kninja

I weigh 150 pounds and was curious if I should adjust my bike to my weight. And how would I do that?

Aeon87

I think it entails setting up the sag up front in the forks and also in the rear shock. I have no idea how to though. There's a video online of some guy that shows you how to setup your preload and whatnot to your weight but I've been too iffy to try it. I'll just take mine to the suspension guy at the track lol.

kninja

Haha. Thanks for the help tho. I'll look into just taking it to my stealership

Aeon87

If your dealer knows how to setup suspension for your weight they are a step ahead of ours!! Haha. I hardly every go to my dealer other than for oil filters and crap like that. They don't know how to set suspension for weight. So, I'm having to trailer my bike 150 miles North for my setup =/

kninja

150 miles?! Wow. Is having your suspension set up really that important?

kawizx6r743

its all about your riding style. In the end your gonna have the best "experience" when the bike is set up to your weight and likens. My dirtbike is set up by pro action suspensions and motors but thats in its own riding category.

Aeon87

I'd just like to have it set for my weight for the track this year. I figured I would also have my front forks rebuilt. Can't beat the price for the full setup. It's around $200-300. That's option A.

Option B is to just get it setup real quick at the track this year. That's best part about trackdays. You got all these vendors selling goods and services. I think some track suspension guys set you up for like $40 haha.

I'm leaning more towards Option A though since they totally disassemble your forks, clean them out, replace the cartridges and substitute better fork oil.

Vampyre

Found this after a quick google.

Motorcycle Suspension Setup

And this has some suggested starting points. They do not list the 11, but they do have 10.

Kawasaki Sport Bike Motorcycle Suspension Settings - Kawasaki Sport Bike Review - Sport Rider Magazine

THUG

The guy at the dealership that sold me mine who actually races an 09 zx6r at the track told me my bike (new from the factory) was pretty much set up for the street as is ...

Trusting that... Does anyone really know

sirgilbert

I went through the whole process of setting sag (front and rear) and adjusted rebound and damping, etc to suit my taste. It takes two people to measure the sag, and you have to know how to pull your bike onto one wheel using the kickstand (its easy, but you have to be very careful). I found that the stock settings were WAY off.

I had almost no sag for starters (front or back). Then the rebound was almost all the way up on the rear shock while the damping was at almost full soft. It was stupid how wrong it was. The front forks were set quite a few turns too hard on rebound and about right on damping. Once I got it all sorted, it felt a little more planted, but the biggest change for me was the sag. Backing out the preload made a big difference...its more comfy going over those small imperfections in the road now. I dont really see why people are scared to do this on their own. I would want to know how to change it myself so if I plan to do a long ride I can adjust it to suit me, or if I'm riding two up (almost never, but still...) I could adjust accordingly. Know your machine gentlemen!! Just read the Service Manual, it has all the stuff you need to know already in there!!

SivartR1

I took my bike to a local guy that does suspension setups on the side, well respected in the area. Ended up having to change out the rear spring, as the stock spring is about the right stiffness for someone 145-150#, and to get the spring rate close for my ~175#, it would have meant bottoming out the adjustment. As for the front shocks, the settings from the factory were close, took only a few minor adjustments.

Based on the stock spring rates and measurements done setting up my bike, you should be pretty close at 150#. I couldn't believe the difference having my rear spring be the right stiffness for my weight. On the stock spring, I had to let the rear settle before I could start to roll on mid corner, now I don't have to pause and let everything settle.



tldr; version:
I think it's definitely worth getting suspension tuned for your weight, and it should be cheaper for you, since you probably won't need a stiffer rear spring.

sirgilbert

I dont think there are any suspension differences between the 09 through 11 years...not sure on the 12's though.

Aeon87

You, Sir, should setup my suspensionnnnnn

Berzerker

It states in the owners manual that the suspension comes from the factory set up for an average build rider of 150lbs.

NatBrown

If you interested in how to tune your suspension, check out the videos by Dave Moss here:

Archived LIVE Videos of OnTheThrottleLive on USTREAM, page 1 of 5 - Captured live broadcasts and Streaming Video re-airings

There are videos that cover everything from sag to geometry to reading tire ware. Some of it is geared to the track rider but all of the suspension adjustment concepts apply to everyone. You really should get to know what all the adjustments on your bike do. Don't be afraid to experiment, you can always put them back to how they are now.