Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Hi folks,

Just intersted especially the front, what are you using ?

Went for a spin with Dave#3 & Cath on Sunday and had a huge moment coming into a downhill right felt like the front let go, since everything turned out ok, I thought ok, roads probably cold and damp I'll take it a bit easier.

Later on though the bike just felt nervous & unstable, so called it a day early just in case it was something wrong. Got home, checked the tyre preasure & steering head bearings and all looked ok.

I went over to Lloyd Penn today and and after checking a few things he noticed the front preload was way too soft, I've been using the same preload for about 18months and suddenly it seems way too soft (nearly half the travel in sag ). Cheers to Lloyd for taking 20min out of his day.

So folks, what are you using ? not so much interested in magazine recommendations as what people have dialed in on their bikes.

Anyway, I've wound up the preload ot make the sag more reasonable and I'll have another go on Sunday.


Thanks
Matt

Set your preload to suit you and your weight. If you can't get it adjusted to suit your weight you'll have to lash out on some aftermarket springs. Setting the correct sag (using preload) is the 1st and crucial step in setting up your suspension.

Using someone elses recommendation is no better than using generic magazine article settings.

Here's some reading

http://www.sportrider.com/tech/146_0006_susp/
http://www.sasbk.co.za/suspension_setup_guidelines.htm
http://www.wotid.com/tls/suspension.html

Yeah, it needs to be personalised. As each person is a different weight, rides differently, the bike may have different tyres or slightly different spring rates etc.

But that sounds exactly like my ER before I got Steve Wood to rebuild the front end. Front just felt loose, especially as I became a bit bolder and started pushing the bends a bit more on rough surfaces. It was a combination of spring rate (stiffer) and damping rate that worked for me.

I played with it at great length and tried going soft like full out and at the moment i am at full hard screwed right in and probably need harder springs, road and track settings difer a bit but I finally got it to a stage where I can do a track day and it doesnt bottom out on suspension travel and comes to about 5 mm short of full travel, I also have diferent fork valving but that doesnt affect spring preload.

What do you weigh???? ponticat probably weighs 50kg I weigh closer to 100kg so in that way my settings may or may not work for you but i would have a idea where to start with the preload.

Write down any changes you make and you really have to write down what you do, if you weigh around the eighty kilo mark i would say 2 lines showing would be about right and adjust the compression and rebound screws fom soft making it harder as you go more compression to stop it diving under brakes and more rebound to stop it pogo sticking after you get off the brakes and turn in better.

A good bike tech can probably help but i found they can only try to translate what you are telling them and have a educated fiddle and you have to get it right for yourself.

As a starting point aim for about 25mm of sag when you're sitting on it with all your gear on. Get a cable tie and zip it around one fork slider, pull it up to the top then sit on the bike in your normal position, get off then measure how far the cable tie has moved. Having said that, I did the 10 the other week and I thought it felt crap up the OPH (kept feeling like the front was going to tuck in) I stiffened it up slightly ie 3 rings showing instead of 4 and it felt better last week up the Putty.

You should do both ends at the same time, again aim for about 25mm of sag when your on it.

Cheers folks,

I guess the thing that surprised me the most was that it seems much less stable since the last time I rode (about 3 weeks ago) now obviously the bike hasn't changed so its my "feeling" on the bike which means its time to review the settings. Unfortunately I moved just recently and seem to have lost my suspension diary from when I first set it up about 2 years ago.

Thanks for the links Steve, its good to go through all that info again.

Beryl, I'd be close to 100kg kitted up and you're right about 2 rings showing seems to give the right sag at the front so I'll just go from there and see how it goes.

Maybe this is the driver I need to get it done properly by Terry Hay !


Matt

100kgs kitted i have the preload screwed right in but it might depend a little on you valving, i dont find it overly harsh like that but i have bigger valves and diferent shims with the 2 lines showing it still is too soft for the track and tends to dive a little if i get into the twisties a bit much but would probably go back to those settings for touring type stuff.

Its one of those things where you think you have it right and it all dissapears down the forktubes again so have another go.

Try setting it up with the preload screwed right in and write down whatever you are useing for settings at the moment so you can go back to it if its too hard.

Is it standard Oem components mate or what ?. If so Your going to have your hands full especially with the rear spring rate.

Cheers Brett

i have a therory about that rear spring and why they did it that way....not to say that they wherent right but its a case of buiding a bike with a short wheelbase that is safe or one that is not but better to ride if that makes any sense.

If they left the rear softish with the wheelbase short when under full power the back sags and you loose steering to a degree(remember this bike is shortish) or you leave it so hard the sucker doesnt move and this isnt a problem.

Thanks for the input folks, went for another ride on Sunday and it felt much better, I think its still got me a little spooked but the bikes behaving a lot beter.

Matt

I found with too much pre load it was raising the front end to much giving it a nose up feeling, you want to use as much suspension travel as possible without bottoming out and according to your weight obviously.
I weigh about 80kg with jacket etc and have my pre load 4 or 5 lines out can't remeber exactly but pretty soft and under full brakes it stops about 10-15mm from the bottom of the forks get youyr pre load right then you can just fine tune your dampning and comp do lots of research and reading on how your suspenion actually works it does make sense after a while and then its pretty easy.