definitely won't fit on my bike with the mounts in the reversed position.

 

[m in sc]

yeah i just used a ratcheting box end wrench. no reason to throw a torque wrench on it, its an o ring seal, it just needs to be 'tight'.

 

[zigzagjoe]

Does anyone have the page from the manual describing the fork oil fill info/process? The suspension on the front seems incredibly soft. I've never dealt with care and feeding of telescopic forks so I'm a definite novice. I'm thinking it's just soft springs and lack of preload, but it'd be nice to verify.

I was able to confirm that the oil level was approximately an inch from the top of the shock when the caps were off and the shocks fully compressed. No idea if that is correct or not as I couldn't find anything similar to base a best guess on. At least it was equal on both sides, though the left shock was slightly higher in the clamp.

 

[SneakyDingo]

These two pages are in the CT125 manual. There's the full service manual which has a lot more information in it, but it also says something like this is common suspension with a design not super specific to Honda, so you can probably find a generic suspension process.

RE: preload, someone suggested cutting a small section of piping and putting it under the fork cap nuts to increase the preload, rather than buying the Chimera bolts. There's also some heavier duty springs that someone linked to elsewhere on the forum, and someone (possibly outside of the CT125 forum) also tried mixing 10W and 15W oil in equal parts to get better results out of their front suspension. Lots of interesting things being done.