Hello everyone. Today has been a fantastic day ! For what seems like ages over here on the island, the sun shone all day ! It was like a fresh spring morning, and time to finally tackle the suspension on my rr6.. Ive been watching vids and reading threads and all the usual research, and after 22 years of riding and never touching my suspension through fear of just not getting it, it was time to turn my blade into the super sharp weapon it was aways destined to be.. Armed with Motorcycle Suspension Setup, i headed to the garage and started the measuring process, writing down measurements and all that on a lump of cardboard i ripped off a box as you do and it all started to make more sense and wasn't as scary as i first thought ! I had my seals and oil done earlier in the week and had just set everything to how it stated in the owners manual so was fresh and primed for a tinker. First i did the rear and the suggestion was for Rider sag 30-40mm and static 5-10mm. I am about 16 stone by the way ! Without me touching anything it was giving me 53mm of rider sag and 7mm of static ! I had to wind the preload up to the max at 10 in the end and i finished up with 36mm rider 6mm static, which i thought was good and as suggested. The front i did as recommended on the page and that is to put cable ties around the bottom of your forks so they will be pushed down easily by the dust seals so you can measure travel. You want about 10mm between bottom of the fork and the dust seal when its at its maximum breaking/ potholing. This was fun because it suggests you go out and have some as you would and do some stoppies and emergency breaking etc. I haven't been out on the bike for a few weeks and what with what felt like spring in the air, off i went to have fun... The whole bike instantly felt better with just the rear done ! I took off in the direction of a good roundabout (not many here on the island) and attacked it. The bike whipped round lovely, pulled a rather large and unnerving power wheelie on exit, (which it doesn't often do and didn't get dealt with as well as i should have, but those are something else i want to work on), still giving it plenty i hit the brakes as hard as i dared a few times to get the dive reading and actually managed, what felt like, a half decent stoppie.. Would have looked a complete hooligan to onlookers and police officers but i did have fun ! Road back to my garage to get the measurement... With the preload set on 7 turns as factory i ended up with 20mm gap between the fork bottom and the seal the cable tie marker told me ! I backed them off to soften them to 3 turns and went out to do it all again... Got back, measured where the cable tie had moved to and it was at 15mm... Still 5mm to go :/ ! I then set it at 1 turn preload and did it all again (And achieved the best stoppie yet (Shit myself).. Remeasured it and got it down to 12mm and have left it at that ! The recommendation said it should be somewhere between 35-48mm rider sag and 25-30mm static. I ended up with 48 rider and 29 static, which is at the top end of the scale. Conclusion is it does feel better to me. I haven't touched the compression and rebound yet, so thats next but it seemed much slicker, grippier and even my little winter chicken strips had gone ! Maybe a lil choppy on the front but got to get my head around the next bit and do more tinkering, plus these island roads are shite ! Ive looked at what other people on here have used that are about the same weight and they are quite a bit different :/.. I need to go to a specialist really to have it set up i suppose but its been interesting. I don't like the fact I've had to go maximum on the rear preload and minimum on the front to get the sag right.. Sounds wrong to me so if anyone has any suggestions or feedback id love to hear your opinions !! Best wishes.. G
I replied to your other post so might as well do the same here. Were you in full-on riding position whilst measuring sag? Amazing how much extra weight goes through the rear shock when you're a bit upright... might explain why you needed so much rear preload. As I said, im sure mine ended up at 3 notches from full, and im a solid 100kgs. Thinking about it, measuring whilst sat upright would also explain why you needed so little preload on the front...
The reason the OP needed max preload at the rear is because he's 16st like me! What he really needs is new springs suited to his weight as the standard springs and aimed at lighter riders. His preload will then end up adjusted mid way, as it should be.
It doesn't sound right having the front preload at minimum. The amount of oil you have in the forks will also determine how far they will travel. I would add a bit of front preload as your measurements are at the soft end of the scale.
That all sounds feasible guys ! I was sitting a bit more upright as had helmet and jacket plonked on the tank ! I was kinda balancing with a finger touching the wall for support while it was getting measured.. Thought i was getting somewhere too but as i said. the minimum fork and max shock preload really didn't sound right !
Like I say though, I'm 100kgs (which is 15.75st, for those stuck in the dark ages ) and I didn't need to go to full preload to get the required sag on my RR7. The key to setting the sag is to be sat on the bike the position you will generally be riding in. When I set mine, my mate (world's most anal person!) made me get my full riding kit on, and even sit on the bike with my helmet/gloves on! His thinking being that my body position (and hence weight distribution) may be affected slightly by the kit.....
Im about 98kg but i did drape my leathers over the tank and put my helmet on top but now realise i wouldn't have been sitting in my normal riding position properly when measurements were taken ! Ive stuck it back to standard plus a couple of preload turns this morning and waiting to go to Steve Jordans in Surrey to get it done properly mate !
