Suspension adjustment

At first i was not brave enought to mess with stock settings but finally figured what the heck. I cranked up spring rates one up on rear and two on front and liked the way it felt. Was wanting to elimate front diveing under hard brakeing. Then i put dampening and rebound on front and rear half way between stock and full hard. I will tell you the bike although very agile makes for a harsh ride, at least on bumpy Alabama roads. I may go back to stock on rebound and dampening and leave my spring rates on the hard side.
 
easy

That's the beauty of inverted forks. You can literaly pull over and adjust the settings on the side of the road in a minute flat. With the tools that the manufacturer provided. Life is good.
 
Yes, I also like mt preload harder than stock also because of diving, and since i gain about 8mm fork travel on one+ notch on the preload, I can soften up the compression damping one notch to better absorb pothole shocks, let te spring do the work.
 
I always get mine professionally done. Specifically tuned to my weight and riding style. Only adjustments I make is in the rear when my wife rides with me to stiffen it up a little (no dirty jokes please...)


I found long ago that what "feels" right to me was not always the safest setting. Especially when you start hitting some bumps leaned over. Difference is night and day in turns.

My local shop only charges about $30 to professionally setup suspension. As soon as I hit the track ( I have 2 credits right now for doing corner work) I will hit them up again to tune it to track.

One day I may feel more comfortable with doing it myself.
 
Haileyan said:
I always get mine professionally done. Specifically tuned to my weight and riding style. Only adjustments I make is in the rear when my wife rides with me to stiffen it up a little (no dirty jokes please...)


I found long ago that what \"feels\" right to me was not always the safest setting. Especially when you start hitting some bumps leaned over. Difference is night and day in turns.

My local shop only charges about $30 to professionally setup suspension. As soon as I hit the track ( I have 2 credits right now for doing corner work) I will hit them up again to tune it to track.

One day I may feel more comfortable with doing it myself.
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what they do in the shop might not be exactly what you need, but you get the "placebo" effect: It's been done bt a pro, you feel safe but the ride kindof sucks. I'd be happy to pay for an hour of a race mechanics time, but just to pick his brain, so he can make me unerstand how it all comes together. Then I'd do te setup myself.
 
I am not suggesting that others should do as I do. Only that I am totally incompetent in this arena. :) For 30 bucks every few years I just assume have it done right the first time.

The guys I use have 20 years of race experience. I trust them more than myself any day when it comes to settings that may save my life. Like I said, these guys setup specifically for MY riding style and weight. What may feel right or good may in fact not be safe. Though I must admit a greater feeling of security with my rubber staying planted on the pavement when cornering after they set me up. It is no placebo effect simply fact.
 
I noticed that on my 2008 FZ1, i can go 29 clicks to the right on all suspension settings, not 26 like owners manual says. Manual says this may differ from bike to bike due to manufacturing. So i'm not quite sure if the standard settings would be as they state in the manual on my bike? Was just curious if anyone else's bike was slightly different?
 
Eric Lawson said:
I noticed that on my 2008 FZ1, i can go 29 clicks to the right on all suspension settings, not 26 like owners manual says. Manual says this may differ from bike to bike due to manufacturing. So i'm not quite sure if the standard settings would be as they state in the manual on my bike? Was just curious if anyone else's bike was slightly different?
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Do you count the first click, and the last half-of-a-click until the screw is blocked ? From totally blocked to first "click" is just half a click, so for me, that's the "zero" position. But I noticed that on the rear shock rebound damping screw, there are more than 12 clicks - 16 on mine, and the book says 12.
 
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Yeah i meant 29 on front suspension only, but mine also has 16 clicks on the rear. I would assume that would make the standard settings inconsistent? I am still trying different combo's, i just know it seemed a bit harsh between standard and full hard. I have since dialed it back a bit and awaiting a nice warm day to try my newest settings.
 
Eric Lawson said:
Yeah i meant 29 on front suspension only, but mine also has 16 clicks on the rear. I would assume that would make the standard settings inconsistent? I am still trying different combo's, i just know it seemed a bit harsh between standard and full hard. I have since dialed it back a bit and awaiting a nice warm day to try my newest settings.
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Yes, I guess that the settings are inconsistent. And from 5 or 8 clicks to 14 which is half way, is a LOT. I'm not even sure that I'd have such settings on a track day. I think (and others) that you should fiddle with compression and rebound damping unless I feel that something is not right, such as, bouncing on the springs (too hard rebound), fork bottoming out after a couple of hits (too soft rebound), hard hits (too much compression damping) etc. That's how I did my setup a couple of days ago. I rode the way to work at night, did all the potholes, speed bumps and pavement cracks, back and forth, until I felt that my current settings were comfortable enough, without being too soft so I compromise handling.

I'm a newbie at this, but I know what a sportbike feels like, and I know what a streetbike should feel like. It shouldn't break your back at every impact, it should not divert your concentration from the traffic around you. At the same time I don't forget that I like to ride it as I'd stolen it sometimes, and then the settings should be firm enough.
 
So what I'm saying is that if I were you, I'd go back to default on damping settings, and to 4,5-5 on fork preload, 3-4 on shock preload, and drive around with the screwdriver and 14mm key in my pocket, and adjust as I feel the need for it.
 
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