whats your bike suspension setup and why?

GForce · Post by **GForce** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 8:26 pm

i would like to know what peoples suspension setup is on their bike for road and track.
tell me the preload, rebound and compression settings for the road and track and also tell me how much travel you get in the front forks.

i know its abit to ask but i am still very new to the suspension world and just need abit of insight of what i should be doing.

my settings for my zx2r for road and track:
forks:
preload: 6mm (stock is 8.5mm)
rebound: 2 extra click anti clockwise from stock
compression: extra click anti clockwise from stock

rear is maxed on setting 7

Felix · Post by **Felix** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 8:50 pm

I'll get in first...

All meaningless without knowing - weight, condition of components, fork oil weight, etc...

Set the static sag, then it's all witchcraft from there...

Smitty · Post by **Smitty** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 9:03 pm

I am with Felix

and all meaningless
coz different bikes need different settings
a ZX9 is gunna be different to a ZX2...

mike-s · Post by **mike-s** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:44 pm

fugged if i know
why? cant be arsed

JetPilot · Post by **JetPilot** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 6:48 pm

Felix wrote:I'll get in first...

All meaningless without knowing - weight, condition of components, fork oil weight, etc...

Set the static sag, then it's all witchcraft from there...

I agree .... Meaningless.

MrStompy · Post by **MrStompy** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 6:59 pm

i would love to be able to help you but i took mine to SPM and handed them a heap of cash to make the problem go away.

it worked. rides beautifully now but i havent got much idea what james did to it. new springs, oil etc etc havent bothered to note what settings he gave me. I should probably have a tinker with it.

if you are thinking of playing with your set up someone has posted in this section an excellent set up guide that is well worth looking at. i will see if i can find the link...

i found a different post by photomike that might be of use to you
http://www.ksrc-au.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11720
and
http://www.ksrc-au.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11723

good luck

Burky · Post by **Burky** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:10 pm

I'm still playing with mine and is still not right, but after lst Sunday feels alot better than it has before. What are the settings???? good question but not as bad as it was!

Blue14 · Post by **Blue14** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:37 pm

Hard is all i know.. Sorry but everyones is different..

javaman · Post by **javaman** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:10 pm

ok.. mine ZX6r J1.

Front fork dropped 7mm, sag 30mm (preload 4 lines), rebound 3 clicks, compression 4/5 clicks. Tyre at 36psi - pilot power.

Rear suspension height standard, rebound 3-4 clicks, compression 5 clicks. Tyre at 48psi - pirelli diablo.

Same for road & track

.. everytime I change these settings, which was acquired after numerous riding, it always feels shit

GForce · Post by **GForce** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:20 pm

i must to admit it was a stupid post and didnt think it through enough but i still reckon it would help others out there to have a rough idea of what to do. for example, if i owned a zx10 and if someone with approx same weight told me what settings they used for road and track, it would help alot given more info was told like how stiff it becomes, etc.

sure everyone is prefer diff settings but then again, some might have the same preferences.

Barrabob · Post by **Barrabob** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:41 pm

you sort of have to have a feel for these things and know what the knobs do.

what you are really trying to do is get the bike to pitch in and out of corners in a controlled manor and you do this by adjusting the springs and dampening.

When i am mucking with a bike the first thing i do is jump on and rock it forward and aft just to get a feel of how much travel there is in whatever it is keeping in mind i ride a sports bike and some people dont like them quite as stiff as i do.

anyways the various guides say 30 to 35mm at the front and 30 to 35mm at the back but hey some people like 40mm sag at the front and back depending on the bike.

I would then set the rebounds so on the front it should be so when you push down at the front it rises and just settles and at the back it comes up a little quicker.

then i would just set the rear compression to 3/4 and adjust the front compression to stop the suspension bottoming out if it does so.

There is a bit more to it than that but thats the basic setup the more advanced stuff comes in when springs dont work it it wallows or is harsh or doesnt want to turn.

my bike has heavier springs front and rear and a aftermarket shockie and revalved forks so my settings are way diferent to a stocker as well.

Barrabob · Post by **Barrabob** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:44 pm

you sort of have to have a feel for these things and know what the knobs do.

what you are really trying to do is get the bike to pitch in and out of corners in a controlled manor and you do this by adjusting the springs and dampening.

When i am mucking with a bike the first thing i do is jump on and rock it forward and aft just to get a feel of how much travel there is in whatever it is keeping in mind i ride a sports bike and some people dont like them quite as stiff as i do.

anyways the various guides say 30 to 35mm at the front and 30 to 35mm at the back but hey some people like 40mm sag at the front and back depending on the bike.

I would then set the rebounds so on the front it should be so when you push down at the front it rises and just settles and at the back it comes up a little quicker.

then i would just set the rear compression to 3/4 and adjust the front compression to stop the suspension bottoming out if it does so.

There is a bit more to it than that but thats the basic setup the more advanced stuff comes in when springs dont work it it wallows or is harsh or doesnt want to turn.

my bike has heavier springs front and rear and a aftermarket shockie and revalved forks so my settings are way diferent to a stocker as well.

javaman · Post by **javaman** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:44 pm

Heaps of recommended setting here: http://www.sportrider.com/bikes/146_str ... _settings/

useful for startup/baseline settings and fine-tune from there ...

I-K · Post by **I-K** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:19 pm

GForce wrote:i must to admit it was a stupid post and didnt think it through enough but i still reckon it would help others out there to have a rough idea of what to do.

The question to ask then is, "If the bike is <insert>, how do you fix it?"

Eg, "If the bike is crashing over bumps, how do you fix it?"

Try backing off the compression damping one-quarter turn (aka one click) at a time.

Or, "If the back end wobbles like crazy at lean, how do you fix it?"

Hmmm. More difficult. Usually, the culprit will be too weak a spring, but insufficient rebound damping is also likely.

photomike666 · Post by **photomike666** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 9:41 am

There are some standards. Most manufacturers supply their bikes with a soft set up. It generally Ok for road riding, but not hard enough for racing. Those who push hard on the road wind in more preload, and damping. Often only the last few clicks make any significant distance. Make sure you know where the standard setting are before you start to play around, and also where you are now by counting how many turns you need to put in to get to maximum setting.

Preload sets the sag, compression and rebound affect the movement speed (hardness to push down (compression), speed of bounce (rebound)). The compression and rebound are often somewhere close to half a turn (two clicks) from max. and adjust from there to suit.

This is just a staring point and not a best place for your settings. Make one change at a time and know that a change in the rear shock can affect the front handling and vice versa.