Kiwi Svartpilen 701 Mods

[The Albatross]

Although I have owned my Svartpilen 701 almost a year (second owner) It has taken me this long to mildly customise it to fit my uses. In New Zealand the back roads are pretty rough with lots of gravel and loose chip so tyres and suspension are top priorities. I fitted a Nitron R3 rear shock with a 92 N/mm spring and 8.0 N/mm springs to the forks. Also reduced the compression damping of the forks. To deal with the road conditions I just fitted Michelin Anakee Adventure tyres in the standard sizes.

Less important have been a Puig flyscreen cut down by 40 mm, TomTom RAM mounting wired to the switched accessory power outlet, Oxford heated grips, gearing down with 15/42 sprockets, a Carbon Garage side canvas pannier and a new Oberon slave clutch cylinder.

I tried two different designs of bar end mirrors but reverted to the originals as they have so much better rear view vision.

Now I have a light scrambler type bike to scoot around town and cope with the lovely back roads that wind through the countryside near Auckland. My longest trip so far has been 700 km two day trip to New Plymouth and back with no discomfort. Although the seat is firm the frequent fuel stops keep it within my comfort zone. The Svartpilen is very involving to ride, requiring close attention to ensuring you are in the right gear at the right time, but rewarding you with sparkling real world performance and lots of fun.

Happy riding!

 

[nampus]

Looks and sounds like a well sorted bike

 

[DWB]

Interesting that you *reduced the compression damping in the forks. Another rider on this increased his comp and reb damping quite a bit, but he was a road rider. I too think the comp damping is a little high but haven't messed with it yet. The fork is not bad as OEM, not great, but not bad. I don't like the rear shock and also purchased the same shock, but haven't had time to install it yet.

How did you mount the remote cylinder for the shock? Pictures?

 

[The Albatross]

Although the Nitron spring rate I fitted is similar to the WP original, the Nitron shock feels a world apart absorbing sharp edge bumps so much better. The suspension was set up for me by Robert Taylor of KSS here in New Plymouth. The Nitron shock is a pig to adjust the preload manually because of the frame tubes surrounding the adjuster ring. It is possible, just one peg movement (about an eighth of a turn) at a time and switching sides for access. I wish I had opted for the hydraulic adjustment but decided as I never take a pillion passenger or luggage, once it was set up I could leave it alone. I adjusted the preload to give a little lower rear ride height than the original, with sag with rider at about 115 mm (total travel 150 mm) and it handles nicely.

KSS used rubber Ohlins mounting bands to clamp the remote reservoir in position as shown on the photo. It is possible to use metal clamps but I prefer the ones he used.

Hope this helps. Happy riding!

 

[DWB]

I've never seen that type of attachment before - interesting. I would have some concern over proximity to the engine heat. I know there is an aftermarket bracket from Buell that allows you to mount it on the tail section, sub-frame. See here https://www.ebay.com/itm/202259443096 But you would probably have to rotate the shock 180 degrees in it's mounts to get the hose to route aft - not sure of that, but likely.

Thanks for the info. Cheers.

 

[Brodixv8]

Although I have owned my Svartpilen 701 almost a year (second owner) It has taken me this long to mildly customise it to fit my uses. In New Zealand the back roads are pretty rough with lots of gravel and loose chip so tyres and suspension are top priorities. I fitted a Nitron R3 rear shock with a 92 N/mm spring and 8.0 N/mm springs to the forks. Also reduced the compression damping of the forks. To deal with the road conditions I just fitted Michelin Anakee Adventure tyres in the standard sizes.

Less important have been a Puig flyscreen cut down by 40 mm, TomTom RAM mounting wired to the switched accessory power outlet, Oxford heated grips, gearing down with 15/42 sprockets, a Carbon Garage side canvas pannier and a new Oberon slave clutch cylinder.

I tried two different designs of bar end mirrors but reverted to the originals as they have so much better rear view vision.

Now I have a light scrambler type bike to scoot around town and cope with the lovely back roads that wind through the countryside near Auckland. My longest trip so far has been 700 km two day trip to New Plymouth and back with no discomfort. Although the seat is firm the frequent fuel stops keep it within my comfort zone. The Svartpilen is very involving to ride, requiring close attention to ensuring you are in the right gear at the right time, but rewarding you with sparkling real world performance and lots of fun.

Happy riding!

G'day. Where did you manage to tuck all the oxford wiring connectors etc to ?

 

[The Albatross]

I managed to connect the power to the switched auxiliary connector behind the headlight, but reinstallling the headlight was a nightmare as there is so little room there. The HotGrips connectors had to be bundled together and taped up to the frame just below the right side of the front of the fuel tank. It looks very amateur but the best and only solution I could come up with. You can see the tape wrapped bundle of connectors in the photo.

 

[Brodixv8]

Ok got it, thanks very much. The Oxfords are great grips, but theres a lot of wire to tuck away somewhere. I've considered cutting the excess out and re joining, but not quite committed to doing that yet.
My bikes on TradeMe at present. You may have seen it. 701 with custom rear rack. Best regards. G.

 

[Satur9]

I don't have oxfords. But I do have heated grips wiring and module. St2 turn signal canceller wiring . Turn signal adapters wiring and USB port wiring . All in headlight housing . The key is zip ties and instead of trying to bunch up wires and shove them in. Wrap them around the circumference of the headlight while staggering connectors.

 

[Brodixv8]

Sounds like a plan. Thanks.

 

[Dangolish]

Sorry to revive an old thread but im very interested in this. They made a custom shock for you with the full 150mm travel? How does the tuning for this specific motorcycle work out, did you have to do alot of testing with them and going back and forth? My issue is that i live in Latin America with no tuners nearby to further revalve or respring the shock if things dont turn out ok for my Svart 701 and my weight.

Cheers!

 

[The Albatross]

I think the spring rate supplied at 92 N/mm is good for my weight (90kgs bare). It is difficult to measure but I am pretty sure I have 150 mm total travel at the back wheel. The static sag and laden sag are within most guides to desirable sag. Bear in mind that I have set up a back roads tourer and the compliance over rough roads was my priority. Robert Taylor of KSS told me he specified the shock himself as Nitron did not list the Svartpilen 701 at the time. You can contact KSS at https://www.kss.net.nz/contactus.jsp. The range of preload adjustment is huge so you should be able to set it yourself quite easily. I found the high speed compression damping as delivered too hard so have backed it off to near minimum.

I have fitted Nitron shocks to three bikes now (R Nine T and Tiger 800) and rate them highly. But in retrospect I would rather have an R2 with hydraulic preload adjustment than the R3 without it on my Svartpilen. Access to the adjustment ring is soooo difficult!

 

[Dangolish]

I think the spring rate supplied at 92 N/mm is good for my weight (90kgs bare). It is difficult to measure but I am pretty sure I have 150 mm total travel at the back wheel. The static sag and laden sag are within most guides to desirable sag. Bear in mind that I have set up a back roads tourer and the compliance over rough roads was my priority. Robert Taylor of KSS told me he specified the shock himself as Nitron did not list the Svartpilen 701 at the time. You can contact KSS at https://www.kss.net.nz/contactus.jsp. The range of preload adjustment is huge so you should be able to set it yourself quite easily. I found the high speed compression damping as delivered too hard so have backed it off to near minimum.

I have fitted Nitron shocks to three bikes now (R Nine T and Tiger 800) and rate them highly. But in retrospect I would rather have an R2 with hydraulic preload adjustment than the R3 without it on my Svartpilen. Access to the adjustment ring is soooo difficult!

Just saw this, thanks for the quick response!