When I bought my bike several months ago, a friend set-up the suspension for me. But now I want it to be done by a shop instead to have it as accurate as possible. I called a local shop and the best they said they could do was reset it to factory settings. I weigh 220 (yes, time to start hitting the gym) and they said I would have to change out my whole front and rear suspension in order for it to be set-up for my weight... Then I asked them how much it would cost for them to just reset it to factory settings and they said they might have to drop the rear suspension if it doesn't adjust easily and all this other crap. They quoted $200 for this... Now I'm no expert but I call absolute bullsh*t! I've read other posts of guys getting their stuff set-up for less than $50. I called 2 other shops and one said they don't do suspension set-ups (because there is no where to test ride the bike ) and the other said I'd have to bring a spec sheet of what I want then they could set it up... Thinking of just trying to set it up myself at this point. I've watched some YouTube vids of Dave Moss setting the sag and it doesn't seem too difficult but I'm just confused as to what would be the best specs for street riding and for my weight. I definitely will drop weight within the next couple months (below 200), so I'm sure my weight won't be a problem by then if it is. Lemme know what y'all think.
Even at 180 pounds you would need new springs to be able to set it up right. The factory springs are pretty soft. Street duty is not going to be the same as track duty for the settings (as you already know). The $50 set up is probably from trackside support at a race or track day.
Yeah, I see what you mean. At this point for strictly street riding would you recommend me just playing around with everything until I find something I'm comfortable with? Or just leave it as is? I'm definitely not willing to drop money on new suspension as this is just a street bike.
Don't waste your time with a regular bike shop. They are just parts changers. Unless their mechanic just happens to be a savvy track guy, they don't know shit about suspension tuning. It's just not in the scope of their service. Your friend is probably a better resource. Verify your sag settings with your friend, grab a book about tuning like the one by Andrew Trevitt, and play around with it your self. Keep in mind that there is no such thing as the "right" settings. On the street especially, there's so many different conditions that you encounter you just need to find something that feels best for most of the riding you do and doesn't cause you problems any other time.
Getting your sag (pre-load) set would be the first thing to do. After that make sure your compression and rebound are even between the front and rear. Do this by pushing down at the middle of the bike and then releasing, almost like two handed dribbling. Make sure your front and rear move up and down at the same rate.
After that ride and fine tune. The best way to describe would be a punching bag.
Compression settings would be how the bag reacts to taking the punch. Too soft and the bag just collapses when you hit it. To hard and you'll break your hand. You need to find the point in the middle where it can take the hit, absorb the energy and feel comfortable to you.
Rebound would be how it recovers from the punch. Too little rebound and the bag will take forever to return to it's start position and won't be back in place to take the next punch. Too much rebound and you will feel it trying to push your hand backwards as you are still following through with the punch.
Just like with a punching bag. Someone who hits hard and fast will use a different bag (or settings) than someone that's just doing light work.
Go to the sticky in the suspension setting section. Have a buddy help you out and get your baseline. That thread is well written by DanQ, who does suspensions for a living
These kind of charts drive me up the walls, they don't take into account the fluid viscosity in your individual bike, account for deviations in oil height, the fact that a lot of dealerships **** up the rebound rod position when rebuilding forks, etc.
Long story short, respringing your forks is easy if you are willing to take the time to watch some YouTube videos and google around a bit for -proper- spring rates. A lot of the time you can be cheap and find fork springs for another bike that match the rate you are going for, even if it requires mixing two different spring rates (yes, this doesn't hurt anything and is done a lot - 1.0 spring in one leg, and vary the other).
Respringing the rear shock is more annoying and might be worth pulling yourself and taking to a shop with a spring compressor.
Bang for the buck - Ohlins 20mm valve kit installed yourself and send the rear shock off to GP Suspension or Lindemann Engineering for a revalve. If you want to spend a little more, send your forks off to Lindemann Engineering to have Ed valve them for you. They will be different than the generic Ohlins SBK stack and better.
Pay the money to a trackside suspension guy for a baseline.
I went the cheap way - Ohlins 20mm valve kit, CBR1000RR RaceTech .95 springs, and a used Ohlins rear shock. I think I've got $600 in it total, worth every single penny.
I was quoted in the $1200-1400 range to revalve the stock forks and rear shock by a few known suspension shops. I'd spend the money if I wasn't such a cheap-ass.
Oh. Also.
How does the bike feel under braking?
Is the bike easy or hard to turn in?
Does the bike hold a line mid corner, does it run wide, or does it want to keep turning in?
Does the bike want to finish a corner or does it want to run wide?
These are the most important questions to be thinking through as you ride when you're trying to get a bike set up.
the best thing you can do is send it to a suspension service shop and have them tune the forks and shock. you give them your weight and they know what will put you in the ballpark.
but...pick the right shop. you want to send it to one that owns a suspension dyno. they can test their setup to verify it's correct.
traxxion dynamics has one of them. and they build their own valves etc. Shock Dyno Testing
now, if you're not that serious about it setting the sag is the 1st thing you need to do. this will tell you if your springs are adequate. maybe not enough for racing but possibly good enough for street riding.
if you can't achieve the proper sag numbers then you will have to upgrade the springs.
you know whats funny?? My 220lb but uses the exact same suspension settings as a top 5 national expert...lol. Even though our pace is 5 seconds apart!
I bolded the important part of the equation. Soft is necessarily bad... but again pace dictates feel.
The stock suspension isnt terrible. You could spend <$200 on some fork springs & rear shock springs to get you into the proper range. That assumes you can remove the components & do the work yourself.
Also do not take any advice from yamahacrazy. Hes an anonymous twit that thinks you can find technical advice on youtube.
Thanks to those who actually read what I was looking for.. No track where I live.. So spending hundreds of dollars on a street set-up is really pointless for me. I've found a good point to start off with and am going from there.
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