This guide is intended to be a supplement to the factory manual, not a replacement for it. The factory manual is needed for proper torque specs and for any bike-specific procedures. When in doubt, please consult a qualified professional mechanic.

The first requirement is to have all the weight off the front wheel. If you have a centerstand, put the bike on it and jack up under the engine, so that the front wheel is off the ground. If your bike doesn’t have a centerstand, use a rear stand in conjunction with the type of front end stand that lifts from under the steering head.

1)Remove the calipers, front wheel, fender and anything else that’s attached to the forks.

2)If you have standard handlebars, unbolt them from the top triple clamp and move them forward. No need to remove any of the grips, cables or wires. If you have clip-on style bars loosen the clip-on pinch bolt(s) and any bolts that hold them to the upper triple. If they can be pulled off the fork tube, do so.

From here, do one side at a time, and the order of events is important.

3) Back the preload adjuster, if any, all the way out. If the forks have air caps, bleed the pressure.
4) Loosen the top triple bolt.
5) Remove the fork cap. Careful, there's going to be some force from the spring preload trying to pop the cap up.
6) Loosen the bottom triple clamp bolts and slide the fork leg out.
7) Remove the spring, spacer and any washers.
8) Dump the old oil, pumping the fork leg while it's inverted to make sure you've got all of it out. Refill, making sure you pump the fork through it's full stroke a few times to get all the air out of the bottom of the fork.
9) Cut the spacers. (see Note A)
10) Set the fork oil level.(Level is defined as the distance between the top of the fork tube and the top of the oil in the tube, and is set with the spring and spacer out, forks collapsed. Because of the way it’s measured, a smaller number means more oil.) A handy item for this is a turkey baster. Measure the desired distance from the tip up and mark that spot with a Sharpie or a piece of tape. Make sure that there’s a little more oil than needed in the tube, then align the mark with the top of the fork tube and suck any excess out. Put in the new spring, the washer that came with it, the spacer and the stock washer, if any. (see Note B.)
11) Re-install, reverse order as disassembly. Just be careful when putting the fork cap back on, they're easy to cross-thread.
12) Double check all bolts, and make sure to pump up the front brake before riding.

NOTE A: Cutting spacers

The purpose of the spacers is to provide the proper amount of pre-load on the springs. In general, street bikes need about ¾” of pre-load, assuming that the spring rate is correct for the weight of the bike and rider. So the question is, how do we determine the right length for the spacer?
Take the fork cap, and if it has a pre-load adjustment, set it in the middle. Now measure the depth of the cap from the bottom to the base of the portion that sits against the top of the fork tube. Include any stock washer that will sit on top of the spacer. Basically we’re measuring the length of the portion that fits inside the fork tube.
Say for example that this length is 2”. If we cut the spacer so that with the spring, washer and spacer installed it came up flush with the top of the fork tube, when we installed the fork cap the spring would be compressed 2”. Too much. So we need to cut the spacer shorter to get the proper pre-load. In this case 1 ¼” shorter. Easiest way to measure this is to put the spring, washer and uncut spacer in the extended fork leg. Mark the spacer tube even with the top of the fork tube. Pull the spacer out and measure 1 ¼” down from the mark. Mark and cut from that point. Now, when you put the spring, washer and spacer in, the top of the spacer should be 1 ¼” below the top of the fork tube. When the fork cap is installed, the 2” section inside the fork tube will compress the spring ¾”. Voila, correct pre-load!! Just make sure you use the right numbers for you, not the ones in this example. Also, back the adjuster all the way back out before re-installing the fork cap, to make it easier to get the threads started. Re-set the adjuster to the middle position after everything is bolted back up.

NOTE B: Oil level

Oil level is difficult to give blanket advice on. Some bikes work best with the stock level, some benefit from less, others are better with more. A general rule is to set it fairly close to the amount of travel that the forks have. Most street bikes have 4.5 - 5 inches of travel, (about 115 - 130mm) so an oil level in that range works for most bikes. Some are different though; For example, the Kawasaki Concours uses a level of 150mm with our springs. If you have a question about your specific application, please e-mail us.