Progressive Front Install

Progressive Front Install

Member Since 1999

Dial a Ride, Installing a set of front Progressive springs

Story and photos by

Andy Cohen

The KLR 6-Fitty is a good all around bike as long as you don't expect too much from in the way of suspension performance. There is a reason for this and it is not the bikes fault, unfortunately some 145lb Japanese engineer decided that all Americans either are between 145 -165lbs or should be.

I don't know about you but I am not even on the same planet as 165 and 145 is another galaxy. What is a big guy do to? Pfftt, call Progressive Suspension of course. Now being big isn't the only reason to place a call to Progressive, getting a handle on the handling of your ride is another good reason to call, or if you plan to ride around the world or a better part of it (like a certain guy and dog I know).

There are ways of rebuilding your factory shock and adding a better spring but you still have the factory shock. The Progressive rear shock is an aluminum bodied coil over that can completely transform how your bike handles. I performed the surgery on the rear and front of my bike and it took a little over 3 hours. It can be done faster but I kept stopping to take pictures and answer the phone. I have noticed now that I have put over 400 miles on the new Progressive Suspension that it takes a bit of getting used to, the bikes handles very differently (better) and is much more predictable.

I had gotten used to the vague front suspension jumping around when pushed to its limits in severe cornering and had only recently figured out where the bike would wind up. That has all changed now and riding two-up is even easier and more comfortable.

I have also noticed I am now a better off road rider, because I am such a novice I was having to do double work to make up for the bikes shortcomings, now I just point and shoot. The bike handling characteristics in the dirt are much better behaved than before thus I have to do less work allowing me to concentrate more on the terrain and less about where the bike will go. It is nice not to have to muscle a 400 pound bike around just to make it go where I want.

Because the suspension is firmer than stock the ride off road is much improved as well, used to be if I hit a berm while turning, the bike's front suspension merely collapsed and caused the bike to wash out. Now with the new Progressive's both front and rear are far less abusive to the rider. The main benefit is being able to ride longer without being so sore. Remember, I'm not a kid anymore and I'll be the first to admit not in the best shape.

Before you start spending money on radiator guards, racks, bags or whatever you should think good, long and hard about a high quality suspension from Progressive... it could change the way you ride.

It's really handy the way Kawasaki installed the drain plugs allowing the ability to capture all the fluid in an easy to read collander.

In order for me to get to the top of the forks I had to loosen the handlebar and lay it back.

6mm Allen makes short work of this part of the job.

Make sure you have the front of the bike securely in the air and lets get to it.

Birds eye view of the fork tops. The instructions are very explicit about this part of the job. Make sure you bleed any air out of the system and unscrew the top of the fork.

Contrary to popular belief the spring will not shoot out of the tube, however it will jump a bit, make sure you are applying a slight downward pressure while unscrewing.

Once you have the top off the fork tube remove the factory spacer, mark it left or right and put it off to the side.

Here is the factory spacer and the screw in top.

Its hard to see, but there is a washer down there too. Hmmnn, how to get to it?

Ah Ha! Get your teenage son away from his Playstation to lift the tire thereby compressing the springs so you can reach the spacers on both sides and grab the springs.

Here is a better look at the washers that are found under the spacers.

To make life easy on myself I labeled each side and then marked how much fluid came out of each fork. Curiously the right side had 25cc's more than the left.

Side by side, the new Progressives are about 4 inches longer and are "progressively wound".

I made a command decision (isn't it great when you are commander?) to flush the forks with about 50cc's of fluid per side.

Ok, here's where it gets interesting. The Progressive instructions tell you a 2" spacer is needed with their springs. I tried that and wasn't happy, too much sag. I tried 2 3/4 and am pleased with the results.

I also used 400cc's of 10 weight fork oil to firm up the front end.

I did this because my Doctor said I have what you call a little bit of a weight problem.

Ok, drop in the new springs, Progressive says it doesn't matter which end is up as long as they both face the same way.

Pour in the amount of oil that came out (or whatever the book calls for).

Don't forget the washer, then the spacer and now for the fun to begin. The longer springs coupled with the longer spacer makes for some real fun while trying to screw the fork cap back on.

Be very careful not to crossthread the cap (not that I did that) and screw it all back together.

Progressive also states that no air is needed now that you have the proper springs and spacers installed.

GO RIDE!!!!

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