suspension tips

[somnus]

hello everyone i`m new to the form, bought a spankin new sv about a month ago. it came with those **** dunlop 220`s on (why o why do manufacturers put such ****e on their bikes:confused:) needless to say i got rid of em and put BT021`s on instead. here`s me prob the front tire is very low profile so low in fact that if im going down hill and turnin and brakin it feels like the rim is nearly touchin the ground and bike gets very usettled(yes the tire has the correct psi and its 120/60:smile:) would changin the suspension set up help sort this? any advise or tips would be much appreciated.

[Keith1983]

I appreciate sometimes turning and braking are necessary together but ideally you need to be at the right speed for the corner before you begin turning, tyres and suspension will begin to struggle when trying to deal with turning and braking forces at the same time. Although I imagine you could set up the suspension to make this better I would suggest a bit more practise and maybe some training would have you cornering at the right speed and all but eliminating the need to brake when cornering.

[somnus]

cheers keith but i should have explained my self a bit better i only turn and brake when i`m comin out of my estate and this is done slowley as im comin to a T-junction. the prob is especially bad then. its nothin to do with my drivin this aint my first bike:cool:

[MiniMatt]

I know the BT020s were well known for being easy (perhaps a little too easy) to de-chicken strip, so I'm guessing the 021s follow much the same pattern. By contrast, I've ground pegs on my dunlop 220s but still have 10mm strips.

Suspension on the SV is known for being a bit soft at the front if you're average bloke weight and regardless of weight the damping is a bit pants. I'm not sure how suspension settings would meaningfully affect use of the tyre as such (ie. the same angle of dangle is going to reach the edge of the tyre regardless of spring rate or damping, I'm sure JT could do something with it, but mere mortals?). But, sorting suspension may give more feedback from the tyres, it may be you're nowhere near reaching the rims, it just feels like it is due to the suspension.

Rough guide seems to be if you're 10 stone plus then some heavier weight linear or progressive springs in the forks + slightly heavier oil works wonders. To fix the damping you're looking at new cartridge internals or emulators but plenty of folks seem happy with just springs and oil.

How many pies you eaten, and what preload settings are you at? (from recollection, default is 3 at the front and 4 at the rear). Given that you say the problem is worse in very slow corners I'm guessing the front is diving too much under braking so stiffer fork springs, and in the meantime upping front preload may be the answer.

[kcowgergmm]

gsxr front end and shock will fix it up nicely