02-01-11, 03:29 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-01-11, 04:42 PM by John Silva.)
Originally posted by kebab19 on 21/09/2008
Testing commences
Due to a glitch in the Matrix, the weather here was dry and sunny for once, so I went for a 100+ mile spin with mate on his Superduke up the Antrim Coast area. Initial results are very encouraging, although some fine-tuning will be required.
The roads consisted of motorway, smooth-ish dual carriageway, then fast bumpy A roads and finally fast, smooth A roads.
Motorway and dual carriageway was first. My former bugbears, resurfaced patches and tarmac over banding no longer provided a harsh jolt throughout the entire bike. Instead I could feel the front raising slightly, but the impact wasn't transferred to the bars. Perhaps it's more accurate to say there was an awareness of going over road irregularities as opposed to feeling them. If anything, I felt more of a jolt through the rear shock, and it's a fairly good WP item.
On to the bumpy A roads. Again, through corners the new setup proved far superior to the original. On the standard setup, small bumps in corners deflected the front wheel off course, requiring constant correction. Now the front wheel seemed to be glued to the road, inspiring more confidence. Of particular revelation was braking hard before approaching a corner - I found myself braking much later because I wasn't as concerned about bumps.
The forks did however prove a fraction too soft for badly potholed roads, particularly beyond 80mph. Although I didn't know it at the time (keeping a Superduke in sight proved impossible) the forks were nearly bottoming out. I normally run the bike with my yokes dropped 10mm to quicken up the steering, possibly too much while I am still experimenting with this new setup. I stopped later at a chippy van for a cuppa and noticed scratches on the top of the mudguard underneath the brake lines. Obviously with the new setup there was more suspension travel and it was fouling the mudguard. For the journey home I increased the preload adjusters as a temporary fix. The fast smooth A roads home were enjoyable and incident free.
I have concluded that I may need a bit more oil in the forks (according to Race Tech, too low an oil level causes the forks to bottom out too easily) but am not sure how much. I will start with another 10ml in each leg and see how that feels. I will also raise the yokes back up 5mm as a safety measure to protect my front brake lines. All other suspension factors (fork oil weight, Emulator preload) all felt pretty much perfect from the off.
Testing commences
Due to a glitch in the Matrix, the weather here was dry and sunny for once, so I went for a 100+ mile spin with mate on his Superduke up the Antrim Coast area. Initial results are very encouraging, although some fine-tuning will be required.
The roads consisted of motorway, smooth-ish dual carriageway, then fast bumpy A roads and finally fast, smooth A roads.
Motorway and dual carriageway was first. My former bugbears, resurfaced patches and tarmac over banding no longer provided a harsh jolt throughout the entire bike. Instead I could feel the front raising slightly, but the impact wasn't transferred to the bars. Perhaps it's more accurate to say there was an awareness of going over road irregularities as opposed to feeling them. If anything, I felt more of a jolt through the rear shock, and it's a fairly good WP item.
On to the bumpy A roads. Again, through corners the new setup proved far superior to the original. On the standard setup, small bumps in corners deflected the front wheel off course, requiring constant correction. Now the front wheel seemed to be glued to the road, inspiring more confidence. Of particular revelation was braking hard before approaching a corner - I found myself braking much later because I wasn't as concerned about bumps.
The forks did however prove a fraction too soft for badly potholed roads, particularly beyond 80mph. Although I didn't know it at the time (keeping a Superduke in sight proved impossible) the forks were nearly bottoming out. I normally run the bike with my yokes dropped 10mm to quicken up the steering, possibly too much while I am still experimenting with this new setup. I stopped later at a chippy van for a cuppa and noticed scratches on the top of the mudguard underneath the brake lines. Obviously with the new setup there was more suspension travel and it was fouling the mudguard. For the journey home I increased the preload adjusters as a temporary fix. The fast smooth A roads home were enjoyable and incident free.
I have concluded that I may need a bit more oil in the forks (according to Race Tech, too low an oil level causes the forks to bottom out too easily) but am not sure how much. I will start with another 10ml in each leg and see how that feels. I will also raise the yokes back up 5mm as a safety measure to protect my front brake lines. All other suspension factors (fork oil weight, Emulator preload) all felt pretty much perfect from the off.
Biking is about the Journey NOT the Destination...