Fork spring replacement

Progressive Suspension replacement fork springs

I replaced my stock Quota fork springs with the often recommended Progressive Suspension 11-1141 springs. I also switched to 10 weight fork oil. Wow, what a difference! I never really thought I had a problem with the stock springs, but I like the Progressive Suspension springs much better (glad I ordered them on a whim!). The front-end dive upon braking is greatly reduced and the Quota corners much better.

Here is the (very easy) replacement procedure:

• Jack up the motorcycle so that the front wheel is off the ground.
• Remove the front wheel (this step isn't completely necessary, but it keeps the oil from getting all over the front wheel).
• Drain the existing fork oil. Be sure to put a large drain pan under forks as the fluid will come out in an arc due to the position of the drain plugs on the front of the forks.
• Remove the large cap nuts from the top of the triple tree.
• Remove the preload spacers and withdraw the springs. Notice that the Guzzi springs are installed with the close wound portion to the bottom.
• Slide the new springs in. Note that the Progressive Suspension springs are to be installed with the close wound portion to the top.
• Put the drain plugs back in and fill with fork oil. I went with the Guzzi recommended volume, but switched to 10 weight.
• Adjust preload to your liking. I found that the stock black plastic preload spacer (45 mm in length) plus the addition of one standard ¹⁄₂ inch washer (has a thickness of 0.1 inch) worked very well for me.

I purchased these springs from Motorcycle Accessory Warehouse.

The following tips came from Paul Bonneau:

• Unlike what Greg says, I did not take the wheel off. Instead I put plastic on the wheel and cooked up some cardboard box thing to catch the oil spurts. And still got some on the brake rotor and tire. After changing the oil I finally figured out how I *should* have done the job. That is, just tape a plastic bag around the fork leg, like a sock on a foot. Bottom of the sock hangs down into the oil pan. Reach up inside to remove the screw, and then pump away. Should all go into the pan. Next time...
• I taped up the jaws on my big crescent wrench before applying it to those tube nuts. With age comes wisdom, or in my case, lots of experience dinging up large nuts. I avoided it this time.
• I measured to the top of the stock spring (with the spacer out), then did the same with the new spring in. It was 0.71 inch shorter. Since I wanted to lower the front end anyway, I used only the stock spacer. By measuring the screw cap length I determined that that would give me exactly 0 preload (with fork at full extension everything would be touching but the spring would have no compression). I assumed that, given roughly equal spring rates from stock, I would lower the front end 0.7 inch, and that's exactly what it did. Another big plus for me. I realize this gets me 0.7 inch further into the available travel.
• Oh, by the way, when the forks were empty of oil and springs I moved the wheel up and down in its travel. If the travel is supposed to be 6.7 inch as bikez.com says, then it appears the fender will hit the pipes coming out of the brake union before that 6.7 inch is taken up. I'm thinking I will tilt these back some when I replace my brake fluid.
• Well, there actually is one drawback. What with the preload I have removed from front and rear, the kickstand is getting iffy and the center stand is a bear to use. I will look at shortening these. Again, well worth it since I can now reasonably get my feet on the ground. I knew I would have to deal with them some day.

Sonic Springs replacement fork springs

Sonic Springs has two replacement springs, each with a different straight-rate compression. The kg/mm values simply indicate the weight (force) necessary to compress the springs a given distance. The folks at Sonic Springs are very helpful and started carrying Quota specific springs just because one Quota rider was interested. Be sure to give them a call if you don't know exactly what you want.

• 0.95 kg/mm, part number 60S-095
• 1.00 kg/mm, part number 60S-100