Basic motard setup

Hey guys,

I'd like some help with a basic setup for motard as I'm having trouble getting my bike to go around corners fast. From what I can gather so far is it's completely the opposite from enduro setup with the compression & rebound clickers. On my FE550 I have to compression setup reasonably soft with the rebound wound up & it works well.

Do I setup the motard with hard compression & softer rebound so it takes the big braking hits & lets the wheels fall away faster ? I dont really want to be pulling the forks apart to re-valve just yet until I see what the clickers have got to offer.

Any help would be appreciated & thanks in advance.

Cheers,

Wal

Hi Wildman,
I have an 05 fs650, when I first got it, it didn`t wont to turn into corners.
Check to see if the front sags when you sit on the bike.
Mine hardly moved so I checked the compression on the springs, turned out to be about 30mm of preload
I backed off the adjuster and removed all of the plastic spacers, got the preload down to 6mm.
made a huge difference.
With less preload it allows the fork angle to steepen up under braking making it easier to turn into a corner
There is a thread I wrote in the handling and suspension forum about it.
As for the clickers I think mine are pretty much in the standard position.
I played with them at first but they didn`t help if I remember correctly.
Not sure why they come with so much prelaod, only thing I can think of is
it may have something to do with jumps.
I only ride on the road.

Cheers spanner

Cheers for the advice Spanner. I went through a few previous posts but all seemed to be on re-valving & not basic setup. I've had the forks apart at Popup's & removed 2 of the 24mm shims from the bv stack which helped slightly with the bar bounce I used to get riding on the road. It was sooo bad that my hands used to go numb after 10 minutes of riding. Now the front dives too much on the track & the rear seems to loose traction way too easily.

I'll go through some more posts & see if I can sort the $hit from the clay & come up with some answers. I'm no suspension guru so most it goes straight over my head :roll:

Just got my new rims sorted for the bike so thought I'd post a pic. They came of an Aprilla ( not sure what model) & got them off ebay. Had to space the front caliper out 4mm as it was hitting the rotor & shave 3mm off one of the spacers to stop the pads pushing too far out but all good now. Easy wheel swap so I can go for a blat on the road & switch to wets for the track without having to pay $15 every time.

Before you go adjust any internals and clickers, make sure your sag is set right.

Basic SM sag is roughly 90mm on the rear, 25-27mm on the front.

Typically, the stock springs are too soft to get these numbers.

i found the front prload right, but the back had to be preloaded 2 turns to match my weight.

for race use the most valuable setting for me was lowering the triple clamps 15 mm.

it feels like the front wheel is now unlocked!!!

it turns like a dream now

Thanks for the input guys. I read through one of spanners posts a while back where someone suggested taking out 2 of the 24mm shims in the BV stack. I had already done this which made it a bit more flexible in the front & greatly reduced the shockwave pushed through the forks whilst riding on the road. I think I'll spend some more time this weekend on the preload to make sure the sag is set right & use the advice in the doc with regards to setting them up on a bench with the forks apart to measure exact preload. All a learning experience I suppose but I was getting desperate to get it closer without having to pull them apart again.

I'll do the work this weekend & post the outcome. Thanks again for the advice.

Let us know how much preload you find on the fork springs, I would like to know.

Dropping the forks through the clamps will also help as oyk suggests, mine are limited by the handle bars , might consider bar risers so I can drop them more.

Cheers spanner

Hey Guys,

I haven't been around for quite some time but I don't think my memory has totally lost me....yet....

First thing to clarify is which suspension you are talking about. Are you adapting FE suspension or do you have the shorter travel sm suspension?

My suggestion would be to set up the rear first - 90mm sag or thereabouts with about 30mm static. It's a very common thing to use too much rebound damping so back that off a bit. Then set up the sag on the front, which can be anything from 20-35 - I run mine at 35 and with a 5w oil.

Can you also say where your rear wheel sits along the adjusters on the swingarm?

Cheers,
Simon

Hey Simon, my rear wheel sits at almost the end of the swingarm. I went for a motard ride on the weekend & let a guy down the track who has been an Australian dirt track champion in years gone by have a blat. 2 laps in & he made it piss but had a few comments about the way the bike was setup.

