| Author | Message | ||
     Smit3833 |
So I setup the suspension per the owners manual and I don't like the way it feels at all. I've been riding it for at least 6 months and haven't gotten used to it. Its sketchy in the corners and a very rough/bouncy ride on the street with hardly any confidence in the corners. I've heard that the owners manual table is terrible. Its an 2008 1125R. I weigh about 165-170 in gear and the bike is a few pounds lights using Deans RT-4 exhaust instead of the stock muffler. I commute on the bike with the occasional mountain runs. Anyone have a suspension setup recommendation for my bike? | ||
| Rpm4x4 |
I have been playing with my suspension setting alot lately and have really come into a groove with this thing. I found my best results 2 clicks light on front preload and one rear. I find the factory preload setting is a little stiff and I think you have to account for the Keda pipe being lighter as well. | ||
| Duphuckincati |
Go full soft on everything, you'll most likely leave the preloads there, and just start adding damping til it feels good. Go too far and just back it off then. Not really rocket science ultimately. These things are stiff for real world roads and I'm 215 ready to ride. | ||
| Smit3833 |
Thanks for the input. I'll start messing with it some more this weekend. | ||
| Philp |
At 160 lb without gear, I was in your shoes with regard to my 1125R's handling and a lot of guys here offered some good advice; however, I just couldn't get there with all the tweaking. So I went to a local race shop to help set up and these settings worked pretty well. My apologies to everyone who helped me, I meant to resurrect that old thread (4-5 months old maybe?) but time and laziness were mine enemies. On the front, put the preload all the way out to minimum. At this setting, I still get only 25 mm of sag, confirmed by the shop. They ended up setting compression at 1-3/4 from max and rebound at 1/2 from max. On the rear, I have 32 mm of sag with the rear spring on the lowest setting (#1). I have played with this at the second and third click in full gear and both feel ok and help the bike turn in faster. For compression, I have 20 turns out from max and rebound 1/2 from max. These setting improved my street ride immensely, although I still feel corners are sketchy if there is unevenness or any undulations. I will say, however, that this setup was AWESOME on the track. I did my first ever track day at MSRH here in Houston last weekend and I enjoyed the bike immensely. I think the only option for lighter guys like us who want to add stability on the street is to change the front springs and re-valve. But that's a $600-800 job depending on how nice your local shops are. For comparison, I ride a Moto Guzzi Norge two up >90% of the time and I can outride any corner on the Guzzi two-up compared to riding solo on my Buell. It just feels too stiff on the street for my body weight. I hope this helps. Please write back and let us know. Good Luck. | ||
| Smit3833 |
Thanks again for the input. I'll set it up tomorrow and I'm sure it will be an improvement. I figured I was not the only person in the world with this problem and you saved me a $50 trip to the shop for a suspension tune. | ||
| Rt_performance |
I just tried to do a sag setup on mine and hated it completely unhooked the rear. I searched around and found this. SUGGESTED SUSPENSION SETTINGS FRONT Spring preload: 12 turns out from full stiff; rebound damping: 3 turns out from full stiff; compression damping: 2 turns out from full stiff; ride height: set fork tubes flush with triple clamps REAR Spring preload: position 5 from full soft; rebound damping: 4 turns out from full stiff; compression damping: 20 clicks out from full stiff link to article http://www.sportrider.com/bikes/146_0809_2008 ... I did not move the fork tubes or reduce the preload that much. But the compression and rebound made a ton of difference. I was skeptical being these are way out of the book recommended. But so far haven't made it to track test but street ridding is like the difference between a chevette and a Cadillac. | ||
| Philp |
Rt_performance, What weight are you? It would help me to connect body weight with the specs. I've read about moving the fork tubes but didn't do it either. I went with the recommendations of the group majority to work on tuning the what was tune-able. Another option is to change the fork oil to a lower viscosity. I might try this and see how the front end responds. But for now, I'm going to stay with my current setup as I'm hoping to do another track day at the end of the month. | ||
