Suspension ??
 

noticed on this bike that i have no chicken strips on a 190 rear, but like half an inch on the front, so i assume that i need to raise the forks a little in the front, BUT does it really matter that i'm not using all the front tire, it doesnt turn in very quick, but i like the way it handles,


also does anybody know how i should set up the front suspension for my weight? its set at stock now, but i weight 215 or so, everybody that i know says i need to stiffen it WAY up?

gonna put a zip tie around the front forks and see if i'm bottoming out the front forks, any other suggestions? oh and if i am bottoming them out, what do i need to adjust?

Take it to wheelers, he will set it up completely for like $25

where's that

near robbinsville close to the gap. If you are at the gap, head down 129 and it's on the right, right before you get to robbinsville. It's a blue garage. Ken Wheeler is pretty freakin cool dude too.

If you can't make it to wheelers, the first thing is to figure out if your springs are stiff enough. But it depends on your riding style, and the size of bumps in the road. The goal is to use almost all of the travel over the biggest bumps, You don't want to bottom out though. You can increase pre-load on the springs up to the point you can't get it to the unloaded sag spec for the bike. if it still needs more preload, you need a stiffer spring. Once you have a spring setting you use the damper to dampen out the spring. So if you have a stiffer spring, you'll need to up the damping a like amount or there abouts.

Size of your chicken strips has little to do with suspension...More to do with how you ride, body positioning. You can take the strips off completely with a wrong suspension setup.

Find someone who knows what their doing, have them set your sag (springpreload), then the compression damping, then the rebound per your personal feelings/preferences. Then ride. I bet the strips stay the same.

Yea I replaced the springs on my bike because I weigh 245 lbs and the the bike is set-up for a 160 lb rider. The rear is the most important and easiest to do. Race Tech will sell you a new spring for about $100. The forks suck to do if you don't have the right tools/experience. I would get a rear spring for your weight and set the sag and call it good if I were you.

Hey Trip,when we go to the Gap,I'd like to stop there to have Wheeler double check my settings. Should I make an appointment and if so,do you have the number handy? It's been YEARS since I've been by there,is it the same guys running it all this time?

it's first come first serve

it's one guy, ken wheeler

Hmmm....I know there's probably not much that can be done to my bike, but it would be cool if he'd look at it at least. Tigger, I'll race you to him! :D


:lmao: :lmao:

yeah, not saying i have perfect form or anything, but i'll ride with guys draggin knee, hauling ass, etc....we'll be riding the same speed all together and when we pull off, their tires will have no strips on front or rear, and mine will on the front and sometimes just a hair on the rear, but i notice i get my whole body off and most these guys leave their uppper body up on the bike?

You're on! Loser goes down on the winner!

I generally scrub the whole back tire and have strips on the front as well and just figured as long as it rides well, handles well, etc that I wouldn't change anything but would be curious to know what you find out...

sounds to me kinda like a "Win Win" situation

That is the preferred way. Lean off and keep the fat part of the tire in contact longer. Until you get MotoGP good and then they lean the bike so far they can't lean off.

I typically get more strip on the front of the tire than the rear on the street, which tells me I am leaving a little margin on entrance and getting it on good from center out.

Race tires I notice I get them scrubbed all the way BUT I think I start out the races with good body position and then get lazy as my stint gets on...The more tired i become the less I move around and hang off and the more tire I use to keep the same lap times...

You would be wasting money with the SV, you need to change the shock and springs to have any kind of impact on it.

Actually Rogue, someone who has some suspension rebuild experience could fix you right up. I had RaceTech put fork spring preload adj. (now stock on the 650) cartridge emulators, stiffer springs, and heavier oil in my front and a FOX Shock in the rear and there was a huge difference to stock. My SV 650 ruled on the bumpy CMRA racetracks!

I have a rear shock off a gix...just never installed it. According to SVR, I really don't need it for my weight...the stock shock is fine, but needs to be adjusted in properly. My bike is still pretty much on stock settings now. :idk:

I do have thicker fork oil. I changed that when I replaced the fork seals.

Prolly, all you'll ever need:idk:

ok, i put a zip tie around my fork to see how much it was travelling and to see if i was bottoming it out, i got on the brakes hard to the point of almost locking up the front wheel, so does this look about right? i've read you want at least 10mm remaining, i have around 15 or so, so i think this part is ok?

Well it looks fine if that doesn't have you in a coil bind. If that is bottomed out you need more preload.

Really what you need is to go to www.racetech.com and see what they recommend as static sag and loaded sag. You will need a friend and a tape measure. Actually the intsructions are there on the site...

http://www.racetech.com/SubMenu.asp?...howPage=street

Part of that can be suspension setup, but a big contributing factor to this is that the average rider comes much closer to using the potential of the rear than the front. Using the capabilities of the front end of the bike is something few riders will ever explore, and this can leave parts of the front tire unused or barely used. Trying to read a tire can be a very complicated thing. There are a lot of variables involved, and many times people interpret what they are seeing incorrectly.

You are so right there. Although,I'll add that when I raised my rear suspension and lowered my front,I now have almost equal "chicken strips" front to back,where before my rears were almost gone and had huge front strips. A lot has to do with tire profile,tire pressure,etc.

Agreed.

In general, on a sportbike, the front tire chicken strip is often a decent indicator of how far you're pushing. The rear strip is gone long before you are close to the limits.

You'll usually only see a front chicken strip completely gone on a track bike.

It doesn't mean your bike is set up incorrectly like you mention in your initial post though...

The edge profile of the front tire is usually a lot steeper than the rear because it's narrower and needs to be pinched together to fit on the narrow front rim... therefore it requires more lean angle to remove the front strip.

After being on the track my front tires still often have about 5mm of unused tire. I'm slow, though...

Rogue was your bike lowered, that will also affect the handling. I dont think you would need other suspension components. First off the bike is set up stock for someone heavier than you, and with your riding style you realy may not need the high end suspension parts. Now if the SV had that damn rotary damper then yo uneed to get rid of that pos component.

Tom

most the guys i ride with use ALL of the front on the street, and most on race tires...but i ride the same pace ? but i'm not too concerned with it, was really just wanting to make sure i wasnt bottoming the forks out

Noooooo!!!!!! :panic: I refuse to give myself a handicap just because I'm short. :lol:

to give yourself a handicap you'd need a ladder...


redflip

:lol:

Tom

Har har! You're both funny redflip


Shush you. I carry a step stool with me and not afraid to set it in front of you so I can reach up and kick you in the knee caps. :lmao:

This reminded me of something else to add regarding reading tires. I have had setups that left no unused strips without even being near race pace, and I have had setups that I could not possible use all of the front tire no matter what I did. I had one particular front that I trail braked all the way to a front end tuck, and still had unused portions of the tire on that side. Tires can be very misleading when you take them at face value.