suspension settings

[daraz]

Just wondering how do you guys find the standard settings...
It seems kind of hard, especially front, although I'm ok with it as on my previous bike I had it set up kind of firm.... I was wondering.... Is stock setting at the rear good enough for high speed highwar riding?...Or would it make it wallow around a bit.

Also any of you soften the front still maintaining high speed stability?

Apologies if that topic has been beat to death .

 

[EAKbusa]

The standard settings (settings from the factory) are a little soft for my style of riding and I only weigh 145 lbs. I raised the preload front and rear as well as compression dampening and find it much more stable under hard braking and accelleration.

Keep in mind that you should adjust a little at a time until you find the ride quality that you are after. And if you are very light weight (such as me) it may be fine as is unless you ride aggressively (like I do). The manual describes how to do all of this.

 

[WWJD]

I'm guessing your busa is fairly new? Meaning still kinda stiff and solid as you get used to it? The default setting is setup for 2 riders from the factory. I beleive generally it's better to have it stiffer than looser on sport bikes, especially for higher speed stability. I can't recommend loosening it up any because as you get more used to opening it up and throwing it around, it will FEEL looser over time. I took mine to teh shop and had them set the sag for my weight/body position, and tighten things up for trackdays. Now, I'm totally used to those settings and wish it was even tighter. SPORTRIDER.COM has some "Recommended" settings but I don't know if they are for street or track.

Keep in mind, this bike is designed to go 186 miles per hour, so the settings are done for a reason. If you change them, I wouldn't recommend really hammering on the bike... just maybe some 35 mph cruises to church and back twice a week

 

[epicrisis]

For setting and places to find setting for most bikes, check out this thread:

 

[Sane_man]

I've taken a 3-part motorcycle suspension class, and just turning the clicking screws is not how you adjust suspension. You have to adjust the preload for your weight before you do anything else, otherwise you'll just be turning screws forever trying to get it right.

This article from Sport Rider is pretty close to how it should be done.



I only have the sheets from slides on how to do it properly and was taught as a hands-on class by an accomplished AFM racer. His class was easier to understand then reading through everything in this link, but it will still get you there.

 

[daraz]

Thanks guys. I wasn't really thinking of softening it. I think setting up a bike properly is very cruitial for good riding and doing it correctly improves alot on safety. I don't really know how to do it, to tell the truth, although I've been riding long enough to know how important that is. It's always those small differences, like tire pressure, bike set-up, that get overlooked and make most difference ( like when cornering , or even riding agressively around in traffic).....

On my last bike I've also firmed it up alot, but I've used a magazine as guideline with the rider that was about my weight ( 74kg, 145-150lbs) ..... I don't want to just tie it up in knots, as that would make it much worse than original....thats why my question...