Performance Bikes Suspension guide

I've read your tips and advice with great interest.

Now all I need is a couple of K3/K4 owners to mail me with their suspension modifications and why they did them. Also a picture of them, with or without their bike would be nice to stick in the magazine.

Thanks for all your help.

And to the cheeky person who asked about sponsorship. No.
Although I can plug this website in the magazine.

Luke.Brackenbury@emap.com

Originally Posted by Performance Bikes

Although I can plug this website in the magazine

At the very least

[northwind]

Originally Posted by Mike1234

Don't forget the obligatory Ohlins on the back

Interestingly, I've seen a run of people absolutely slate the Ohlins for the SV on SVrider... Considered too soft and too short for racing it seems- everyone recommended the Penske units instead. Now, too soft just seems like nonsense to me, if your aftermarket shock's too soft it's because you've got the wrong spring in it...

I don't have a race opinion of course, just wondered what you reckon.

Howzabout a similar type article for us poor (lack of money not taste ) pre k3/4 owners? I know a lot of the mods that are applicable to the k3/4 can be applied to the carbed bikes, but I also believe there to be some subtle differences.

As for tyres, BT014's have been faultless on mine (2000 S model), although I know a lot of people also rate diablos. Road pressures are 33F/36R on my bike, and at cadwell on a hot sticky day 31F/33R seemed to work well.

A thought for a cheap upgrade (it is a budget bike) is that the rearsets off the faired models are higher than those on the naked- although they still aren't that high-but a cheap idea.

Can't comment too much on suspension as I havent began to sort mine yet-but your guide will no doubt point me in the right direction.

Dan.

Originally Posted by northwind

Interestingly, I've seen a run of people absolutely slate the Ohlins for the SV on SVrider... Considered too soft and too short for racing it seems- everyone recommended the Penske units instead. Now, too soft just seems like nonsense to me, if your aftermarket shock's too soft it's because you've got the wrong spring in it...

I don't have a race opinion of course, just wondered what you reckon.

Will have to have another look at svrider.com to see what I can find.

To be honest I think you have hit the nail on the head. It would seem that their set up is lacking rather than being outside the capability of the shock. Having said that there are two different spec. shocks for the K3 and the cheaper of the two I wouldn't touch for track use even if it was free.

People tend to get sold on the spec. of the shock and the Penske stuff is certainly of a higher spec. than the equivalent Ohlins. Of course, it is more ocmplicated to set up due to the differetn high and low speed damping adjusters. I had a Penske on an ex-Sanyo Honda CBR600 a few years back and it was great once I'd found a good set up.

It's also interesting to note that as the shock heats up it's characteristics change. It's one of the reasons many people try to use heat wrap around the exhaust to prevent it getting warm. On a race bike this will never work and it's more useful to get the shock up to temperature so that it gives consistent results rather than trying to keep it cool. You can even by the equivalent of tyre warmers but designed to warm the shock!

Had a wade through some of the svrider.com articles. This is an interesting one...

http://www.svrider.com/phpbb/viewtop...ohlins&start=0

The main points seem to be that they are scraping the bodywork so they want to jack the back of the bike up some more. I would suggest that this is a factor of problematic race bodywork and having the forks dropped through the yokes too far. Not forgetting riding style of course!

As you can see from this photo it's a doddle to scrape bodywork, rear sets and pretty much everything else on a race SV650, particularly when your riding style sucks as much as mine!





P.S. I'm not even going to comment on the guy who had wound his rear preload all the way up in order to get more ride height. That's right up there with using car oil and brake disc grease!

[carelesschucca]

has anyone tried WP fork springs??? on the front, I'd love to know what their like I ordered a set B4 christmas from Vic Lamb and they still haven't turned up...

I phoned today (phoned them every wednesday so far) and they've given me the same answer as all the other times should be in on friday and we'll get them out to you!!!

[northwind]

I think one point that was well made about the Ohlins one is that it's built for the street, whcih I'd kind of agree with- they're durable and long-lived and ideally suited for street use, where a Penske one would be total overkill and a hassle for someone like myself...

WP have a great rep, there springs shpuld be basically as good as anyone elses... I just chose Ohlins fronts for the bling I looked at the WP ones but I found them hard to find, ordered some through Holeshot and they came back and said they had supplier problems...

I think one point that was well made about the Ohlins one is that it's built for the street, whcih I'd kind of agree with- they're durable and long-lived and ideally suited for street use, where a Penske one would be total overkill and a hassle for someone like myself...

Everything is built to a price. The Ohlins price tends to be a little cheaper than the Penske but I don't think that is a reflection of whether it is a street or a race shock, it is more down to the toys you get for free with it.

Think of it a different way, my Raptor has zero external adjustment on the forks. Most SV650s have nothing more than preload adjusters. Just because the earlier SV650s don't have the preload adjuster doesn't mean that they are any more, or less, capable than the other. It just means that you can get to a good setting faster when you have the ability to adjust things without delving inside the forks or the shock.

Once you get there it makes absolutely no difference at all that you have lots of twiddly bits (that's a technical term by the way) on the outside. if you can find a decent set up with a cheap item then I'd suggest that is a better than paying for something that is actually more complicated and could make getting to that set up point a lot harder.

At the end of the day you end up paying a great deal more for what is essentially a smaller improvement over the previous version at every step. Do you think the 20 grand WSB forks are *that* much better than the 1500 quid road and track forks? Even for most racing applications? It just takes a more capable rider with a bigger budget and greater set up skills to get value for their money.

A 100 quid GSXR shock is a big step up from the stock SV650 shock. The 400 pound Ohlins is a big step up from a well set up GSXR shock but not as great a difference as the GSXR one was from the SV shock. Add several hundred more pounds for a rebuilt Ohlins with different valving, spring rates, etc. and you will get an improvement again. At the end of the day you pay your money and make your choice!

WP have a great rep, there springs shpuld be basically as good as anyone elses... I just chose Ohlins fronts for the bling I looked at the WP ones but I found them hard to find, ordered some through Holeshot and they came back and said they had supplier problems...

The Ohlins springs and the KTech springs and most other springs are all made in just one or two factories around the world. If you still want the bling factor the KTech shock springs are made in the same factory, come in the same colour yellow and have the same codes printed on them. Aside from the fact it doesn't say Ohlins on it they are exactly the same item and a lot cheaper. Their fork springs are just the same as well (assuming they bothered doing them for the SV650).

Don't forget the TRAXXION DROP IN CARTRIDGE KITS.

This should transform the front end for under $1200 (us).

http://traxxion.com

A discussion about the KIT and most of the SV's fork upgrade options can be had here:

http://www.svrider.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=29302


BTW- I have an 2002 and I am waiting for the arrival of my F3 conversion forks from CycleZoo. I get cartridge style forks and can retain stock speedo, wheel ect... for $384 !! This included polishing the internals and proper setup for my weight and riding ability.