I went to Popups' place about 2 months ago & pulled the forks apart & removed 2 of the 24mm shims from the BV stack( 6 in total as standard) which stopped the hammering I was getting through the bars making my hands numb after a 10 minute ride. I've backed the compression almost completely off & he still said the bike was sprung WAY too hard. I must clarify that we ride on a dirt track that is compacted & impregnated with oil which has lots of small bumps into & exiting the corners. He suggested changing to 2.5 weight oil firstly in the forks ( instead of re-valving straight away ) & reducing the rear & front preload to make the bike sit lower. Stating that the pre-conception with weight transference under acceleration & braking was only minimal compared to the weight transfer whilst cornering, as it wasn't as extreme when "tipping" the bike in & gradually transfering the weight from front to rear. He also said that as most road use would be similar to the track we ride on I wouldn't have to change it much for road use.

Once I get some spare time & a weekend without my 4 years old son,I'm gunna spend the time trying what he said. Sounds like a good excuse to get back to Popup's place & on the rum anyway for our regular Husaberg riders clininc. Weed's done some fine work on his Berg with the help of Bushie & I think I've alot to learn from both of them.

Keep ya's posted. :wink:

wildman said:

Hey Simon, my rear wheel sits at almost the end of the swingarm.

Click to expand...

I thought it might after reading this:

wildman said:

the rear seems to loose traction way too easily.

Click to expand...

Just a suggestion,

Try moving the rear wheel forwards along the swingarm as at the moment you've transfered weight to the front and you will experience less rear traction as a result.

wildman said:

Keep ya's posted. :wink:

Click to expand...

Please do.

Simon

Sorry for delay in getting this post up, just been slack..

Pulled the forks apart again & re-did the preload on the bench as per the doc. I had been running 6mm of preload on the adjusters thinking this wasn't much. To my surprise, there was 13mm of preload spacers so with the 6mm I had wound on a massive 19mm in total. I've removed all the spacers & when I re-assembled them, there is another 3mm once the cap is wound onto the piston rod. 2 turns now on the adjusters so 5mm preload in total. This has made the forks travel much further through the stroke than before & gotten rid of all the arm jarring coming through the bars on the road.

Re-valved BV & MV, before & after as detailed below;

Before;
BV-24, 16, 24,24,24,24,24,22,22,20,18,16,14,12,10,18
MV-24,24,24,24,22,20,18,18,11
RB-24D,24D,24D,24D,24D,24D,20/16,20,20,20,10,10,16

After;
BV- 24,24,16,24,24,24.22.20,18,16,14,12,10,18
MV-24,24,24,22,20,18,11
RB-24D,24D,24D,24D,20/16,20,20,20,10,10,16

I'm now getting at least half fork travel under brakes & a much plusher ride over the bumps. Forks were so tightly valved that the bars would almost fly out of your hands over the smallest of bumps on the track. I've go no compression wound on the clickers & still slightly hard, deflecting slightly but MAJOR improvement in bikes handling & my lap times. Actually passed 4 other guys last ride so somethings working.

Rear had 4 turns of preload wound off the spring to make it sag more. No rebound at all on the clickers & still needs some wound off but not going to pull it apart just yet. 1/2 turn on the slow speed compression & 1 turn on the high speed.

Conclusion; these bikes are setup way too hard for normal use. Might be ok if racing on bitumen but I race on a dirt track covered in oil & rolled. Heaps of holes & loose dirt on the track making it bumpy most of the way around, especially coming into the corners.

Gunna take a 24 out of the BV next rebuild if not 2 to try & get back into the clickers. Way smoother to ride on the road as well. Very happy with the changes I've made & might actually try 2.5 weight oil before I re-valve it again to see if that's all it needs.

Thanks to Spanner & Simon for the input. If you've got a proper FS berg & ride it on the road, try the valving & you'll enjoy your rides a bit more & not feel like you're fighting the bike the whole time.

Cheers,

Wal