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Today I want to try to explain how easy it is to set up your suspension on your sport bike. Now before you do anything, make sure both forks are evenly adjusted. I know that the rebound adjuster is 12 clicks out on both sides, and the preload adjuster is 7 turns in fully on both sides. Think of preload The more preload you add, the more pressure on the spring. The less preload, the less pressure on the spring. It's important for you to understand how preload works, because adding or subtracting preload is how you change static sag. And setting sag is what people refer to when they say suspension setup. So this is the OEM suspension travel for the front and the rear of my 2009 Ducati 1198S. My front forks say 120mm of travel, which basically means that the distance from the top of the suspension to the bottom of the suspension's travel. And you can definitely measure this by lifting up the front, or the rear of the bike. For the front, you can use the bottom of the dust seal to the bottom of the tube. And for the rear, you can use the center of the axle to anywhere up here that's a fixed point. I use Google and went on the Olin's website, which is probably less accurate, because when you have everything on the bike, it could be a little bit different. The next part requires two people, because you need to take two measurements. You're going to need to sit on the bike, get it upright with the kickstand up, and push the front and rear suspension down. Then you write down your results. For example, your front could be 90mm, and your rear could be 97mm. What I Next step is while you're on the bike, have your friend lift up the front, and let the bike settle with you on it, and take a second measurement. And of course, do the same thing with the rear. And we'll call this measurement on the bike pulling up. Write down our measurements, and again, I write down the difference. OK, I'm going to take this away, because that's just for me, because now comes the mouth. And the mouth is super simple. You add these two n And then you divide each of these n Then you're going to take this n So it's 120 minus 92. 5 equals 27. 5 millimeters of sag. All right, now that we have our sag measurement, we need to determine what the proper range is that we need to be for street use and track use. This next value is where everybody varies on their opinion. Obviously, for street use, you're going to want to soften the bike, and then you're going to want to make the bike a little bit more smooth. So you're going to want to make sure that you're not going to have to go through the same thing. The next value is where everybody varies on their opinion. Obviously, for street use, you're going to want a softer setup, and for track use, you're going to want a harder setup. The general I 25. That equals 30 millimeters. 25% for track, 30 millimeters of sag. And right now, we're on the stiff side, 27. 5 millimeters. Remember the spring? This is what you loosen or tighten to add or subtract more preload. So what I do with the suspension is too stiff. I'll just back out the preload adjuster in one pull turn, do my measurements again, and once I'm nearing that target 25%, I can stop. Just make sure whatever adjustment you do to this side, you also do to the other side. Now your rebound and compression are easier to explain. Compression is basically how quickly your forks come down, and rebound is how quickly your forks go up and return to their spot. And compression and rebound is all about feel. I would start somewhere in the middle. For instance, if your total adjustment on compression and rebound is 17 clicks, I would probably start at 9 or 10 clicks. Take it out for a ride, find a road with some really harsh b For me, it's the 3-Mill Allen, and play with it until it's not that harsh anymore. A lot of compression and rebound is about preference and feel, and the important thing to know about static sag is too soft will bottom out the forks, and too hard won't provide any cushion. 25% ish for the track, 30% to 35% for street use. I hope this helps.
