| Author | Message | ||
     Ingemar |
Using stories on the internet, your answers to people's questions, Marcus McBain's website and a lot of time I've tried to tune my own suspension settings. Using the user's manual as a base line and tuning compression/rebound from there. I never really thought about playing with preload, since according to the manual it depends on the rider's wheight and not road condition or riders' style. Today I met a guy I've been trying to meet for quite a few months and today was the big day. He's an instructor for advanced riders' courses and at track days. We didn't even make an appointment for today, I just happened to ride through his neighbourhood and when he heard my bike he turned around and started waving at me with a big grin on his face. We had never met before so I didn't know who he was but he rocognized my bike from pictures I posted on the net. Ariving at his home he pulled his bike out and let me take it for a ride (kinda surprised me btw). I immediately noticed the difference with my own bike. Turned in without much effort, preciser steering, more responsive, more feedback, less vageness. All the good stuff was there. So when I came back from my little ride he started working on my suspension and after a while I took mine for a testride. Basically the same experience I had on his bike, appart from turning in. My bike needs more work to get it into corners. So when I came back I immediately looked at his tires and what I thought was true. Diablo Corsas. My next set of tyres. Basically what he did was stiffen up preload and soften the other settings. I used the factory settings for preload and then ried to compensate for the softness using compression and rebound. So this all means my day turned out great. I had a great ride, met a very nice guy who helped me out setting up suspension in a professional way and next season I hope to meet him again on the track for some lessons. | ||
| Xbolt12 |
Pirelli Diablos-loads better than stock 207, more stable and better grip than M1's. But then I've said that before  xbolt12 | ||
| Xbolt12 |
Pirelli Diablo Corsas that is. I haven't tried Diablos yet. xbolt12 | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
The Diablo Sports are very close to the Corsas in feel. They just have better longevity. The Sports that is. | ||
| Xbolt12 |
I may go to the sports next time just to save some $. xbolt12 | ||
| Vaughn |
Second the Diablo sports. Ingemar, what were the resulting settings front/rear you ended up with? What's your weight? | ||
| Ingemar |
Vaughn, Preload front is set to 2 rings showing, rear preload is maxed. I'm at work right now and I can't remember the compression/rebound settings. I need to document it anyway so I'll check it out tonight when I come home. I'm 90 kg's including gear etc. Now what's the difference between regular Diablo's and the Diablo sports? The Diablo Corsa's are meant for the track right? That's what that guy had on his bike. | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
Diablo's nonCorsa are the Sports. The SuperCorsa's are the strictly trackday tire that comes in a few different hardness ratings, but are difficult to find listed. The Corsa is the step between full trackday and the Sports. The first set of Diablo's I had were the Corsa, and got almost 3000 miles out of the rear, the front was still perfect. | ||
| Glitch |
Wycked, did you get my reply? Check your hotmail account. Shred swears by the Diablos. I'm still on my M1s. The Diablos are next. (Message edited by Glitch on September 20, 2004) | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
Yup I got it, Glitch but I haven't had the chance to toss the pic up to FTP yet. Once I do I will email you back the link. | ||
| Glitch |
 Cool, just checkin' | ||
| Ingemar |
Thanx wycked. I almost started to believe there were three types in the make... Oh wait! There are  Never heard of supercorsa's, but I'll stick with the sports for next season anyway. You say the front was perfect after 3000 miles, do you tend to brake hard before cornering in? My dunlop is cupped badly (at 10,000 kays, but started at 6000 kays). | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
