suspension for the big guys....

For whats it's worth. 230lbs fully dressed. 4.8's & PDS 4 the bike seems to be a bit stiff up front but rear works well. The spring's cost me $120 each end and I installed them which was very easy.

I just changed my springs this weekend. I went with .48's up front and an 11.4 in the rear. I'm weighing in at a slim 335#. Rear sag is set at 4 inches. Going out to the desert this weekend to try it out. What should my front sag be? I'm thinking If the front is too soft I could add maybe about an inch of spacer? What do you all think?

as you may have noted i'm in a position now to help quite a bit with the sussies. it's been bloody hard work but i'm right in the zone now.

i'm 14 stone 5 pounds :lol: :lol: ok so you need to know = 201 pounds. :wink:

i've gone to .48s front but .46s would have done. i sold the 46s yesterday to ryan - husaburgler. now there's confidence that i've done the right thing! however the shimming is VERY STIFF on the front so it's no good fitting a heavier set of springs and bitchin that it's the springs - it's not - it's the valving!

if you want to play with the valving it takes one-hour. turn bike half upside down and undo compression caps at the base of the leg. take to the vice and hold by the nut then undo the nut that was inside. lay down everything - all shims in order. you'll find you have 6 x 24mm shims. remove three of them. and that will get rid of the spiking and make a nice soft fork to go with the harder spring. the hard spring keeps the fork up in the travel and really, really helps when hitting a succession of stutter bumps. not a big problem on the trails i know but it does deal with real rough stuff better.

your front sag should be 65-70 with you on it but the numbers are all over the show. do it three seperate times and bounce up and down in between etc. take an average.

at 335 i would say that 52s would have been better. if you didn't ride the bike but did your sag figures, found them wrong, pulled them out and sent them back for some 52s surely he'd swap?

i hope i've saved you a fortune!

finally, to all the big lads i say: go to ktm.talk, go to suspension, go to the 'pin-it' and you'll see that there is a lengthy thread there on people posting what they have. it's centered around some big lads and one inparticular. the thyread is called "finally a spring chart". here is a link look for the stuff by 'KX1984', he has put a tremendous amount of effort in by buying loadsa different springs and always upwards and always better.

there is very little difference between the valving a 9 stone and a 20 stone rider needs. WE JUST NEED TO GET THE SPRINGS RIGHT. RIGHT!

regards

Taffy

Hey thanks for the tips. I read that thread on KTM.Talk alot of good info there. I bought the 48's cause that was the biggest they had (at that shop) and I wanted somethintg right now. What do you think about adding spacers to them if they are not in the sag ballpark (65-70)?

i'm sure that you have read in the doc about measuring the space between the spring and the cap - that you have to establish first ok? i mean i had 9mm spacers fitted - known as packing - BUT that isn't preload!!!!! there is a difference!

they say the sweet spot for preload is 6mm. my personal experience after testing is that none or 3mm max is all i'd put in. regards over 15mm well how ya gonna put your spanner on the nut at the top of the cartridge rod! you mustn't have any one spacer over 15mm thick.

i've explained once how things will affect you, that's why i answer my own posts and build up long threads, so that guys like you can read it all there, follow it, understand it and then avoid my mistakes.

fact is, check yer race sag with the help of someone and then send the buggers back and go up to a size that you can agree to. i would think you've got to be looking at 52s.

regards

Taffy

spring rates are part of the setup

fork oil level and weight .

valving dont forget valving , if you just change the springs and
forget about the valving you are doing yourself an injustice .

first of all you have to work out whether the suspension is correct even for the 12 stone rider. fact is it's a bit spikey still thus the recommendation i make above. i make it for all riders. secondly oil level, they just seem to have got their facts wrong at the factory. everyone agrees that it isn't 110mm but where is a question. 130-140 is about where it's agreed. with these two right there is no need to change the weight of oil and then you just have to get the right springs in.

it's your riding style and speed, whether you stand or sit, fast or slow that makes the next difference but whosaberg you're making it complicated when it isn't.

bar the two basic faults mentioned here, get the right spring and everything else falls into place. it turns out that most riders can't get the spring rate right and then howl about the valving...

get the springs right, get the oil level right and you're 90% of the way there. wanna spend $900 on sussies? fine but at least we now have the information here for you although as usual it seems to go straight over some people's heads and they then wobble and say "errrrrrr, well i'll send it in to XYZ. then they bench race afterwRDS...." I ONCEPULLED ONE SHIM OUT COZ DWIGHT RUDDER TOLD ME TOO, I HAD NO IDEA WHAT IWA SDOING AND IT MADE ONE HELLUVA DIFERENCE.

THERE'S A LOT YOU CAN DO WITH $900.

REGARDS

Taffy

taffy

one of the reasons why i got the valving done was i looked at the
DOC , and it states for better performance ' gold valves ' .

i wanted better performance and got it , he also did the oil level and height .

i am not a suspension expert so i paid a expert to do it , and i can afford it .

and the improvement over the rubbish i had before is what i wanted .

i was also saw on this site that the valving on the berg forks was too harsh so
i thought why don't i do the whole lot .

i will say that someone with knowledge on susp could get it right with just spring rate and oil level . but would he improve it more if he did the valving as well ?