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Anyone in gta do suspension setups?
- Thread starter Xtina
- Start date
I guess the question is, how much is your time worth?
lets use the racetrack as a basis for comparison.
In your case, what do you do if your bike is experiencing suspension action that you don't like??
Do you make changes?? Now, how many changes to you make in a day?? what if you don't get it sorted out that day??
It will take you, working on your own and making a guess at what adjustments to make to sort out your suspension issue than it will take me, going to the track with suspension set up by a professional.
mine is going to be much closer to start with and I can make a call to my suspension tuner and have a professional opinion make a recommendation based on my feedback.
What is also important is the rider's ability to recognize changes.
Do you have enough awareness of your bike to recognize when a change has been made without your knowledge(ie, someone put 2 extra turns of preload into your forks, or put 4-5 clicks of compression damping into your shock without you knowing?)
While those changes seem fairly drastic, most riders would not be aware of this level of change(only the VERY best can feel 1-2 click differences)
Tires are of a similar situation, riders will go on about the particular tire they are on being the best, but if you switched the tire brand without their knowledge, they wouldn't know the difference unless they were told.
See that is the thing, we are not talking track here, we are talking about a street rider that may do sneak road and maybe the 507.
For track I would pay for a better shock, I would get springs for my weight, I would pay for changing that stupid piece of foam inside the steering damper, etc, my point is that to do street riding (which I love doing) getting your suspension "done" is more of a show and tell than a necessity, perhaps a mental necessity for a perception of piece of mind.
You said it, most people won't recognize if someone do + or - on their damping and rebound, most people won't even notice a difference if you adjust their sag, so those people on my opinion should save their money and try and learn and start by adjusting it themselves.
However I do agree with you that for some that may not be worth their time, On the same note I would argue that if it isn't worth their time to learn then they may not take enough advantage of their bike to need their suspension "tuned"
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i didn't feel like fiddling with it all summer and it was putting a damper (LOL) on my riding enjoyment.
like i said, for $75, Wheeler dialed it in "perfectly" (well, as good as he could with what was on the busa, he said)
the difference was like night and day.
it boosted my riding confidence because the bike handled better.
the first shop to "adjust" my suspension made an absolute mess of it, to the point where the bike became unmanageable over bumps on normal roads (at normal speed limits)
the way i see it, I was paying for someone with 20 years of experience to adjust the bike. I had zero.
money well spent and highly recommended for anyone who doesn't have any experience tuning suspension
Shaman
Well-known member
My experience is that many of my friends who paid $40 to have John Sharrard do their street-bike suspension for them at a CDN Superbike race day etc. have been happy with the cost and the results. Your milage may vary.
Sure i can do it for them in the parking lot... but then I'm responsible for it forever. So I don't.
Who are you or I to argue with what people think is worth their money? Bikes aren't a rational purchase in the first place.
Sure i can do it for them in the parking lot... but then I'm responsible for it forever. So I don't.
Who are you or I to argue with what people think is worth their money? Bikes aren't a rational purchase in the first place.
Hence why I said this was just my opinionMy experience is that many of my friends who paid $40 to have John Sharrard do their street-bike suspension for them at a CDN Superbike race day etc. have been happy with the cost and the results. Your milage may vary.
Sure i can do it for them in the parking lot... but then I'm responsible for it forever. So I don't.
Who are you or I to argue with what people think is worth their money? Bikes aren't a rational purchase in the first place.
I had John do mine, and it made a vast difference. Again, everyone has there own opinion on it, and it's only going to matter to someone that actually " rides " the bike, instead of parking it at Timmies. I've worked on my bike for mundane things ( Changing Oil, replacing Chain / Tires ) but I would rather have an expert adjust my suspension. Also its a pain getting the adjustments all down when you are not sitting on the bike and have no one else to give you a hand.
I'm with you on this topic. Taking the time to actually learn what is changed what all these settings do is worthwhile. I've had a couple used bikes with suspension been fooled with, and I took the time to go through the manual to figure out how to zero out the settings to factory default, and remarkably the bikes felt way better. Now with the busa I like the compression in the front a bit stiffer so after a few attempts and test, got it working where I like it. (And forgive me joe experts if I don't use the exact correct terminology we are hugely impressed with your vast knowledge)
That said, now with some knowledge, going to an expert could be that much more satisfying. You will know what they are doing and why and possibly assist in the process when you know what changes to settings do what to the feel of your bike.
RedDogDarren
Well-known member
With time, perserverance, and ingenuity in a garage you can do it yourself. But what a pain.
Hey Donny, i just got a new bike and it took me a couple rides and adjustments after each ride to get it acceptable and another 3 or 4 iterations to get it where I'm happy with it. I'll do a couple more changes at the track. I agree that if you have no idea what you are doing you should take it to a pro to do, but the problem with this approach I believe, is that people can have very different preferences so this "one setup" for everyone should not work. Since many don't know what they want, the majority claim the suspension is much better after being adjusted by a pro to justify the money spent.
These riders shouldn't be afraid to turn one adjuster a few clicks and go for a ride.......if they don't like it they can put it back.
These riders shouldn't be afraid to turn one adjuster a few clicks and go for a ride.......if they don't like it they can put it back.
I wanted to say this but didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings
