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Front Fork Travel - Opinions Please

1865 Views 12 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  Desmo Elmer, 
G
2
Hi,
the photo below shows the amount of travel I'm getting out of my Showa forks on an '03 Monster 1000 in city riding. I've tried to ride over the bumps and to do some hard stops. I'm not sure where the bottom of the travel is, but I think I'm some way off it and I am planning to back off the preload a bit.

Any opinions?

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D
You should be using more of your travel than that. Have you had the bike set-up for your weight/riding style? It might be worth the time.
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Ddan said:
You should be using more of your travel than that. Have you had the bike set-up for your weight/riding style? It might be worth the time.
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+1 You ideally should have very little room underneath the zip tie when riding/braking hard.
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Ddan said:
You should be using more of your travel than that. Have you had the bike set-up for your weight/riding style? It might be worth the time.
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I'm in the process of setting up the suspension, hence the zip-tie. I've got the Sachs suspension unit on the back, and I'm starting to think it may be a little sick. The wheezing noises on rebound being one symptom.

I'll back off the front preload one notch at a time until I get the zip-tie to sit a bit lower. Thanks for the feedback.

Anyone got any measurements for the front fork travel?
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S
Fork travel on my S4 is 120mm (4.72") according to the owners manual.
I think your fork is the same, travel wise.

Here's a pic of how close the seal gets to the lower bracket when it's fully bottomed out, about a 5mm gap:
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G
That fork looks partly disassembled (correct?) I think effective travel is limited by an oil stop rather than the hard metal stop; nonetheless, it would be quite close to what you show there, which is a long way down from where mine is.

Thanks for the pic.
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S
As shown in the pic, that's metal to metal.

I would think that there would be an oil stop, but I didn't see anything that obviously functioned that way when I had 'em apart.
But I wasn't really looking for it either.
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N
In general you should be about 10mm from bottoming the forks under full braking. The speed I generally check at is roughly 70mph.

Some front forks have a snubber in them for additional bottoming toughness. It is not required on inverted road forks. There should be a rubber bumper at the top of the fork, under the fork bolt. That is what you hit if you ever truly "bottom" the forks out.
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C
i got another question, if u adjust the rebound damping, do u have to adjust the compression damping as well ?

thanks
Mo
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D
Cyclopes said:
i got another question, if u adjust the rebound damping, do u have to adjust the compression damping as well ?

thanks
Mo
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Not IMO.
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Cyclopes said:
i got another question, if u adjust the rebound damping, do u have to adjust the compression damping as well ?

thanks
Mo
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As I understand, all three settings (preload, rebound, and compression) need to be balanced. If you had a balanced setup and then increased preload, you should back off compression and increase rebound.

I'm no suspension expert, so don't take anything I say as prescriptive. Here's a question for those that are more expert:

Lets say you had the preload right for static setup. If you increase rebound damping, might you need to increase compression damping to 'slow' the fork down and reduce the possibility of packing-down? Conversely, if you decrease reound, should you decrease compression to produce a 'faster' fork and avoid topping out?

I'm trying to tune out an unpleasant 'weave' in fast corners, hence my interest in suspension. I'm struggling a bit at the moment. Increase the rebound in the rear and the weave reduces but I get some packing. I've got the Sachs rear shock with preload and rebound adjustment, and Showa front forks with preload only.
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GeoffB said:
As I understand, all three settings (preload, rebound, and compression) need to be balanced. If you had a balanced setup and then increased preload, you should back off compression and increase rebound.

I'm no suspension expert, so don't take anything I say as prescriptive. Here's a question for those that are more expert:

Lets say you had the preload right for static setup. If you increase rebound damping, might you need to increase compression damping to 'slow' the fork down and reduce the possibility of packing-down? Conversely, if you decrease reound, should you decrease compression to produce a 'faster' fork and avoid topping out?

I'm trying to tune out an unpleasant 'weave' in fast corners, hence my interest in suspension. I'm struggling a bit at the moment. Increase the rebound in the rear and the weave reduces but I get some packing. I've got the Sachs rear shock with preload and rebound adjustment, and Showa front forks with preload only.
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Have you set sag and sprung as necessary?
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D
The non adjustable Showas (revalved and resprung with proper sag) I put on my M800 will push the sliding indicator o-ring tight down to the casing on the bottom bracket in a pothole (bottom out) but in normal hard braking, bumpy road riding I usually have about 5-10 mm of free travel left down there. Looks to me like you're wasting a lot of your front travel... plus if the rear is the stock Sachs there's a good chance the spring is too soft (unless you're < 170lbs with gear) causing the rear to squat. Wouldn't that, combined with the uncompressed front, just aggravate issues caused by the already butt heavy attitude of the monster?

Lets say you had the preload right for static setup. If you increase rebound damping, might you need to increase compression damping to 'slow' the fork down and reduce the possibility of packing-down?
Click to expand...
You might, but only if you actually experience "packing." I'm far from an expert, but all suspension tuning stuff I've read always stresses making small changes, ONE thing at a time and testing the effects on a set course so you can actually observe the results.

I'm trying to tune out an unpleasant 'weave' in fast corners, hence my interest in suspension.
Click to expand...
That "weave" all but went away when I put on a Penske double clicker and raised the rear significantly. If you haven't raised the rear I would suggest experimenting with that before trying to tune it out with suspension settings. Clip-ons will also help get more weight on the front.

and Showa front forks with preload only.
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IMHO it would be well worth your while to have your forks set-up for your weight/riding style by one of the suspension outfits like Traxxion, Race Tech, GP suspension. I had mine done at GP Suspension and it's the second best money ever spent on my M800. First best was the Penske rear shock...

And as always, remember this advice is worth what you paid for it ;D
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