Doing mostly fast road and track day with my riding. having 2 fucked hips don't help me hang off the bike How much is good suspension set up for me worth? By that I mean Ohlins rear TTX shock and front internals is going to cost something like 2k'ish What alternatives are worth looking into and why? I intend to keep the blade for a few years yet and may even just keep it and buy another bike in a few years. I do really enjoy the blade So thoughts?
Matt, why don't you just have the original rear shock re-gassed and serviced then set up to suit your weight. Stage one conversion on the front forks is around £300/400, that's Ohlins springs and oil replaced. See how it feels for a reasonable amount of money.
to add I'm grinding the pegs at trackdays and finding the bike is a bit bouncy on the rear and dives to much under braking for my liking and I'm not the 9st guy the bike was probably set u for
See if you can root out a suspension specialist near to where you live as I believe they''ll make a better job of it.
JHS racing want me to but bling and expensive parts but I need to get my ass to this place that has been highly recommended MH Racing | No. 1 in Suspension Services & Development Technology
I rode the first model blade with 55,000 miles on it on a trackday at Oulton Park. Not realising how shagged the suspension was, everything grinding out, pegs, exhaust and finally my body when it let go and highsided me at 100 mph! It makes a tremendous difference having it set correctly ie. loads of clearance and confidence.
I've used MH Racing in the past when I first started doing tracks. They offer a service whereby you send them details of your bike and your weight and for a small fee they'll calculate your settings for you but really you need to take the bike to them for a proper job.
I've bought myself a maxton shock and was thinking about sending my forks and the shock back to maxton to be built for my weight.
+1 on getting it properly set up, makes a huge difference and doesn't need to be expensive as Firebloke said.
I can definately say the 2012 rear shock is better than the stock 2011 - loads going cheap on Ebay at the moment - a cheap upgrade for the rear end. I considered the Ktech valve mods etc for the front but thought when I sell the bike the mods would have to go with it - might be a bad selling point to some. I ended up buying a new pair of 2012 BPF off Ebay - not fitted yet but I'm sure they will be a worthwhile upgrade over the stock 2011.
Getting the bike set up at MCT Suspension on 19th April was going to do a feature on it after with pics and details etc currently have a TTX rear shock and Ohlins 30mm cartridge kit. Hoping to test out the results in July!
@ Dano, I use MCT for my suspension, bike always feels so much better afterwards, they are also really nice guys.
some great advice, going to book up once back on the road and see what I can get done for the standard set up first then look at other options after
From the bit of reading I've done on the subject the standard shocks and springs are perfectly serviceable for most road riders. The first thing to do is to get the suspension set up for your weight / riding style by a proper suspension guy. I had this done and it made a MASSIVE difference to the bike. From now on if I make any more mods to my bike to make it faster it'll be spent on suspension rather than trying to hike engine power. I was instantly quicker because the bike felt so much more planted. And remember this was just the standard suspension. The next step up the ladder, as far as I'm aware, is a fork re-valve and springs replaced on your standard shocks. I think I'll be doing this next. After that you're into replacing the whole shocks with fancy-pants Ohlins or something. I'd reckon this is only really of any use if you're regularly riding tracks or if you have money to burn. Just my two-penneth worth.
i had new springs and oil and a new spring n re gas then set up for me at mct and rode out on what felt like a new bike, quality lads and you can watch what they are doing,ask as many questions as you like with a lovely cup of tea
Good to hear ill definitely be putting the "ask as many questions as you like" bit to the test looking forward to it but won't be able to test it out until I get on track, hopefully in July!!
Maybe they will build some similar to this for the blade in the future: TTX 36 EC: "An investment that pays off" - says MOTORRAD! | Öhlins DTC https://www.motomummy.com/rear-shocks/ohlins-ttx36-mkii-mechatronics-shock/
