Suspension/Stance question

Welcome to late night voided thinking session.

So. I have read about guys shimming their rear suspension, modded or no, to get a close to a CM of rear lift, enhancing turn in, ect.

Others have done that, and lowered the front in the triples another half a cm, to enhance the effect.... now, ... Out on the 3 sisters in Leaky, TX I have bottomed my front out in the foothills with a mostly stock frontend setup... I know this, because my front fender had a lil dimple in the paint after I parked and looked things over. :worked_till_5am:

Has anyone/who is running a 120/60 front instead of 70, to get a lowered effect on the rake of the bike? what's it work out to, and does a rider stand to benefit? are there risks involved?

Inquiring Void's wanna know.

 

Holy shit, no one cares. ah well.

 

Merry Christmas... Someone cares

I weigh in at 220lbs or so. 02 vetc with abs...
Dropped the front end so forks stick up an extra 10mm (not quite a half inch) over the top of Heli bar topsides. (Drop the front; letting the fork slide up the triple clamps)
The preload is set to 1.5 lines up to give me what I need for 32 mm of travel.
The rear preload is set to a quarter turn out from full, (little screw on the bottom of the shock by the lower part of the chain) and the rebound (spring rate) is set to allow 32mm travel. For me thats a few turns from full clockwise on the adjuster.
I won't change a thing from stock setup. It handles like its on rails, like your sitting on a platform. RP3's and RP2's before that; and they grip like no other tire... I've been riding 40 years. Once a Viffer is setup right they cling to the road.
Save your money. Set it up, and ride it like you stole it.

 

Bottoming the front (except in the most extreme bumps) means you need stiffer springs for your weight.

 

Was thinking the same.
John

 

Yeah, there is only one cause of bottoming it and that is too soft of springs. It simply is unable to hold up the weight of the bike and rider. It can't control the spring compression enough to hold the bike up. Springs and possibly heavier oil is the only solution, not a lower profile tire. You'll still be bottoming out. Also, the fender stays a constant distance from the wheel, regardless of the bump. It is mounted to the forks.

I weigh more than you and I am running an all stock suspension and this has never happened to me. I would recommend double checking your fender is correctly mounted.

 

This is not necessarily true. Only if you bottom under hard braking can you conclude that higher rate springs are needed. Impulse loading, or "bumps", are absorbed with the damping characteristics mostly and to a much lesser degree the springs.

 

JD is the man! Thanks for contributing to my edumacation Jamie:eagerness:

 

By highering the rear and lowering the front you have loaded the front, the static ride height is lower as the extra weight has compressed the spring. Dropping the legs 5mm combined with the extra weight transfer you've also altered the central mass. If you want to keep these setting you will need a stiffer or longer spring so the mudguard doesnt hit, ideally when hard braking there should still be a small amount of travel left to allow for ripples otherwise you could lose the front end.

Also you can get the same effect slightly just by altering the handle bars forward as this puts more weight over the front.

 

I hear this said (and even written) a lot. When changing the front and rear ride height you don't appreciably change the actual weight put on the front/rear suspension. If you put scales under each tire they would read the same before and after. It does change, slightly, the position of the rider but again that doesn't really make a measurable difference.

In my experience what is happening is a change in the stability of the front end. The more you raise the rear (or lower the front) the less stable the front becomes. This acts the same as if you dumped extra weight up there, so that is what the rider's brain is telling them. Changing the ride height f/r will affect the way the suspension is loaded in a dynamic sense (i.e. when moving) so there are benefits to making changes that are well understood and logical.

On the VFR it is CRITICAL to not lower the front. These bikes already suffer from a lack of trail and lowering the front only makes that worse. A slight increase in rear ride height helps out back but it must be done in moderation as not to induce too much negative into the front. I strongly suggest the OP should go back with a stock front ride height.