Time to tame the rocking horse...

[JonSV]

Finally got to do a proper ride on the "new" sv last week. I'm very out of practice and had forgotten how bad road surfaces are, but the bike was great with the usual exception of the stock suspension rocking horse action whenever I open or close the throttle.

After some serious googling, most of which led back to this forum, I think I am settled on the improvements I want to make. It's a pointy SK3 and I'm about 13-13.5 stone and planning a mix of track days and fun road riding.

Rear:
ZZR1400 06 shock (already got one)
Faulkners Race Springs 8"x2.25" 450 lbs/in (approx 8kg/mm)
Shim the swingarm play

Front:
K Tech 0.9kg/mm fork springs
10wgt oil
120mm air gap

Does this all sound about right? Any better suggestions for about the same money? Any recommendations for exact oil make and type? Anyone got some base settings for the shock, or should I go with the ZZR stock settings as a start point?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[garynortheast]

Blimey! You're keen for an answer then. That's 7 identical posts with 2 different titles!!

[JonSV]

Blimey! You're keen for an answer then. That's 7 identical posts with 2 different titles!!

Sorry, the "post" page wasn't loading so I tried several times and eventually gave up, only to find it was there 7 times. I don't seem to be able to delete the duplicates - can a mod do it please?

[nutzboutbikes]

Hi Jonsv,


It sounds like your taking the same journey many have taken!.


This is where I ended up on my curvy, same use as you trackday/road.


I'm 90kg and found the Ohlins .85kg spot on with 15wt oil, .90kg maybe a little stiff for 85kg.


For the rear I considered lots of options like you even spoke to Faulkners about a spring for the standard shock!, but a month wait and the cost of £100 put me off.


In the end I went with the Nitron sport shock not the most fancy shock but I wanted one that was easy to set up and with only one adjuster for rebound/compression its spot on, comes sprung for your weight/ use and is height adjustable, tyre wear is spot on once dialled in.

[JonSV]

Thanks nutzboutbikes. I had noticed that lots of people around my weight seem to go for 0.85 up front, but the race tech calculator came out a fraction under 0.9. If I go for 0.85 I would also go down one rate on the rear spring as this was also rounded up. The rear spring is in stock at about £30 so hopefully this will work.

[nutzboutbikes]

If I recall .85kg would be spot on for your weight.


Getting the correct spring rate front and back for your weight is best.

The fork oil controls compression/rebound or dreaded pogo affect, 15wt or even 20wt oil helps this, emulators are a common way to cure this but depends on your budget, I run middle of inters group on my setup and is where I am happy.


Decent tyres are the best handling mod you can buy.

[JonSV]

Just checked the race tech calc, at 85 kg it's 0.899 kg springs for street use. Anyone else around this weight using 0.9kg springs? Still not sure about the oil, there seems to be a lot of variation within the same weight oil. I agree about the tyres, I have a new pair of BT016s. I've also just fitted a new set of sintered pads and braided hoses, so I'm should be good for a trackday in a couple of weeks time.

[yorkie_chris]

Yeah go to .9s. Oil wise go for RSF10 or 12.5. I'd say start with 10, get a bottle of 15 as well.

The RSF is dear for fork oil but is worth it. Putoline HPX is comparable whichever is easier.

[JonSV]

ZZR1400 06 shock
Faulkners Race Springs 8"x2.25"

Not sure where I read that this spring would fit....but it doesn't! The nice people at JHS are finding me one that does fit, but it will cost over twice as much.

[nutzboutbikes]

If it's the same as the sv spring it probably has a slight taper to it!.

[JonSV]

Yeah, it is tapered. The length was wrong too.

[JonSV]

If anyone else is considering it, the spring size for an 06 ZZR1400 shock is 55/58-195, and K-tech have them from 80-100N/mm. It's not listed for a ZZR though, so you need to search for the size ref above.

I ended up getting 85N/mm which was a bit stiffer than I was originally planning, but at least I can eat plenty of pies. It feels good for the quick test run I've done on the road with it, I'll have a better test at Mallory tomorrow.