Rear shock is crap

[Rodolfo]

I am no expert rider,

Some what of a fast intermediate, but yesterday I had my first track day on the bike and I can tell you 2 things.

The rear shock is total crap, and the brakes need more initial bite, maybe solved just with some lines and pads.


I am in setting 9 in the rear shock, and I only weight 165 lbs, and it feels like I was on my grandma rocking chair. Apart from being a really crappy rear shock, I think the issue with it being right on top of the exhaust, does afect it.

I did 3 sessions and it started sagging alot, unsetteling the front. Well that is what I felt.

Anyone know any kind of fix, like putting some shims or something to make it stiffer. I dont what to buy a 700 shock, I might as well had bought an R6 for that money.

Thanks

 

[guzz46]

I would of thought you would be right in the ball park weight wise, I'm about 160 lbs in street clothes, and my rear sag is spot on, the shock is on position 7, I tried it on position 10 for a short period, but it was too skittish and unforgiving, it's no Ohlins shock, but I'm happy with it.

 

[ThreenineZero]

did you set the sag? How about your rear spring rate?

 

[Rodolfo]

Just placed ir on setting 9 of preload

And after 3 sessions it started feeling really soft and i felt that the sagging was making The front kínd of light

Maybe by placing some spacers it can be corrected a bit

Anyone have any input on cheap solutions?

 

[guzz46]

If you haven't already, try raising the forks above the top yoke up to the second ring, the front should feel planted after doing that, I would also try the rear shock on position 7, I believe it needs at least 10mm of static sag for it to perform at its best.

 

[Chris The Welder]

No disrespect intended to anyone, but here's my opinion on this subject based on my age and the number of bikes I have ridden. Coming to a conclusion that a suspension component is not performing, many times is a result of not doing some basic tuning/ adjustments. Sometimes very small changes make a world of difference. You can even change the way the suspension behaves by modifying your riding style slightly. I personally feel very comfortable and confident with the suspension on my RC after just a couple of small tweaks. Could it be better? Yes. Is it pretty good for what it is? I think so. This debate will go on and on, just like it does on my TL 1000r. Guzz46 goes into detail on what he's done to his. Check it out, and experiment a little.

 

[Fasteddy]

All this conversation has now forced me to go look at my rear setting again, It has been on 2 since I picked it up and I have been meaning to play with it but just had not got to it. I just moved it to 7 and as soon as I get a chance I will take it out for a test on my next break. I like the Idea of moving the fork tubes up, I have done this before on a Kaw GPz 750 and it mad a big difference. My Yamaha Thunder cat has endless setting to tinker with, 3 on forks, 3 on shock, I finally put every thing back to stock and just left it.

 

[Ash797]

Soooo, I've found it impossible to even get the spanner wrench to fit correctly AND be able to adjust the shock settings with it. Is the supplied wrench what you guys are using to change the settings? And any pics of where exactly you're attaching the wrench to make changes to the shock?

 

[Fasteddy]

Yes, one of the reasons I had not messed with it was I did not want to break open the new sealed tool kit and thought I had a tool from an old FZR but could not find it. I went in from the left side with the wrench and extender attached to it almost touching the muffler / cat converter, put one hand around to hold the wrench in place and carefully clicked it toward the rear...

 

[Fasteddy]

pic...

View attachment 315

 

[mr-fabricator]

The rc is to weight biased towards the front .

I understand everyone has a diffeeent feel and wants their suspension to act a different way . But we all share one common thing and that is the standard suspension and bike .

My settings are forks dropped 4mm down into the tripple clamps and setting 6 or 5 on the rear preload , yes it could do with more rebound damping but its not bad at all .

8 and 9 on the rear is way to hard , 2 up street riding .

Im 74kg + 10kg ride gear and im a top group track rider so on the pace with those settings .

Ps my bike has been on a diet and comes in at 145 kg track side

. Regards lee

 

[Fasteddy]

Just went for a little ride after setting preload to 7, First thing I immediately noticed was the bike sits lower, easier to swing leg over;^) the ride was also obviously more firm and less jarring it seemed.

All stock, seldom ride 2 up, need to lose some weight ;^( at 103 Kg estimate with helmet etc.

I thing all leave it there and next move the forks up to first ring...

 

[Superpacman13]

Just went for a little ride after setting preload to 7, First thing I immediately noticed was the bike sits lower, easier to swing leg over;^) the ride was also obviously more firm and less jarring it seemed.

