From former member "JINKSTER"
This long post is for those of you who may be like me and use/ride your Hayabusa as "The Ultimate Hyper Sport Tourer".
While the Busa is blessed with one he11 for power engine it's stock suspension leaves much to be desired by the curve slicing road warriors amoungst us. To wit?..it's front forks simply lack the same amount of travel normally found in full blown RR type sportbikes which to me means that it is that much more important that we make the most of what little suspension travel we do have. Also?...while attending this last Busa Bash at Deals Gap I promised a bunch of members here that when I did get the chance to properly address my new-to-me Busa's suspension that I would share that information here with the members of hayabusa.org...this is me fulfilling that promise.
"MOTORCYCLE SUSPENSION" is a deep subject...a physics ruled applied science with so much to know that I will only touch on the necessary parts of it here and be as concise as possible which will hopefully include enough information that you can make the most out of...
"ADJUSTING YOUR BUSA'S STOCK SUSPENSION FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE RIDING."
RULE #1: Forget everything the Service Manual or Owners Manual recomends as those settings and adjustments are extremely generic in nature and only meant as a starting point recomendation for riders of grossly varying and unknown weights...as in...ya might as well consult "The Guesser" at the county fair and in a word?..hooey...now here's how to do it the right way.
"Measuring Static/Sag": is really a misnomer as what you'll be measuring are these three suspension measurements (both front & rear)...
1. "Full Extension" (just what it implies..your forks and/or shock fully extended and this measurement is taken only for purposes of baseline reference)
2. "Static Sag"(or free sag...which is the amount of compressed travel under JUST the weight of the bike alone) and finally...
3. "Laden Sag" (the total amount of compressed travel with both the weight of the bike itself AND the rider aboard)
Note: "FULL EXTENTION" measurements are not 5to be confused with "Actual Suspension Travel" and are only for use as reference dimensions from which to base your sag settings from as already know that "The Actual Suspension Travel Specs" for the Hayabusa are...
FRONT: 4.7" (120mm)
REAR: 5.5" (140mm)
So do not confuse "Full Extension" with or assume that it is "Actual Suspension Travel".
The mission here is to attempt to compress approx. 33% (1/3rd) of the suspensions actual travel as "Laden Sag Compression" both front and rear. Lighter or Heavier riders may have to re-spring. I weigh 240 and will have to re-spring my front as it is way too soft but I was just barely able to attain *NEAR good performance settings by socking down the spring preload adjusters and stiffening up the compression rebound settings.
"THE FRONT FORKS"
With the 1 1/4" Genmar Riser I already had an added level of difficulty but it worked out to my advantage as instead of eye-balling the 8 engraved lines on the spring pre-load adjusters?...I counted revs by marking my 17mm socket and spinning them all the way out from flush for a total of 12 counted revolutions like so...
<!--EDIT|badboysbailagnt
Reason for Edit: None given...|1144027322 -->
This long post is for those of you who may be like me and use/ride your Hayabusa as "The Ultimate Hyper Sport Tourer".
While the Busa is blessed with one he11 for power engine it's stock suspension leaves much to be desired by the curve slicing road warriors amoungst us. To wit?..it's front forks simply lack the same amount of travel normally found in full blown RR type sportbikes which to me means that it is that much more important that we make the most of what little suspension travel we do have. Also?...while attending this last Busa Bash at Deals Gap I promised a bunch of members here that when I did get the chance to properly address my new-to-me Busa's suspension that I would share that information here with the members of hayabusa.org...this is me fulfilling that promise.
"MOTORCYCLE SUSPENSION" is a deep subject...a physics ruled applied science with so much to know that I will only touch on the necessary parts of it here and be as concise as possible which will hopefully include enough information that you can make the most out of...
"ADJUSTING YOUR BUSA'S STOCK SUSPENSION FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE RIDING."
RULE #1: Forget everything the Service Manual or Owners Manual recomends as those settings and adjustments are extremely generic in nature and only meant as a starting point recomendation for riders of grossly varying and unknown weights...as in...ya might as well consult "The Guesser" at the county fair and in a word?..hooey...now here's how to do it the right way.
"Measuring Static/Sag": is really a misnomer as what you'll be measuring are these three suspension measurements (both front & rear)...
1. "Full Extension" (just what it implies..your forks and/or shock fully extended and this measurement is taken only for purposes of baseline reference)
2. "Static Sag"(or free sag...which is the amount of compressed travel under JUST the weight of the bike alone) and finally...
3. "Laden Sag" (the total amount of compressed travel with both the weight of the bike itself AND the rider aboard)
Note: "FULL EXTENTION" measurements are not 5to be confused with "Actual Suspension Travel" and are only for use as reference dimensions from which to base your sag settings from as already know that "The Actual Suspension Travel Specs" for the Hayabusa are...
FRONT: 4.7" (120mm)
REAR: 5.5" (140mm)
So do not confuse "Full Extension" with or assume that it is "Actual Suspension Travel".
The mission here is to attempt to compress approx. 33% (1/3rd) of the suspensions actual travel as "Laden Sag Compression" both front and rear. Lighter or Heavier riders may have to re-spring. I weigh 240 and will have to re-spring my front as it is way too soft but I was just barely able to attain *NEAR good performance settings by socking down the spring preload adjusters and stiffening up the compression rebound settings.
"THE FRONT FORKS"
With the 1 1/4" Genmar Riser I already had an added level of difficulty but it worked out to my advantage as instead of eye-balling the 8 engraved lines on the spring pre-load adjusters?...I counted revs by marking my 17mm socket and spinning them all the way out from flush for a total of 12 counted revolutions like so...
<!--EDIT|badboysbailagnt
Reason for Edit: None given...|1144027322 -->