Shocking Suspension

[jambo]

The increments of ajustment on many bikes are quite small, I think I calculatedsomething like 1500 settings for the front forks on my 2001 ZX6R (preload, compression, rebound), but this assumes 2 things.
1) a single "click" of adjustment at each point makes a worthwhile difference
2) Having found a setting that lets the front of the bike dive badly under braking you will merrily keep softening off the compression damping to see how bad you can get it because you haven't tried that setting yet. Most people are a little brighter than that. I must stress *most*

As said, it's not black magic but so much drivel is written that I've only recently started to fiddle with suspension and so far the little changes I've made have made the bike a little nicer for me. You can always put it back how it was and if you think about what you don't like it's not that hard to go in the right direction, then it's just a case of how much by.

Hmm, if you don't know how to adjust the suspension yourself, then £40 or £75 are both fair prices to have it done for you. Once you know what it should feel like, measuring and pushing indoors is quite legitimate. I can't believe it when I hear folk say that don't really like their current <insert> bike because the front end is too hard. It turns out that compression and preload are both set too hard. They can't believe the miracle that can be performed in 5 minutes.

[northwind]

Originally Posted by Razor

The SV has very budget suspension and we ALL know it needs improvement. I bet Suzuki know that too, but as we keep buying them they probably don't feel the need.

Ah, well, this one was a gixxer thou... But it was being ridden by a guy who weighed as much as my bike No wonder the poor thing wobbled, it didn't need adjustment, it needed leaf springs...

[21QUEST]

Originally Posted by sdusk

Hmm, if you don't know how to adjust the suspension yourself, then £40 or £75 are both fair prices to have it done for you.

Well depends how you look at it. Essex of Essex thought it wasn't cheap but looking at the amount of time spent with customer for £40 that is definitely way better value for money. On the other hand even if you paid £150 and you felt it a whole lot better, is that still good value?

I do agree you are paying for the guys knowledge and it does indeed take a lot of time for the really good guys to get such knowledge. the things one doesn't see is the tests/experiments some of these guys do to get there base line data. I know of a guy who would spend hours on the road /track trying out different valving ie shim stack etc testing out his theory.

Originally Posted by sdusk

Once you know what it should feel like, measuring and pushing indoors is quite legitimate.

Of course it is but that's only a start. That doesn't take into account riding style as such. A lot of place just say "road? fast?". A start in the right direction but it is sometimes portrayed as going to give some magical tranformation. Such transformation may infact be perceived by the rider but that's all part of the game. One reason why the £40 guys was really good value as even at £40 pounds, you hav ethe cahnace of giving immediate feedback which lets him tweak it to what we can perhaps really call your personal settings.

Originally Posted by sdusk

I can't believe it when I hear folk say that don't really like their current <insert> bike because the front end is too hard. It turns out that compression and preload are both set too hard. They can't believe the miracle that can be performed in 5 minutes.

In my experience most folks seem to harp on about bike being soft. Now I've spent so much time riding SVs with better suspension bits an drecently both a standard one which is staying standard. It too a while but I've got into the groove regards the standard suspension. IMO and loads will disagree it's not as bad as it's made out to be. I'm not a fast rider by any stretch of the imarginationn but I'm fairly happy with my riding and what I can do with the standard. Maybe I'm just slower than I think but my experience would seem to contradict that. Then agin might just be me meeting real ****e riders.

The difference is on standard bits you just learn to modify your riding. eg getting really light on the bars and maybe taking your bum off the sits in some situations. You have to be a lot smoother. You don't buy a CG(and I've seen some big folks on them) and complain. I have similar thoughts regards tyre but that's another topic :P

So many people complaining of soft suspension on the SV that I'm starting to believe I'm either too fooking slow(could be right) or too smooth(which I find hard to believe). Bike suspension is meant to dive . Yes rate off dive is important but it would seem most don't think the bike shouldn't cmpress at all.

By the way I'm agreeing with you on this bit just in a round about way



Ben

[northwind]

Originally Posted by 21QUEST

Well depends how you look at it. Essex of Essex thought it wasn't cheap but looking at the amount of time spent with customer for £40 that is definitely way better value for money. On the other hand even if you paid £150 and you felt it a whole lot better, is that still good value?

If you've just spent 8 grand on a new bike, £150's maybe a small price to pay to get it working right. Personally I don't think it's unreasonable for it to be set up to within a decent ballpark before you get it, but that's another argument.

[21QUEST]

Originally Posted by northwind

If you've just spent 8 grand on a new bike, £150's maybe a small price to pay to get it working right. Personally I don't think it's unreasonable for it to be set up to within a decent ballpark before you get it, but that's another argument.

I very much agree provided the set up is not biased towards the placebo effect j/k. That's still part of set up innit . I sound like some major cynic. Something to do with having ridden a few crappy bikes me think and hence nothing seems so bad .

I believe you do get that(personalised set up for each buyer) with the buells but I could be wrong.


Ben

Originally Posted by 21QUEST

By the way I'm agreeing with you on this bit just in a round about way

I can tell.

If the way you ride means that the suspension doesn't bottom out, then it is not too soft.

In my ideal world, a new bike would come with springs that match the rider, and part of the dealer delivery would be a bit of set-up. This by no means would guarantee perfection, but it would at least mean that bikes designed for 55kg Japanese riders would get set up a bit better for the riders in the UK.

[northwind]

Originally Posted by 21QUEST

I very much agree provided the set up is not biased towards the placebo effect

Hey, nothing wrong with the placebo affect... It's not like we're racing, we're trying to make the bikes feel like they work better

[21QUEST]

Originally Posted by northwind

Hey, nothing wrong with the placebo affect... It's not like we're racing, we're trying to make the bikes feel like they work better

..and that's the main thing mate innit(even I forget that sometimes). Confidence is everything

I still shudder at the thought of guys across the ponrd running 20wt-30 weight oils on the road even without emulators. but then again, what do I know



Ben

[TSM]

Originally Posted by Bellerophon

umm, would that be the Kawasaki ZXR750H1?


Only guessing mind. Probably earlier than that?

Err nop, its adjustble not fully though. The front forks only have rebound adjustment and i think the rear shock is also rebound.

Now that is based on a freinds ZXR750 H1/H2 (not sure if its an H1 or H2 he has.)