heh, yeah I do tend to brake hard before cornering. What I ment by perfect was that it had even wear all the way across. The tire loved 32psi front, the rear needed to be played with still as I didn't get the best wear. That also included a lot of superslabbing. Compared to the Dunlop, even the rear was still in good shape. My stock Dunlops were both cupped heavily, the rear cupped in a staggered pattern from side to side. I could easily have gotten another 3000 miles out of the front Diablo but since I was switching to a sport touring tire I swapped it out as well. (Message edited by wyckedflesh on September 20, 2004) | ||
| Jomomma |
I just made the switch to the Diablos and couldnt be happier  | ||
| Fran_dog |
Ingemar, what did you end up with for all your suspension setting? | ||
| Ingemar |
Ah. Vaughn asked that too. Forgot about it. I'll check it in a minute... Oke, here goes: Front Preload..........: 2 lines showing Front Rebound........: 1 1/2 turns out from all in front Compression.: 3/4 turns out from all in Rear Preload............: 6 (1 down from stiffest) Rear Rebound..........: 1 turn out from all in Rear Compression...: 1 1/4 turn out from all in Ingemar. (Message edited by ingemar on September 22, 2004) | ||
| Fran_dog |
Thanks Ingemar... Time to play. | ||
| M1combat |
How much do you weigh Ingemar? | ||
| Glitch |
Fran, those settings won't work for you very well. Ingemar weighs more than you. 90 kilogram = 198.416036 pound Just set up just like the book says. Then make very small changes one at a time. Test each setting very well before moving on to the next one. Or bikes are very sensitive to change. | ||
| Ingemar |
You're right Glitch. The bikes are very senstive. More so than any other bike I know. And HEY! How do you know I weigh more that Fran_dog? I'm not THAT heavy am I?!?!  The guy that helped me said that although weight does play a big role, tuning front/rear and balancing them is more important. I rode his bike and when I asked him about it (he only weighs like 65 kg), he said preload maybe a little soft for me, but the bike should handle well because my position on the bike isn't all that different than his. Dunno if that makes sense to you but that's what he said. I have had my settings stiffer before, but front/rear wasn't balanced out like it is now. The difference is that now the bike gives me confidence and back then it scared me. That's why I went back to the softer settings I had figured out myself. That made the bike a little vague, but I felt confident riding it. | ||
| M1combat |
Cool, I weigh about 205 ATM, I'll give them a shot. | ||
| M1combat |
Any idea how much sag you get? I assume you get almost no static sag at all, but about 10mm of rider sag? | ||
| Vaughn |
I weigh 180lbs with gear and get about 35mm rider sag at both ends with the following settings: Front Preload..........: 4 lines showing Front Rebound........: 1 1/2 turns out front Compression.: 1 1/2 turns out Rear Preload............: 5 Rear Rebound..........: 1 turn out Rear Compression...: 1 turn out This agrees with Ingemar's higher preload settings at 200lbs for a similar balanced front/rear sag. | ||
| Ingemar |
Static sag was 12mm on the front. Rear was significantly less. He didn't look happy when he found out, but it appears there's hardly any movement upward at the rear. Can't remember rider sag exactly, I think that was like 20mm ... does that make sense? | ||
| Fran_dog |
Thanks Glitch... My idea is to compare other riders settings (including their weight)to the factory settings to help determine a direction to start in from the factory setting. What has caught my attention is that some guys have made little changes that have resulted in great improvement in ride performance. Yea, I'm not too heavy. Probably just a bit over 150 lbs w/gear. "3%er" See you at the "Tex". | ||
| Glitch |
Fran, all you need to do is make sure you're set to the factory specs, and get some Diablos or M1s. I'd be willin' to bet that's all you'll need. | ||
| M1combat |
That's what I've got ATM Glitch, and it does seem to handle quite well. I'm a heavier guy though so maybe it's not quite so sweet at the lighter settings. | ||
| Ingemar |
M1, what's ATM? And let me know when you've fiddled with your suspension settings. I'd like to hear the outcome of that. | ||
| Mikej |
"at the moment"? Just a guess. | ||
| Vaughn |
The rule is after you have rider sag set if you don't have any static sag then your spring is too soft for your weight. In most cases, anything above 1-2 position on the shock pre-load will result in almost no static sag. Seems the bikes come with too soft of rear spring. |