All stock, seldom ride 2 up, need to lose some weight ;^( at 103 Kg estimate with helmet etc.

I thing all leave it there and next move the forks up to first ring...

I think you got your preloads backwards. Or maybe I do? I thought you measured from soft to hard.

 

[Rodolfo]

Yes i moved The forks up to the second ring, and does feel better

But The rear, started feeling really soft after the third session

I was running it on 7 before and changed to 9, and it started sagging

I really Think The heat from the exhaust afects The shock after a fee session

 

[Fasteddy]

I think you got your preloads backwards. Or maybe I do? I thought you measured from soft to hard.

Interestingly I read a bit earlier before I decided to play with it, for one thing the owners manual does not really explain where 1 - 10 are so I started looking just to confirm what I thought, 1 least preload / 10 most, So, I came across an article that seemed to make sense as it explained it not in terms of hard or soft but where in the range of motion the shock is operating.

I will need to ride more then just to the store and back to be sure but when it was at 2 It seemed like it had no rebound, hit a bump /absorb / sharp jarring ...

I probably am not describing it very well, but here is a link to one article I read for what it is worth,

but you do have it correct in the soft / hard 1 / 10 sense.

FixBroke - Spring preload and sag: what does it really do?

 

[mr-fabricator]

Setting 10 is max spring tention , setting 1 is softest / least amount of preload .

To soft and it can bottom out , i removed the bump.stop on the rear shock and put a zip tie around the piston to keep an eye on things . I was hitting the bump stop before removal but only needed an extra 3mm of travel , im no where near full piston compression so removing the stop gave me that 3mm .

Raising the forks will put more weight on the front and make it twitchyer and turn quicker , also take weight off the back and reduce traction in a corner , throttle loaded mid turn u need 40 front 60 rear . Each to their own but try dropping the forks not raising and see if it feels more nutral .

less preload will act a litle like adding compression damping ( something we cant do ) theirs only so much we can do with standard suspension .

Regards lee

 

[Fasteddy]

Just to clarify terms , I mean to move the fork tube up further through the top clamp, raise fork tube / lower front end like Guzz explains... so that is what you mean also ?

 

[mr-fabricator]

I went the other way , dropping the forks down into the top clamp to raise the front of the bike .

All 3 of my coaches agreed , one of wich rides ASBK so i take 99% of what he says as gospel

Its trial and error with everything . My bike is probably one of the lightest out there , i do ride slightly crossed over and i hang on the front , i also have clipons so the handle bars are 100mm lower than stock i corner fairly over the tank and im 85kg in gear , where my weight sits on the bike will influence suspension settings , local track is also predominantly cambered . My tuning sessions track is tight and flat so i change the front very slightly to tip in like lightening, its a 58 sec lap course and totally flat so suspension and gearing are changed when i ride there .

When i was on the road with the rc i liked the front stock and the rear on 7 . The whole bike was in road trim and bone stock before i hit the track only. So many variables .

regards lee

regards lee

 

[guzz46]

I went the other way , dropping the forks down into the top clamp to raise the front of the bike .

All 3 of my coaches agreed , one of wich rides ASBK so i take 99% of what he says as gospel

Its trial and error with everything . My bike is probably one of the lightest out there , i do ride slightly crossed over and i hang on the front , i also have clipons so the handle bars are 100mm lower than stock i corner fairly over the tank and im 85kg in gear , where my weight sits on the bike will influence suspension settings , local track is also predominantly cambered . My tuning sessions track is tight and flat so i change the front very slightly to tip in like lightening, its a 58 sec lap course and totally flat so suspension and gearing are changed when i ride there .

When i was on the road with the rc i liked the front stock and the rear on 7 . The whole bike was in road trim and bone stock before i hit the track only. So many variables .

regards lee

regards lee

Interesting that you went the opposite way, it felt so much better when I raised the forks/lowered the front end, I instantly had more confidence in the front end, it does lighten the back end (just like the Powercone muffler did) but you can move your ass back in the seat to compensate if need be, personally... for me to go fast I need to have plenty of confidence in the front so I can run hot into corners.

The cup bike appears to have the forks raised to the second ring too.

 

[Fasteddy]

I just went for another 'test' ride aiming for every bump I could find, It is MUCH better set to 7, I think the issue was that it was bottoming out. It is for street only so I think I will leave it where it is for now.