Dropping the front end

[SV Ted]

Hi all

First test run today, in fact first time riding an SV... .

She felt a bit parallel/flat, as if she needs her nose pointing down a bit.

Any experience/advice on dropping the yokes by x amount please.

Cheers

[Dave20046]

Think this will differ between naked and not naked - possibly even between generations...but do it a little at a time probably don't go over 15mm or bemore cautious if you work your way up to that point. I would guess 5 - 10mm is good. Can't remember how much lower mine are but they're different forks

Have you done any work to the forks? Bearing in mind stock ones are ****e, I'm not sure I'd like to put more weight through them

[SV Ted]

She's a pointy L4. Thinking drop by 6 to 8 and increase fork oil for starters.... .

Any views on changing springs/adding spacers?

Cheers

[Adam Ef]

There's loads of suspension advice on various threads here. Spring upgrade for your weight and new oil of the standard spec weight is a good start and will get you 80% there. After that it's weld up the rebound holes and add emulators, but in my experience that was only a fractional improvement on top of proper springs and was a lot more hassle than just getting the springs right.



Don't drop the forks by much or it will start to feel like the front will tuck under very quickly. Try 3mm to 5mm and see how it feels. I had a ZX6r shock on the back of mine for a bit. It raised the back by 5mm and felt almost too agile sometimes.


Are you sure there's not something else at play making it feel flat? It's not a common complaint with standard geometry on the SV. Are your tyres up to pressure and in decent condition. The front tyre isn't worn is it?


Check front and rear static sag to start with.

[gadget]

She's a pointy L4. Thinking drop by 6 to 8 and increase fork oil for starters.... .

Any views on changing springs/adding spacers?


Cheers
Not sure how much if any differences there are between your pointy and my curvy 'S' but I overhauled my forks (thanks to the peeps on the forum.. excellent advice) with k-tech linear 9.0 springs and silkolene rsf 10w fork oil and the difference is night and day, really planted now, no excessive fork dive or wandering in bends. Bang for buck ... it's the best mod you can do to an SV imo. I weigh in at 12.5 stone and this setup seems to suit my riding style very well, probably room for further improvement but it's a street/fun bike and not a race bike.
I experimented with raising the forks through the yoke by 5mm ... felt as though it was a little bit sharper on turn in, went another 5mm ... it started to feel a bit nervous around town and wandered a bit on the motorway so changed it back to just 5mm. Still using standard rear shock too which seems to be behaving itself atm, I'm probably not heavy enough to give it a problem!
Imo ..Defo do the fork mod, it's a game changer and doesn't cost the earth.

[SV Ted]

Many thanks for the input. Shall be having a fettle this weekend + new rubber going on - She still has the original tyres on!

[Adam Ef]

She still has the original tyres on!


That may be a big part of the problem.

[gadget]

That may be a big part of the problem.

Totally agree...dodgy tyres can throw up all sorts of weird handling issues.

[GeorgeRYoung]

FYI, maximum front fork travel brings the slider pretty close to the lower triple clamp. There's really not a lot of room to lower the forks much.

[SV Ted]

Again, many thanks for the input.. .

Yes the old tyres did feel kaput, Power 5s tomorrow, so we'll hopefully transform her.

Still going to try dropping 5mm at the same time... . Ongoing.

Cheers

[Adam Ef]

I'd do one thing at a time, otherwise you don't know which had the effect.

[SV Ted]

Power 5s on and yokes dropped 5mm. Feels like a totally different bike!

Looking at the original old tyres that came off her, it looks like it just ran up and down a motorway all day, centre really squared off and humungous chicken strips.... .

Onwards and upwards.

Cheers