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- Thread starter Twotons
- Start date
The short answer is yes, it will make the bike more nimble but less stable.
2mm at a time is a typical adjustment.
It's best not to mess around with settings if you don't have at least a basic idea of what the changes are actually doing. Get a book and read it. Sport Bike Suspension Tuning by Andrew Trevitt or the Racetech Suspension Bible are good reads.
2mm at a time is a typical adjustment.
It's best not to mess around with settings if you don't have at least a basic idea of what the changes are actually doing. Get a book and read it. Sport Bike Suspension Tuning by Andrew Trevitt or the Racetech Suspension Bible are good reads.
Also keep in mind if you drop the front you unload the rear so hi sides are more likely. So as advised,,talk to a tuner becasue as I have learned,, for every action there is an equal and opposite "RE-ACTION' The re-action is what hurts you.
Tire pressure also makes a big difference in handling. John Sharrard was helping me set up my bike one day, and I said the same thing as you, it was hard to turn in a few spots on the track. Instead of messing with geometry since we had just got the rear tire working very well, he said to raise the front tire pressure by 3psi (I was on Pirelli Diable SBK slicks, had 30psi hot). Going to 33psi hot made a HUGE difference! I was able to get the bike from side to side much easier.
Fixing a broken rear shock bolt also helps with suspension
Why are we to assume that you cannot change the rear ride height?
Many late model Kawasaki bikes have the rear shock mounted to a clevis which has a vertical stud projecting up through the frame, and by design, that stud has plenty of extra length on it. To change rear ride height, you take the weight off the suspension by whatever means are suitable, take the nut off the top (raise fuel tank to get access), and slip shims between the clevis and the frame. Stock, there are probably already a couple of shims there. The shims that you are meant to use have an open side ... you can use plain ordinary washers, all it means is that you have to pull the stud all the way out the bottom in order to install them. Every millimeter of shim thickness will change rear ride height by somewhere near 2.5mm.
Changing rear ride height in this manner will also change the swingarm angle which will affect the anti-squat geometry and that will affect grip accelerating out of corners.
No one said this was easy.
Many late model Kawasaki bikes have the rear shock mounted to a clevis which has a vertical stud projecting up through the frame, and by design, that stud has plenty of extra length on it. To change rear ride height, you take the weight off the suspension by whatever means are suitable, take the nut off the top (raise fuel tank to get access), and slip shims between the clevis and the frame. Stock, there are probably already a couple of shims there. The shims that you are meant to use have an open side ... you can use plain ordinary washers, all it means is that you have to pull the stud all the way out the bottom in order to install them. Every millimeter of shim thickness will change rear ride height by somewhere near 2.5mm.
Changing rear ride height in this manner will also change the swingarm angle which will affect the anti-squat geometry and that will affect grip accelerating out of corners.
No one said this was easy.
Fixing a broken rear shock bolt also helps with suspension
LOL.. yes. I'll get to that soon.
I have no idea... doing about 2 minute lap times at SMP Long on an SV650.
Really? Wow. What tire was it? Pirelli has such a soft carcass I would expect it to feel like crap if it started to drop that much. Dunlop maybe wouldn't be so bad.
KR106 Dunlop.
You can always add a couple turns of rear preload which would help.
OR he could just go and get some help from someone that knows what they are doing and not try to do anything on it at all
What fun would that be? If you have the time to mess with it, adding rear preload (or ride height) or raising the forks is easy and 100% reversible. I figure as long as I measure things properly and make good notes, there is never any harm in experimenting. That's how we learn. Of course it is also good to do a bit of reading so you actually know something about how things work before you start....
Well just because he has someone do the work doesn't mean they won't explain what they did and it won't be %100 perfect either which means he gets to start from a good baseline and fine tune from there gaining knowledge as he goes.
