'06 FE550 - new to me trying to sort out suspension

If your front end is washing out on corners, your compression is not adjusted right. I don't know/remember any more to give out the advice. Google will answer a lot.

They say that bar risers are unproductive for handling. The pro's are probably right. But I like high bars, besides I have an unorthodox (apparently) riding style so it works for me. I'm not trying to shave seconds of my lap times on a track I'm just fooling around in the bush.

Basalt

even at 10 out, your rear rebound was too much, at zero you have got it completely wrong. your listening to people who just haven't gone to the Nth to get it right mate.

you don't appear to be able to recognise the right kind of help so carry on.... but I'll give you one last piece of advice and see if you start to know who to listen too.

get off the bike and press the seat down about 2" from the fastener and remove your hand as fast as you humanly can. if the seat can keep up with your hand you don't have enough rebound. if as will happen, your hand leaves the seat, you pick a bogey from your nose, go for a cuppa tea and come back and it is still rising up - then you know that the rebound is too stiff!

if this is not happening then it is beacuse the seal head on your rear shock has gone.

a seal head gone is initially denoted by the rebound not working and the seat pinging up.

regards

Taffy

try the trick OK? the seat needs to just follow your hand. if you do it 10 times then 5 times your hand leaves the seat and 5 times it can catch and tap your fingertips.

it's got nothing to do with rebuilt shocks
nothing to do with high bars
and yes I do know how they rebuilt the shock - they are proffesionals if the tail is waggling it is because you have too much rebound.

regards

Taffy

it took two attempts to get you to do that. and in the meantime you were in denial AND telling me that "nobody can know...."!!

mate, you REALLY need to suck it up OK? this thread isn't your finest moment is it?

I keep telling you and you just don't wanna hear it?

this site is known for its very high technical input. you've come here, you need to listen - then you'll learn.

regards

Taffy

it's got nothing to do with high bars.

to miss this point once is a mistake. to start insulting me for telling you repeatedly makes you an ***.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

Taffy

Cringe comedy, definition: Cringe comedy is a specific genre of comedy, where the intent is to make you uncomfortable rather than make you laugh.

basalt said:

I Which is also why I reduced my sag which should be around 105mm now which should put more weight on the front and help with the front washing out.

Click to expand...

More weight on the front will cause it to wash out. Less weight on the front will make it harder to turn or ride high in the corner. If the front is washing out you usually need to stiffen the compression on the forks. Providing everything else is right. Dialing in suspension can be a fine art, one that if you get it wrong will give you plenty of time in a hospital bed to reflect on it.

https://superplushsuspension.com/ is in San Francisco, not far from you. They are well spoken of in other forums I frequent. You said your suspension has been revalved by the previous owner. But probably for his riding style and not yours. He may of been riding the desert at Baja race speed.

Get them to revalve for your riding style. It will be the best money you ever spent.

Bassalt if you are happy with your bikes handling there is no need to understand why someone on the other side of the world thinks you have got it wrong

leave it for a while and go on a few rides to digest what the bike is doing, you have good advice there to hook up with a reputable suspension Guru .. see if you can go on a ride with him.


with all the written text misunderstandings this reminds me of a previous thread

http://husaberg.org/suspension/2910-fork-tuning-enduros-27.html#post67874

Hoosaberg said:

More weight on the front will cause it to wash out. Less weight on the front will make it harder to turn or ride high in the corner. If the front is washing out you usually need to stiffen the compression on the forks. Providing everything else is right. Dialing in suspension can be a fine art, one that if you get it wrong will give you plenty of time in a hospital bed to reflect on it.

https://superplushsuspension.com/ is in San Francisco, not far from you. They are well spoken of in other forums I frequent. You said your suspension has been revalved by the previous owner. But probably for his riding style and not yours. He may of been riding the desert at Baja race speed.

Get them to revalve for your riding style. It will be the best money you ever spent.

Click to expand...

More weight on the front will cause it to wash out = wrong
Less weight on the front will make it harder to turn = wrong
...or ride high in the corner = what????
If the front is washing out you usually need to stiffen the compression on the forks = wrong

Taffy

ah I see well i understand finances being limiting and i admire your desire to learn, suspension tuning is an intriguing thing.

I ride a lot of whoops and sand. this year ive been going 2-3 times a week 2 hrs before work on my "650"... tough life

Purely FWIW this is how I look at things .. it might not be actually the right way to approach suspension for everyone ..actually i think that is impossible given how many variables there are.

firstly it is very very difficult although not impossible to get a 2000 to 2008 chassis to handle serious whoops and turn nice with the same settings when compared to other bikes (think yz 250 2T)

this is due 2 things;

1) the high front wheel loading (52% front 48% rear where most bikes are closer to 50/50) and

2) a relatively high center of gravity

when you have forward/rear rocking chassis movements these 2 factors manifest as a natural tendency of the bike to overpower the front as the rear wheel leaves each whoop.

so high bars and stiff (slow) rear rebound are needed for the whoops, generally that's not so good for turning but it may not be why your front end "washes out" I can't tell from here try winding the rebound clicker out 3 steps at a time and see if the cornering improves.

assuming this helps cornering there is one point to consider that may allow a better compromise between the 2 settings.

the further the back wheel goes in, the more the rear spring is compressed and the stiffer your rebound damping needs to be to control it when you back wheel leaves the ground.

so if you stiffen the rear compression damping you can run or will have to run a softer (faster) rebound setting. this will change how everything interacts and may not be ideal but it is worth trying.

both the low speed compression clicker and the high speed adjuster nut affect the dynamic ride height but it is the high speed adjuster that has the most influence, try it 1/4 turn at a time starting where it is but consider all settings from full out to full in.

the most difficult thing to get right is to make the bike cradle nicely in front to rear rocking chassis movements at all speeds including cornering which means every time you change a shock setting the forks usually need adjusting as well.

