oKayH

A poorly set up suspension can be dangerous and cause you to crash (in extreme cases). A bike that has a poor setup for your weight can include tire chatter, improper wear of tires, lack of feedback, poor braking, etc...

Setting up your suspension is more then just turning screws or Harry Potter spells. It is a systematic approach to picking hardware to tuning it. You could easily spend more money on your suspension then what your bike is worth. All this to change out spring rates, fluid viscosities, cartridges, rods, tubes, springs, etc. For street riding, you want to have your bike set up in such a way that it provides predictable feedback and actions to rider inputs but still soft enough to absorb the hazards of the road (ie potholes, sticks, dead animals, etc). You can go stiffer for the track since these hazards do not appear.

Since it sounds like you have no clue what you are doing, I recommend taking some time to read some articles to et a general idea of what is involved and 1) then seeking someone to show you the ropes of doing suspension work or 2) finding a competent person that knows how to work on motorcycle suspensions. I was clueless last year and have gone option 1 so that I can fully understand what is going on and so that I can make substantiated changes to my bike when needed. I've only scratched the surface with this stuff. There are textbooks detailing the physics and engineering principles guiding suspension setup and design. I tried the "ill turn this screw a bit" approach and it was a epic fail....

according to RaceTech calculators, the spring rates in the forks and on the rear shock could be a little better to allow for a better set up. Whether you want to put a lot of money into the suspension is your call. It will only help. RT - Digital Product Search

If you take nothing from this, just take that no two riders setups will be the same. It is a personal preference. Educate yourself and find someone that is knowledgable to help you.

sidenote: If you happen to be close to NoVA, there is a guy in Herndon giving seminars on suspension rebuilding. Check out dcsportbikes.net and under the social section.


EDIT: I forgot to say, also note that chain adjustment, tire profile, and tire PSI play a MAJOR role in your suspension also. Don't forget about these.

also, here are some links:

http://www.carbibles.com/suspension_bible_bikes.html

http://www.gostar-racing.com/informa...ion_set-up.htm

kninja

Thank you all for all the help

sirgilbert

Im in Dallas if you wanna do it. But, it would not be ME, it would be US, cause I would teach you how to do it and then you would be like "Shit, that was easy, I got this yo!". And then you could tweak the settings to your liking no help needed...

sirgilbert

Wise words. My bike came with dangerous stock settings that could have caused some mayhem. I would add to this and say that I have found the 09's suspension to be more than adequate for street riding (even aggressive street riding) and the range of adjustment it offers is going to be more than enough for the vast majority of riders. Now before you go pay someone to start swapping out springs and fluids, you should really get to know your bike, know how to adjust it, know how the adjustments affect the handling and know your preferences. This is basically getting a baseline...after that if you find the bike's range of adjustment cant accomplish YOUR desired outcome (not some shop's idea of a good spring rate for your weight), THEN pay someone to upgrade. But I'd say MOST of us would never need to if we just took the time to fully explore the stock system's capabilities...

Aeon87

Hahahahaha!! That would be legit!!

Dallas is like a 6 hour drive though =O

sirgilbert

Suck sauce. Oh well. I'll come back and write more on how I did it later, my lunch is over and I have to get back to work...tune back in for more.

oldninjadude

Well for starters, your the exact weight the manufactures use as a baseline for there factory set up.
Have you read your owners manual?
Id start there & follow the instructions therein.
You will find the manufacturer's suggested suspension settings for your weight.

Its not the best, But its a good start. Then you can move on to more advanced adjustments.
Tuning it for your particular riding style etc etc.

sirgilbert

So, I measured my sag using the methods shown in Keith Code's video series. If you search either on this forum or on the web you'll find the vids showing you how to bounce the suspension and measure static sag and total sag. You want about 32mm for the street if I recall. I had like less than 20 with the stock settings I think. So I adjusted my preload and ended up with like 34mm in the front and...hmm...shit, I don't recall what in the rear, but it actually compressed when I sat on it after I got done instead of just feeling like a concrete park bench.

After I got sag set up, I pulled out the service manual and found all the suspension adjustments and took everything to "1". So if the adjustment was 1 to 15 clicks, I brought it all the way back down to 1. From there I set everything to what would work out to about 30% to full hard. I rode it around for about 15 miles and decided it was way too soft for the highway, even though it was really comfy on surface roads. So I took everything to 50% full hard...rode around some more, decided it was better, but wanted it just a bit stiffer...took everything to about 60% full hard and have had it there ever since. So, others can chime in, but what I mean when I say "50% to full hard" is basically this: Each adjustment has a certain number of turns or clicks, but they are all a little different, especially for your back shock. So instead of saying it was 5 clicks (on something that has an adjustment range of 10 full clicks), I just say 50% to full hard. Preload only has 7 clicks of adjustment on the front forks, compression and rebound have way more and are measured in "turns" of the screw, etc, so they are all a little different. I kept the settings similar across the board though. So if my rebound is at 60% to full hard, I personally think you should have your compression set at close to 60% as well. Otherwise the shock travel will be aggressive on one stroke and sluggish on the other, which isn't balanced and feels weird in my opinion. Might be unsafe too, I don't know. So I kept all the settings to within 5% of each other on their respective scales of "clicks" or "turns". I keep my tires at the same PSI all the time so there's no guessing game there and I only ride street, never been to the track. I'm 210 with gear on, if anyone cares.

Hope that helps.

goofyfootnot

Good topic, I never thought about suspension set up. I just bought an 05, and now I'm wondering if I should have someone look it over. All you guys are in the 150-175 weight range, I'm tipping the scales at about 200. I wonder how much difference having some adjustments made might make to my ride?

sirgilbert

Im 200, well, 210 with gear. It depends on where your bike is set right now. It can make a huge difference if the settings are all out of whack. And I'd just get your year's service manual and do it yourself...

yelojkt

I used my owners manual and set my bike at about 60% also. I weigh in around 165-170 in full gear. It made a big difference in how the bike rode. And yes my settings were all over the place.