Suspension settings for 12/13 Big Piston Fork models

Discussion in 'Mods, Upgrades, Accessories and Products' started by sinewave, Jun 11, 2013.

  1. PeterT

    PeterT Active Member

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    Still happy with these settings but now running Pilot road 3s and found these quite stiff. I have decreased the rebound on the front and rear by half a turn which resulted in a more compliant ride as the rear tyre was showing signs of too much rebound!!!
    I am still going to change my springs to 9.5nm as the springs are still to heavy for me at 13.5 stone, but K-Tech have not made any linear springs yet for the big piston showa forks, also my rear probably needs an oil change seeing as it has done close to 12000 miles now and is feeling rather saggy.
     
  2. BoroRich

    BoroRich Elite Member

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    Sorry if I'm going over old ground here but perhaps someone can enlighten me.

    My 2010 Blade has the big piston forks that were fitted to the bike by the previous owner @ColinBR. I took the bike to my go-to suspension dude for him to set it up for me as I've had this done with previous bikes and it worked a treat.

    As usual he got me sat on the bike in full gear and took his measurements and made his adjustments. Basically softening the bike off a lot for road use (and the fact that Colin's a bit more sturdily built than little old me :D). I took it for a ride and it felt much more compliant. Unfortunately I asked him to stiffen it back up a little bit for me. On poor roads it feels like I'm riding a pneumatic drill down the road :D I'm getting bounced all over the place.

    I can't really be bothered to ride back down to see the guy right now as it's a 2 hour round trip so I figure I'll give these settings a try first and if that doesn't solve it I'll make the journey.

    Now this is where I'm getting a little bit confused. On the BPFs am I right in thinking that,

    * Preload is the adjuster at the bottom of the forks?

    * Rebound is the TEN(sion) adjuster on the top left of the fork?

    * Compression is the COM adjuster on the top right?

    If the suspension guy has set the preload with me on it I don't really need to mess about with that. I only need to adjust the top two adjusters, starting with the TEN and then doing the COM?
     
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  3. tuktuk

    tuktuk Elite Member

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    Yup sounds right to me!

    Have you got your current settings noted down?
     
  4. BoroRich

    BoroRich Elite Member

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    No. I didn't get them off the guy so I don't know where I'm at at the moment.
     
  5. BoroRich

    BoroRich Elite Member

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    Well.......turns out the front and rear rebounds were set 1 turn out from full hard :confused:

    Set the front rebound 3 turns out from hard and the compression at 6.25 turns.

    The rear rebound at 2 and the compression at 2.5 and voila. Feels spot on :D
     
    #25 BoroRich, Aug 6, 2017
    Last edited: Aug 6, 2017
  6. thewiz

    thewiz Active Member

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    Is it the same on the 08-11 forks? Preload at the bottom?
     
  7. BoroRich

    BoroRich Elite Member

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    I'm actually not sure which ones I have. In any case those settings have really worked.
     
  8. BoroRich

    BoroRich Elite Member

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    The preload is at the bottom, yes :)
     
  9. ColinBR

    ColinBR God Like

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    Hi mate. You have the BPF forks as you say.

    The 08-10 model uses standard forks which has the preload adjuster on the top of the forks.

    You could always call the guy who set your suspension and ask him what he origanally set the forks at when he softened them off. After all you did pay for the service and he should have supplied you with the settings in the first place.
     
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  10. BoroRich

    BoroRich Elite Member

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    To be honest I'm chuffed with my work today. It feels just how I want.
     

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