| Dannybuell |
All good information above here. Do you want it to turn in faster or slower? faster = more rear than front spring preload ratio. slower = more front spring than rear spring preload ratio. less nose dive on braking and decel = increase F&R spring preload ratio. Once the F-R spring ratio's give you the balance you desire THEN move to next steps for fine tuning. front compression = responsiveness going down. I like it just less than constant vibration. front rebound = how fast does it recover from bumps? If it feels collapsed and not recovering well you need less rebound. rear compression = does it collapse too quickly on bumps? If you did the springs properly and are happy there you need more compression to slow it down. rear rebound = does it come back after a bump and slap you in the arse? You need enough rebound to keep from getting your butt slapped. I hope this helps. | ||
| Trbulnt |
} SUGGESTED SUSPENSION SETTINGS FRONT Spring preload: 12 turns out from full stiff; rebound damping: 3 turns out from full stiff; compression damping: 2 turns out from full stiff; ride height: set fork tubes flush with triple clamps REAR Spring preload: position 5 from full soft; rebound damping: 4 turns out from full stiff; compression damping: 20 clicks out from full stiff I have a question on the rear rebound setting...my adjuster only turns out 2.5 times. Is this something wrong with my bike, or is a half a turn considered a full turn, or is the setting wrong in the above post? (Message edited by trbulnt on October 09, 2010) | ||
| Ratbuell |
Just remember whenever making ANY suspension changes - make only ONE change at a time. Ride it. Evaluate it. Then, either change it back or move to the next adjustment. Too many changes at once muddies the waters, and you don't know which one helped or hurt the overall setup. | ||
| Bueller4ever |
philp,1/2 turn from full hard for rebound damping sounds insane! that doesn't give you a harsh ride? | ||
| Philp |
Buell4ever, The street ride is definitely harsh. I've been attributing a lot of the rough ride more to the springs than the damping. I'm open to any suggestions that could soften my ride. | ||
| Bueller4ever |
to much rebound dampening will make it ride harsh just like to much compression. | ||
| Dannybuell |
If your weight is under or over 170lbs and you are a street only rider you may likely need a custom suspension; springs and valving.... | ||
| Smit3833 |
I used the sportrider.com setup yesterday and took it for a spin. Not perfect but a world better than the owners manual setup. It isn't trying to buck me off mid corner and I can flat foot it at stops now. It looks like a good baseline to start with and I can fine tune from there. | ||
| Rt_performance |
I am 6'3" 165#'s no gear My front sag is 1" which is 2 full rounds over the owners manual. Rear sag/preload four clicks from full hard. 2 clicks from full hard gave me the measured rear sag 1" But unhooked the rear. But those where taken with my full cowhide a* suit on the bike with me. I will check but i am sure my rear shock turned out 4 full turns. I have only street ridden this set up so far Michigan Roads Suck. But so far this feels and works really well. Headed to the Track (Grattan) Saterday | ||
| Vactor |
anyone have a working link to the article mentioned? | ||
| Rsh |
Vactor, Here is a working link: http://www.sportrider.com/bikes/146_0809_2008_buel l_1125r/index.html | ||
| Rt_performance |
the suspension set up is on page 3 | ||
| Bueller4ever |
I only have 3.5 turns of rear rebound damping and I can't imagine you'd want to remove all of it. I have mine at 2 turns out(150lb), manual calls for 1.25. rear compression is 24 clicks. rear preload 2. front rebound is around 2 as well,maybe 2.25, compression is 2.25 or 2.5 and 0 preload | ||
| Smit3833 |
The only tweak I've made so far is 1 more turn in on the front compression. Before it felt like excessive nose dive in braking but not anymore. | ||
| Xl1200r |
found my best results 2 clicks light on front preload and one rear. I find the factory preload setting is a little stiff Spring preload does not affect the spring's stiffness in any way, it merely adjusts sag, essentially the ride height with the ride on the bike. If you want the bike to 'feel' like it's sprung softer, reduce compression and increase rebound damping. | ||
