Suspension questions

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fatbob

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Right folks , a couple of questions for the track day boys
I know first hand that the standard stuff is a bit wishy washy when pushed so have decided to spend some more money on the bloody thing before my Spanish track day and I have 2 dilemmas
1: ohlins or bitubo ? Does anyone have any experience of both?
2: I can only afford either the shock or the forks before my trip , which would give me the biggest improvement short term
I am going to buy both

Thx in advance
 
Defo forks in my opinion, when i had mine set up the guru said forks were maxed out but shock was usable.......... I think by nature the front does most of the work, no front end no teef :eek:
As to which make, still making my own mind up :-\ K-Tech has also been rated on here....
 
From what I can remember when I did mine the advice was to go shock first as that was the worst. Maxtons wouldnt even touch the shock it was so 'bad'.


I will see if I can find some of the emails.
 
Depends on how you ride and your weight Bob, for me I would change the shock 1st. You could do a quick/cheap fix on the forks ie new springs etc.
 
Get k tech to re valve your bike alot cheaper and as good as either ;)
 
Hello Bob. I was finding that the forks were causing me more problems on track than the shock. I was maxed on the compression but still bottoming out and then the forks would spring back up because of a lack of rebound damping. I rang McT who I have used before and asked they recommendations on the best course. Darren there said that they had modified loads, both forks and shocks with decent results. On the forks they plugged a bypass hole in the emulator which means you get full damping. The spacers were cut down and longer heavier linear springs (as per originals) put in to compensate. This stops the bike floating around on the coil bound springs at full compression which is the sensation I was getting. Then the shims were changed. Decent oil of the same weight is used because the factory stuff is basically crap (mine came out black and full of air bubbles). Darren was pretty complimentary of the shock and all he did was change the shims and oil, the spring rate is pretty good for my weight apparently. I must admit the difference is stark. I thought the bike handled pretty well as standard but the forks feel so much more controlled. I can't feel as much difference with the shock but its more responsive but then they didn't change that much inside and I wasn't unhappy with it to start with. All in it cost £480 which wouldn't get you a decent shock but it depends how much money you want to spend. I thing Darren said about the Biturbos is they are difficult to set up and not a lot of people specialise in them.
 
I've got some stiffer ohlins fork springs if you want em bob?

unionjack link=topic=1935.msg17706#msg17706 date=1357328716 said:
The spacers were cut down and longer heavier linear springs (as per originals) put in to compensate.

I should have cut the spacers down on mine before dumping the standard internals as i was happy with the spring rate but couldnt get the sag set right!
 
Cheers fellas , will look into the thing Greg spoke of
Cheers Andy but I can't be arsed to do it myself , and the perception is to let an expert do it , so it's right
 
Would have thought any aftermarket kit from KTech, Ohlins, Maxton or bitubo would be good enough unless your a riding god at BSB level. Get cheapest or buy whatever your local suspension bloke uses.

Unless you are BMW Mr. average then the most important bit is the spring rate front & rear & also oil level in front forks to control bottoming. Compression damping is not used to stop the fork bottoming.
 
Ended up getting a decent deal with the bitubo stuff and the guy at our local MOT place has been the spanner chucker for buildbase for years and according to him , thats what they all ride on , and have for a few years , looks like Im taking it to bits again :(should be worth it hopefully
 
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