So how do you favor yours?

Printed: 12 Might 2000

Up to date: 19 November 2014

HOW do you wish to have your motorbike to really feel? Racy and fast into turns or stable and solid? It’s all right down to suspension.

Best racers spend extra time running on suspension settings than anything. The advert slogan is spot-on – energy is not anything with out keep an eye on.

Partially one among this two-part particular, MCN enlisted the assistance of former grand prix racer Ron Haslam to provide an explanation for the fundamentals of suspension and to turn you the place to search out the adjusters to your motorbike and find out how to paintings them.

Now, we’ve enlisted the assistance of one of the skilled males within the suspension trade to provide an explanation for the terminology and results that adjusting entrance and rear pre-load, rebound and compression damping could have to your motorbike.

Richard Brandish is the United Kingdom race supervisor for most sensible suspension company Ohlins and he’s labored at GP degree with stars like former 500cc global champion Wayne Gardner and Britain’s Niall Mackenzie.

He says: ” Without equal goal is to stay each tyres in touch with the bottom up to imaginable. While you boost up the entrance wheel comes up and that’s going down to a lesser extent in corners, too. Our activity is to stay the ones wheels at the flooring. ”

Attaining that is all right down to getting the load distribution proper. An excessive amount of bias over the entrance or rear will end result within the motorbike being volatile beneath acceleration, braking and cornering.

However get something transparent from the beginning. Suspension is all the time a compromise and there’s no such factor as a super set-up. No matter you do to the entrance of the motorbike will have an effect on the rear and vice-versa.

Brandish says: ” It’s laborious to mention if someone has ever get a hold of the easiest set-up even for only one race. There’s all the time one thing extra to be realized. But it surely’s virtually positive that you’ll enhance at the means your motorbike is these days. ”

Ultimate week we confirmed you find out how to put your motorbike on a impartial atmosphere and get it again from a dealing with horror. In the event you neglected it, the fundamental thought is to set the whole lot on midway atmosphere between fully-in and fully-out to get a excellent base to paintings from.

If you’ve completed that you simply’re in a position to head out and check out and really feel what your motorbike’s doing and use this information to get an concept of find out how to arrange your motorbike in your taste of driving. For instance, do you wish to have your dealing with on a knife-edge or do you wish to have the motorbike to be as solid because the QEII? Simply alternate something at a time and all the time stay notes of what you’ve completed so you’ll return and get started once more if all of it is going flawed. Observe Brandish’s guidelines within the packing containers under and proper.

REAR PRE-LOAD

Expanding:

•Sag is the quantity of suspension trip your motorbike takes up simply supporting its personal weight. It will have to be round 10-15mm on the rear for the street and 5-10mm for racing. Building up the pre-load and the motorbike will sag much less.

•Extra pre-load will lift the rear experience top, which is able to make your motorbike steer faster and alter course sooner. However an excessive amount of will make it volatile.

•An excessive amount of pre-load can even make the rear finish extra liable to ” topping out ” , making the tyre skip over depressions within the street.

Reducing:

•Slacken off the pre-load too a long way and your motorbike will squat down beneath acceleration, particularly when you have a pillion.

•Too little pre-load could make the motorbike tricky to show.

REAR REBOUND DAMPING

Expanding:

•Flip it up a little bit and the motorbike can be better-suited to trace days, however an excessive amount of will purpose it to run vast.

•An excessive amount of rear rebound will overload and chunk up the rear tyre when driving laborious.

•It’s going to additionally make the motorbike volatile, with the again finish kicking up over bumps.

Reducing:

•Backing off the rear rebound damping too a long way will purpose the again of the motorbike to bop round.

•It’s going to additionally imply the rear tyre isn’t being labored laborious sufficient, so it’s going to take longer to achieve the optimal temperature for max grip.

•Decrease the rebound damping an excessive amount of and the motorbike will push the entrance finish vast beneath energy.

REAR COMPRESSION DAMPING

Expanding:

•This controls the velocity at which the surprise is squeezed – wind it up an excessive amount of and also you’ll be bouncing out of the seat over bumps.

•An excessive amount of rear compression will put the tyre beneath an excessive amount of rigidity as you place the ability down.

•Get it spot-on and the motorbike will monitor straighter and grasp a tighter line.

Reducing:

•Again the rear compression off an excessive amount of and the rear of the motorbike will squat down, inflicting understeer.

•It’s going to additionally purpose the entrance tyre to head gentle. The result’s that you’re going to run vast in corners.

•Wind it off an excessive amount of and the motorbike will bottom-out over bumpy roads and wallow round beneath energy.

FRONT PRE-LOAD

Expanding:

•Extra pre-load stops the forks happily snorkeling braking however watch out as an excessive amount of makes the entrance much more likely to fasten up beneath heavy braking.

•It additionally pushes extra weight directly to the rear of the motorbike, which supplies higher traction and lets you get at the throttle more difficult in a nook.

•Overdo it and the motorbike won’t flip as neatly or as temporarily as there’s much less weight at the entrance tyre.

Reducing:

•This offers extra sag on the entrance finish and places extra weight over the entrance tyre.

•You are going to succeed in extra really feel from the entrance when delivering to corners, particularly beneath braking.

•Cross too a long way and the forks will dive an excessive amount of beneath braking. You could even to find your self doing an unintended stoppie.

FRONT REBOUND DAMPING

Expanding:

•Turning up the damping will company the motorbike up for a monitor day, however you want a gentle upward push from the forks differently the entrance finish may just wash-out.

•An excessive amount of entrance rebound will purpose the entrance tyre to hug the street and no longer let forks react to bumps.

•Overdoing it’s going to additionally purpose the motorbike to be slow-turning as it might probably’t recuperate from bumps temporarily sufficient.

Reducing:

•Again it off an excessive amount of and the forks will spring again too rapid, unloading the entrance tyre too temporarily beneath braking.

•Too little rebound damping will purpose the motorbike to leap round on the entrance and might result in tankslappers.

•It will probably purpose the motorbike to run vast in corners and make it more difficult to carry a relentless line thru bends.

FRONT COMPRESSION DAMPING

Expanding:

•Wind it up slightly and your motorbike will dive much less beneath braking and paintings significantly better on clean roads and monitor days with a lot more really feel from the entrance tyre.

•An excessive amount of compression will company up the experience and switch a motorcycle from a clean experience in to a bone-shaker.

•Overdo it totally and the forks gained’t compress temporarily sufficient, inflicting instability particularly over bumpy roads.

Reducing:

•Again the compression damping off and your motorbike will deal with bumps higher and use extra of its trip to make issues smoother.

•Flip it off an excessive amount of and the entrance tyre will load up beneath braking and the forks will transfer too freely.

•The forks may additionally skip over bumps quite than soaking them up.