| Barker |
+1 Xl1200r Preload sets the range of operation, not stiffness. The spring rate/stiffness is the same no matter how much it is compressed (except @ full bind) if you want a stiffer or softer ride you might want to get different springs. You can check your free sag to see if your current springs are right for you. Im @ 1 turn more in the front (8 turns from soft) and 1 more step (next to last) in the back of more preload and a a half less rebound in the rear from the book settings. Aggressive 250lbs geared rider. I also dropped the front for less rake and it has been transformed from a bucking bronco to a wire guided missile. I have no complaints about the suspension, after I got it dialed in. | ||
| Xl1200r |
+1 Xl1200r Preload sets the range of operation, not stiffness. It's kind of a pet peeve of mine - I hear this so often, that folks think they can change the laws of physics with the turn of a dial. All of the settings on your suspension will alter it's feel for a given riding style, environment and rider weight. There's no problem with changing the damping settings so long as they provide the range of adjustability you need. However: Im @ 1 turn more in the front (8 turns from soft) and 1 more step (next to last) in the back of more preload and a a half less rebound in the rear from the book settings. Aggressive 250lbs geared rider. While this setup works well for you, I just want you (and others) to be aware that the more spring preload you require, the less upward suspension travel you have. Is it a big enough deal to warrant new springs? Depends on if you ride only on the street or if you do some track time as well, or what the typical road conditions are like in your area, etc. If I were at the extreme end of adjustability with the preload one way or the other, I'd probably look into new springs as I do track riding and the roads here suck. That said, I'm willing to bet that Barker makes more use of his suspension on the street than I do, so if it's good enough for him, it's likely just fine for me. I basically just set mine to the factory and leave them alone. The only tweak I've ever done was to take out a little rebound in the front end at NJMP Lightning because the steering kept getting really light coming over the crest after turn 1. Turned out that eventually I'd just loft the front end every time there so it was all for nothing, lol. I'll probably spend a little more tweaking this time as I'll be at the track much more and I have a fast-riding mentor who can help me with it. Just food for thought. | ||
| Manirai530 |
Philp, I tried your setup and boy it is like butter! I am 165-70lb 5'10", and my bike always felt too stiff and heavy ugh. I have tried the sport rider setup but it felt too jerky through the exit of a turn, more of a cruiser setup than anything. So, I tried out Philip's setup and tweaked it a little and this is what I came up with for my weight: FRONT Preload: 1/2 turn in from soft Rebound damping (Top): 1/2 turn from hard Compression damping (Bottom): 1-3/4 from hard REAR Preload: 1 click from full soft (pos 2) Compression damping(Top): 20 clicks from hard Rebound damping (Bottom): 1/2 turn from hard With these settings I found the bike easily flickable, launch and braking feel more stable, and bike feels stable at entry and exit through a turn. The front is a bit bumpy but I like the feedback. I also have a GPR steering damper so that plays a part into these characteristics a bit too. Overall difference is day and night; I feel more confident on my 1125R than ever before. | ||
| Mesozoic |
I just refreshed the forks on my 1125CR and went through all the suspension adjustments afterwards. I installed a new EBR 6mm rotor and Ferodo ST pads as well, so the whole front end got a refresh. Initially, I had reset the suspension to stock settings, but after some research I found the Sport Rider magazine suggested settings specifically for my bike. I set those up instead and took her for a ride on my local loop. Clearly, the Sport Rider settings are a compromise, as pushing the bike hard in corners resulted in excellent, smooth handling, even if the surface became rough or undulating. Slow down a bit and ride casually and you can feel the rear really kicking your ass. I'm 200 lbs without gear, so I wonder where I should start next. I think the front end is fine, should I play with adjusting the rear compression damping or mess with the preload instead? |
