Improving standard suspension?

Does anyone know of a way to improve the suspension on the SV without doing a full fork swap? I find the suspension on my bike really terrible. On anything other than a perfectly smooth road it bounces about like a spacehopper which can be quite disconcerting when cornering! I am maybe a bit light for the bike, about 120lb, so I tried different fork oil which made perhaps a bit of difference but nothing significant. I also took all the preload off which also made an improvement but I would still like it to be better. Would new springs or fork cartridges make alot of difference, and how much would it cost roughly?

[maviczap]

Hagon, maxton or Hyperpro springs in the front, plus 10w oil improves things by miles

[fizzwheel]

Cheapest way will be getting the correct springs for your bodyweight fitted into your existing forks.

Has your bike done alot of miles ? If so you might want to think about doing something with the rear shock, they do tend to go off after a certain amount of miles. I found the handling was transformed just by

1. New fork oil
2. Replacing the rear shock with a new OEM shock that had done alot less miles than mine had.

Have a search its a well covered subject, so theres loads of threads on it.

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

Cheapest way will be getting the correct springs for your bodyweight fitted into your existing forks.

Has your bike done alot of miles ? If so you might want to think about doing something with the rear shock, they do tend to go off after a certain amount of miles. I found the handling was transformed just by

1. New fork oil
2. Replacing the rear shock with a new OEM shock that had done alot less miles than mine had.

Have a search its a well covered subject, so theres loads of threads on it.

Get a better rear shock than the standard Sv , either a GSXR one that fits, plenty of threads about which ones fit, plus you can pick them up pretty cheap on Ebay.

More adjustabilty than the bog standard Sv. But the battery box will need modding to fit one of these

If you can afford it, then something like a Hagon, Maxton, Hyperpro or Ohlins rear shock is a straight swap.

I've got a Hagon, which is the cheapest of these 4, but its still a better shock than the standard

Fit a pair of these in the front forks - no need to change springs - http://store.ricorshocks.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=32

You will not be disappointed - about an hour and a half to do the job.

And if you want to go the whole hog one of these for the back - http://www.nitron.co.uk/nitron09/ind...roducts_id=551

I've got both of these on my K8 and they have transformed the bike. No fluid locks on the front - plenty of feel and grip and the back doesn't hop around the corners and more or give up the ghost when the shock heats up. Read the reviews before you commit.

Good luck.

[yorkie_chris]

Yeah there are some cheap emulator alternatives from states look great to actually get some compression damping for about £100 less than racetech emulators.

I would not buy the terminators or whatever they are just because of the outlandish marketing.

Or you can buy AK20s which are a fortune, or fit cartridges from another bike.


Good shock for your weight would be SRAD-750, good length too.

[ixlr8]

Agree with the above. Your springs are correct for your weight, Intiminators (cartridge fork emulators) drop in without needing to remove and drill your damper rods and will transform the ride and damping for the road (not track)at the front, and a second hand sportbike rear unit (different for curvy or pointy) will transform the rear. The specialist rear units such as Ohlins are better again but very expensive.

Do both ends together. If you're not happy with your current setup, using heavier fork oil will improve front-end dive and slow-fork-speed damping at the expense of substantially harsher ride. I.e., just tinkering with oil and preload will not give you what you want.

The above mods are surprisingly cost-effective. More detail on specifics can be found in specific threads on all the SV-loving sites:- here, svrider.com and svdownunder.com

Good luck. BTW, I don't have Intiminators myself so I'm not spruiking but rather Racetech Emulators which take a little more work to install.

[yorkie_chris]

Stock is what? .5kg/mm .6?



That seems on the stiff side, the SV doesn't have much weight on its front but you've still got 540lbs wet.
.8s? worth a look perhaps.


I would not buy or rule out a spring change until you have measured static and rider sag. Also what oil have you used?

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Stock is what? .5kg/mm .6?

.67

Stock springs should be fine for a tiny 54kg - subject to measurements of course. If "it bounces about like a spacehopper" I wonder if there is some other problem. Shagged shock and fork oil perhaps?

Ok, thanks for the advice everyone. I'll have to look at all the options a bit more thoroughly but a new rear shock definitely sounds like a good investment; bike has done ~25,000 miles so it's probably knackered. I might do that first and then decide what to do with the front, I'm not sure whether I'll have enough money to do both together. Oh and I've got 15w oil in the forks at the moment. It feels as though it handles a bit better like that although it can be quite harsh over bumps and potholes