I start with everything relatively soft and then go about stiffening the damping and getting the whoops sorted at a decent speed since they are the most tiring part of the ride. when im happy with that I fiddle a bit to get the cornering nice and go back to the whoops etc etc.

I should add that with the stock valved shock it was almost impossible to achieve, the low speed rebound damping was too stiff and the high speed rebound damping was too soft for whoops.

most importantly have fun with it ! tis a very rewarding thing to suddenly have a magic carpet ride experience.

basalt said:

I am happy to reset my suspension again and go from there. I fully see how the rear launching me over the bars could be too much rear compression (20 out so who knows) instead of not enough rebound and I could see the rear kicking on whoops could be packing. Although, it was kicking out on single whoops (little quick jumps) too so I doubt that is packing. Maybe its both.

Just wish I rode more!

Click to expand...

you know how you had the rebound?
it was packing

revalve - no need. don't listen to the tripe

questions:if you were stood up all the time, why would it launch you?
why would something that compresses down, launch you UP?

I notice your calming down a bit now, we're starting to get somewhere...

still getting duff info though aren't you! it's still pouring in. and at the end of the day you know the rule in the USA: when in doubt spend money on the problem............

except that unless the sussie guy was an idiot he probably did an excellent job and just needs you to get your springs, sags and triple clamps right.

I've had sussie guys not do enough but never one that screwed up - give them some credit for chrissakes!

it's a poor worker that blames his tools. don't blame the bike or the suspension from that guy.

you need to interpret what you are feeling better and start listening to the right people.

see the quote above at the top? I've marked it as wrong and here is why

If you don't have weight on the front - it washes out because it is the weigh compressing the tyre that presses the tyre into the dirt = grip.

you DO need weight transfer to help with this, weight transfer spreads the tyre out so you do need dip on the front. this is 90% to do with how you sit, tyre pressure, level of tread/grip. that is why the height of the bars is right down the list and NOT THE PROBLEM. bars add to dip, but the sussies have to start it.

for instance a taller seat causes a greater tipping motion both back and forwards which helps if you don't have enough. you have to decide.

the problem with the Husabergs is that if you get a lot of dip, the front washes out earlier in the corner (not at the apex), it is because you don't have enough trail.

so it usually pays to try and set up a Husaberg with thr forks flush in order to keep what little trail you have.

that means you don't get the dip!

but all this is irrelevant until you understand what is happening.

the kicking on the whoops isn't just packing (yes, the first right thing you've said!) but because the rear wheel is in mid air under the seat long after you left the peak of the bump! as the rear leaves the lip and you have the throttle open it'll kick left or right and then hang in mid air refusinfg to come down. all the time it is in mid-air it is turning the back end of the bike which you call a 'kick'!

do the trick with the rebound I taught you.

wind the 17mm nut into maximum. that is 3 and 1/4 turns all the way IN.

then set the compression screw halfway. then stand for everything on the straights, sit for the corners.

your a big boy and when I've been over to the States the big boys swear they stand all the time but they don't. some are honest....

I do things differently to everyone else, all I'm interested in is Race Sag and compression of the spring. I'm not interested in 35mm this or 30mm that.

two simple things
racing sag
what is the compressed length of the spring with wheels free.

the correct sag for a Husaberg dirt bike is nearer 90mm but with 18mm offset TCs.

I realise money is tight but try and buy a pair of the standard KTM 20mm offset clamps that are 10 a penny for small beer.

you want the sag with standard clamps to be 100mm and no more. you also need to give us the front race sags which should lose only about 65 to 70mm from wheels free to race sag.

try and get those figures.

also try and put a zip tie around the legs and that'll tell us something.

give us the clicker positions on the front? how much fork is poking out of the top.

Taffy

some more to consider regarding the compression (useful for cornering set up)

read harperFs posts,

What Exactly Does the High Speed Compression Adjuster Do - Suspension - ThumperTalk

to adjust short stroke stiffness use the low speed adjuster, long stroke use the high speed adjuster

"high shaft speed" occurs with long stroke movements, the tiny bleed circuit of the Low speed clicker reaches saturation long before full travel is reached regardless of the speed. so the high speed adjusters name is a bit misleading since it actually presses low speed shims into a valve with a spring.

what this amounts to is that big full travel whoops and the corner exit under power are best dialed in with the high speed adjuster.

I set the high speed adjuster just stiff enough so that the rear holds up nicely against power application mid corner. that way the geometry doesn't change much through the corner. if its too soft the bike will wallow around as/after you apply power

for the corner entry under brakes use the low speed adjuster.

something you probably know already .. the rebound adjuster also controls the compression bleed so if you make the rebound adjuster stiffer the compression is also stiffened.

some videos for amusement

tiny whoops

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApULJ8Z7i6c

cradling nicely through the corner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eArGe6Kc5xo

Taffy can you please show us a video of your bike WFO handling super awesomely through some big sand whoops with the High speed adjuster full in and you sitting down .. Basalt could do with a laugh