Fork Compression and Rebound manual typo?

[HantsV11LeMans]

Hi all, 

I’m confused. Recently bought a 2005 V11 Le Mans and found the front suspension rider sag only about 5mm when I sit on the bike in gear. The preload bolts are backed all the way out. 
The manual doesn’t cover these preload adjustments. Only compression and rebound. Could it be that you are meant to tighten the bolts down as in clockwise to lessen preload? 
Also the manual says the left fork adjusts the compression with a C on it and the right fork adjusts the rebound with an R on it

BUT on my bike both fork heads have an R on them. 
Does anyone know which is correct?
 

Is the manual correct and the left R on the bike should actually say C?

Or is the manual wrong and I can only adjust Rebound turning both screw heads? 
 

Many thanks for any guidance 

[jtucker]

Strange. On my 2000 V11S, it has "C" and "R" as I would expect.

Not sure about the preload question, offhand.

__Jason

[HantsV11LeMans]

Thanks Jason. Maybe they changed manufacture by 2005 but didn’t update the manual. 

[andy york]

Unless someone else chimes in about a 2005 model year LeMans, you should have left tube C right tube R.

Do you know the history of this bike? Has someone replaced a component because of an accident?

Unfortunately to set preload you will have to try different length spacers under the top fork nut. Specifically,

you will want a shorter spacer than what is in there now.

Andy

[andy york]

That was an extremely short answer. What manufacture are your forks? I can't zoom your pic enough to see much other than 

the fact that they do not look like Marzocchi. Do you have Ohlins forks?

more info needed

[fotoguzzi]

I wonder if Luigi was all out of C fork tubes on the day he built your bike? Something seems really wrong about that and I'd be bothered until I took them apart to find out what's inside. No Compression settings and two rebound seems all wrong to me.

[footgoose]

It's likely just the left cap was replaced or mistakenly used. Treat the left r as a c and see what happens.

[HantsV11LeMans]

[HantsV11LeMans]

Thanks,

As far as I know they are stock. Not the gold Ohlins like on the Corsa models.
 2 owners before me. First added a power commander. Next changed nothing. 
maybe the left cap is wrong cap but it adjusts compression. 

sorry my pictures are poor. It won’t let me upload over 200k
 

[fotoguzzi]

That size limit bothers me too. One thing you can do is host the pics somewhere else ( I use smugmug but there's a fee) and then link the photo to this site with the Embed code.

 

 

 

[andy york]

The top of that fork almost looks like you can adjust preload by turning the bigger  middle nut...19 mm in size maybe.

The smaller screwdriver blade adjustment is for compression and/or rebound. Those fork top caps a very different from the earlier

V11 Marzzochi forks. Looks like the top piece with the C / R adjustment is mounted in another piece that has flats on it like a nut, which

may be you preload. I would assume that the largest area with flats that would accept a wrench or socket is the top cap of the fork tube itself.

If you have a way of taking weight off the frontend, you might do so and see if you can turn "the middle nut "CC wise which should soften/give more sag.

 

[andy york]

what does the manual say about the larger center nut ?....maybe that is the compression adjustment.

[footgoose]

1 hour ago, andy york said:

The top of that fork almost looks like you can adjust preload by turning the bigger  middle nut...19 mm in size maybe.

The smaller screwdriver blade adjustment is for compression and/or rebound. Those fork top caps a very different from the earlier

V11 Marzzochi forks. Looks like the top piece with the C / R adjustment is mounted in another piece that has flats on it like a nut, which

may be you preload. I would assume that the largest area with flats that would accept a wrench or socket is the top cap of the fork tube itself.

If you have a way of taking weight off the frontend, you might do so and see if you can turn "the middle nut "CC wise which should soften/give more sag.

 

hmmm they Are different caps than earlier ones. Good catch

[HantsV11LeMans]

10 minutes ago, andy york said:

what does the manual say about the larger center nut ?....maybe that is the compression adjustment.

The manual says the left fork has a C for compression and the right has an R for rebound. I’m beginning to think perhaps they simply installed the wrong (R) cap on the left fork. 
I’ll adjust the left first and see if that effects compression or rebound. 
I had kept them the same because they both said rebound. But I’ll try adjusting individually. 

[HantsV11LeMans]

It’s just odd that with the preload backed out all the way counter(anti) clockwise on both forks the forks only sag another 5mm when I put my weight (160lb) (11s6lb) plus gear on the bike. I thought rider sag was closer to 35mm.