Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Hi all,
Just setting up my suspension at the moment after a lot of wallowing on the rear end when having it cranked through the corner. I suspected that my ride height was incorrect when i sat my arse on the seat the bike only dropped a minimal amount (5mm). Now i have adjusted my suspension setup as per a previous post and i seem to have come across a problem.

When i set the rider sag to 30mm i then try to measure the static sag (height of bike with no weight on swingarm-height of bike with weight of bike on swing arm) (5-10mm nominal) the height does not change???? can this cause problems? Spring too stiff!!!
Now i also noticed thati could not achieve 30+ mm on the preload on the rear no matter how much i adjusted it.
Dave (madkaw), you said to me at the track last time to get 40mm on the rider sag, how can i do this with the current OEM springs, shock etc?
But all in all i took her for some twisties and she performed much better, still a little bit of a wallow but with a dash of less rebound that soughted her out nicely.
Cheers

A guide is usually 25 -30mm for the track, this would mean with sticky tyres and pushing it, or 30 - 35 for the road. 40mm may be a little to soft (I'm sure I wouldn't have said 40.. did I.?) but it depends on how you like the bike to feel, some prefer the softer settings as they like to cruise more than others.
I wouldn't be too concerned the bike has little or no sag in its own weight as this is supposed to be only 5 - 10 mm anyway... It does suggest though, that the spring is too hard if you have the preload completly wound off and it only sags 30mm under your weight...
The more you ride the softer it will get..

Thanks dave, yeah i was not really concerned about the 5-10 mm thing, i thought over time i will probably get that when the spring compresses a bit. I have it set for 30 mm at the moment and by golly it feels like a bike... not a big pogo stick or a lump of jelly.
Thanks for your help.

It's funny what you get used to though.
I was thinking mine was wallowing around a bit but I knew I had it setup right. Then it was in having some work done and I had a loaner bike...a vtr250 It was great fun to ride but of course the suspension was horrible. Then when I got back on my bike it felt like I was sitting on a plank between two ladders

Been lurking on this one, Slowly sneaking up on the Tiggr in levels of confidence, I've played with rebound and dampning a bit to get it where it doesnt want to Punch me over the Handlebars any more. But i still feel like im Sitting on top of a Rain water Tank with a Rocket attached to the bottom of it. Maybe when we Qlds get more rides up someone up here will help me set it up Properly. No way its happy with my 55kg on it & i dont believe Bike shops really give a bugger about set up.
Cheers Brett

I was happy with my setup when I first got my bike, but after a shop totally F*CKED up the settings on my suspension (front forks were totally different),

I took it to a well known and respected bike mechanic here in Perf... He adjusted it to suit my weight and riding style... And I've never looked back - it was better than new.

My recommendation is to talk to someone who actually KNOWS what they're doing - it's worth the extra $$.

I don't mean that you shouldn't try setting it up, just that experience counts for alot in this area...

Oh, and the local track is a great place to find such ppl...

Pontikat wrote:....happy with my 55kg on it...

Faaaark! 55kg on a 9r! That'll go

yes not a 120kg on a zx7r.

still goes

chris,
hows the suspension on your bike now?
would you be interested in getting together to compare suspension settings, maybe even a bike swap for a short ride to see how the other bike feels?

madkaw noticed a few months back that my right fork was (at a guess just by looking) 1mm higher out of the steering head clamp (or whatever it is you call it) than the left.. it took me a while to do something about it, but i did get round to it eventually, like the weekend before last! that was when my front tyre was completely rooted - 4000km or so in the middle - and almost smooth on the sides, phil can attest to this, having had a look at it when i dropped off his ohlins shock the other day... anyway, i did the forks, it didnt exactly do wonders what with the front tyre being shagged bigtime, the steering got heavier and heavier til it became a right chore just to ride the 10km or a bit less to work in peak.. my front discs were stuffed as well, had been for 10,000km, with a bad wobble and they almost were on the serviceable minimum of 4.5mm.. damn the place i bought the bike from!

so.. after a few discussions with phil, i bit the bullet last weekend and laid out the dollars for a set of reco ZX12R discs (yes they fit an 02 9r!) and a new diablo corsa... whacked everything back on the bike, wound the preload out half a turn, turned the compression in 1/16th.. took it for a spin.. and then i just kept riding.. it felt like it bloody well should!!!!! like it had power steering and could read the road, tipped in even better than before so i'm attributing the newfound steering joy to the fork adjustment and new tyre...

phil, i'd be interested to see how your bike feels with the ohlins on it and with how you've set it up as well. still doing the nasho on the sunday of the coming long weekend? looking this far ahead, i should be able to make it altho i know it'll be a nice and relaxed pace...

thanks phil for your advice and info, and madkaw for pointing out the fork adjustment in the first place - its all going into this little pea brain of mine!

chris, get back to me sometime.

Pontikat wrote:... i dont believe Bike shops really give a bugger about set up.

Just for interest, I am pretty sure TopRider do a course on bike set up etc. I think the price is pretty reasonable, $80 or something...hmm...looking at their website it is a 4 hour course...nope it's $110.

Worth it? Maybe. If I ever get a bike that has adjustable suspension I might have a look...

Have a look here: http://www.toprider.com.au/trackday_celender.htm

Thanks Felix and i had seen that couse info, unfortunately all finances have gone on fixing the old Fzr6 for Janelle, Was ok for me to punch to work as it was but not for someone to learn on. $1200 New rotors, pads, 6 caliper kits, fork seals n covers, clutch cable and a service. Add PI trip and descent aparrell and it'll be after Xmas before i get some coin for this type of stuff. Still lurking on any further tips on this post, been good so far.
Cheers Brett