FE650E...diving!

G'day Boozer the best thing to start with would probably be to have a look at the owners doc which is on the left hand side of the screen in the main menu, it has a section on front and rear suspension.
Other than that there are a few experts on here that i'm sure will give you a hand.
Regards Pids

Is 95 kg just you, or you + riding gear? What year bike are you on? Nevertheless, I'd suggest 46 front springs and say a 9.2 straight rate in the back for a start. Fork diving can be controled by low speed compression, however with only one compression adjuster that mostly influences high speed they become very harsh when cranked up. A revalve by a competent suspension tuner is the way forward. Oil height will also control the latter oart of the compression, so more oil is good to reduce it. How much depends on which model forks you have. I run 90-95 mm in my 07.

Steve

Is the bike new as well? What year?

as a quick 'get out of jail you can try the following:

put more packing on the springs
turn up the compression clickers (under the forks)
turn off the rebound by the correcponding amount

on the rear although steve recommends a 92 i would go for a 96 or 98 - maybe compromise?
play with the rear damping as well. more rebound and less HSCD come to mind.

regards

Taffy

rear shock doesn't move much either? try softenig it a little both damping and prelaod, sag isn't everything. I had the forks 3mm below the top of the tripple clamps with stock valving.

front end harsh initially and then blows through the stroke too I bet. a pogo stick!

a great way to put a bandaid on the forks blowing through is to raise the oil level untill they start to oil lock.

the higher oil level makes the valving work harder so you are changing the valving in a way, not just the air spring.

try 105 - 95mm first and/or add 3ml at a time with a syringe till it either oil locks too soon or feels way too harsh to ride. think its supposed to be 115 or 120 from the factory.

careful to bring the forks to full extension without the springs installed before final check on the oil. I like Motul factoryline oil at 23Cst viscosity. oil type is very important the 5wt motul factory line should be good with the stock valving.

as you add more oil you may have to wind the BV clciker out a few to comphensate, don't be afraid to start from full in on the BV clciker and wind out 1 clcik at a time testing each clcik. If the clciker is too far out the shimstacks and the clicker circuit don't work properly together. may have to wind it in for softer and that wil help with the dive too.

on the springs Id go at least .48 if spending your money then it gives more options you can use one of the 44s and a 48 in the other leg to get 46 or use both 48s. 2 rates for the price of one. i'm 73kg and use 46s wish i had bought 48s but im quite mad.

its realy not hard to work on the WP forks and changing the valving is not difficult. if you can change the oil you can change the valving. getting it right is difficult but given how crap the stock valving is its not hard to improve.

someone like Lew will be able to suggest some conventional stacks that will improve your forks out of sight. there is a silly 14mm shim in the BV stack thats not helping

he'l have a good set up for the stock MV too.

standard 08 MV is a very stiff springed thing with too much float.

but the oil height should be a good bandaid

regards
Bushie

Springs are a quick easy fix, as is more oil, so go for it. I'm 117 kg geared up ready to ride and use 46s, Bushy wants 48s and i think Taffy was keen on 50s at one stage, both a lot lighter than me. I run a 9.7 in the back. I have 95-100 rear sag and 90-95 front sag. Spring rates should be based on sags firstly and then behaviour managed with valving. Varying the springs is putting a bandaid on the valving, not solving the actual problem.

It comes back to sag, how you ride, amd the terrain you ride in. I ride rocky stuff some open faster stuff, and lots of tight technical stuff. I like a plush fast responding fork that quickly recovers for the next hit. Proper valving and lots of oil and what ever preload I'm atwork for me.

I tend not to do jumps either. If we were meant to fly, we'd have wings!

Steve

I Have Race tec 0.46kg springs in front and a Race tec pds 30 and Race tech gold valves and a telescopic PDS needle and it works great much better than stock. the suspension technician adjusted the bike for 95KG rider.
i weight 110KG. it still needs a bit of fine tuning. it is a Little harsh in the front on small bumps (small holes And rocks).
I can give you the part numbers for the springs if you like i have the boxes here somewhere.

just another thing to consider is that the stock springs are sposed to be 4.4 N/mm

if you get "46"s, being 0.46Kg/mm they are only 4.51 N/mm its not a big change

"48s" being 0.48Kg/mm are close to 4.7 N/mm which is a bigger difference.

attached a conversion chart found on TT

regards

Bushie

bushmechanic said:

just another thing to consider is that the stock springs are sposed to be 4.4 N/mm

if you get "46"s, being 0.46Kg/mm they are only 4.51 N/mm its not a big change

"48s" being 0.48Kg/mm are close to 4.7 N/mm which is a bigger difference.

attached a conversion chart found on TT

regards

Bushie

Click to expand...

The FC/FS models have 4,4 N/mm springs, FE models Have 4,2 N/mm springs

mine are supposed to be 4.4N/mm as are all 08 FE bergs I think?

thats what it says in the users manual/parts listing and they measure about right

reality is that one of mine measured stiffer than 4.4 and one a bit softer than 4.4 but 4.4 was the stock rate for 08s at least for the OZ models anyway.

Boozer you have an 08 right?

44s in 07 FEs too. 42s in 2006 and before I think.

Steve

bushmechanic said:

mine are supposed to be 4.4N/mm as are all 08 FE bergs I think?

thats what it says in the users manual/parts listing and they measure about right

reality is that one of mine measured stiffer than 4.4 and one a bit softer than 4.4 but 4.4 was the stock rate for 08s at least for the OZ models anyway.

Boozer you have an 08 right?

Click to expand...

I didn't know that mine is an 04 FE and they had 4.2 N/mm

lews stacks for Mackmacks 08 forks in berg 450 he is 6'2" 265-275 lbs ish..

Mid-valve
24x.15
20x.1
14x.1
(2)10x.20
16x.1
20x.1
light ck-spring


(3)24Dx.1
18x.1
24Dx.1
22x.1
20x.1
18x.1
16x.1
12x.1
8.5x.30
16x.25

BV
(4)24x.1
20x.1
16x.1
(2)24x.1
22x.1
20x.1
18x.1
16x.1
14x.1
8.5x.30
15x.1
18x.10

Oil height 140 no-dump. .48 springs.

I think the terrain is rocky,

thought it might help

regards
Bushie

I too was experiencing diving on my forks and just ordered a set of 4.8's today from Factory Connection. I noticed they also have a base valve upgrade kit that keeps the WP fork up in it's stroke. I might try that too if the springs are not enough. I am 6'2, 210 lbs w/out gear.