848 owners sussie question thang

I can only see stockings there, no sussies. Obviously another photo is required to show us what you mean! :biggrin:


On the subject of the 848, get them serviced and revalved by someone who knows what they are doing.

 

It's easy.

Take it to someone who knows what they're doing. Give 'em an hour's labour. Ride away with a totally transformed (and improved) bike.

The combination of correct suspension set up and proper tyre pressures makes a great bike even better.

Others will no doubt tell of more radical and expensive mods but for starters I go for the easy cheaper option and see how I get on. Depending on your road / track riding you may however want to do and spend more.

 

Ditched the showa and fitted an ohlins with a sensible spring.

I think the general misconception is the stock spring is too stiff, but it's more likely too soft with far too much pre load on it to compensate.

It all depends on your weight for the spring really, but if you look for around 30mm sag with you n your kit on, then work with the damping from there you won't be far away for road use.

But the main thing to remember is if it feels right then it probably is right, as we all like things slightly different.

Anth

 

Agreed about the 'if it feels right' thing. The thing is, it's easy to put up with something that you think feels right, but could easily be better with a bit of attention from someone who knows how to get the best out of it. :smile:

 

Adding preload wont make a spring feel stiffer.

 

Yeah,

Your right too Ken....a bit of look what you could have won...once you have seen how it could be.

 

I'm sorry, but I think you'll find it does, as the area of adjustment on the stock showa a spring has been taken out of play because of the amount of preload on a stock 848 spring.

Trust me....I'm not an expert but I did pay one to sort my spring rate out.

Check Dan Kyle's website out for a world of information.

A brief 1098s/848 extract that may explain what im trying to say can be found here.

http://www.ducati-upnorth.com/forum/showthread.php?8790-848-1098-Suspension

(Sorry Rob)

 

K tech not too far from you will sort you out great guys. Ride there let them fiddle with it they won't let you leave till your happy with it, the best £40 notes you will ever spend on it. K-Tech Suspension, road race and offroad motorcyle suspension . They even give you a little booklet with set up instructions and your personal settings logged in to it.

 

As i mentioned to you before chap. I'm 15 stone in gear and had 12mm of rear rider sag as it came. Now running 28mm and it's fine for me.

Don't have a problem with the stock shock now but i've not used an ohlins on it for comparison. i've heard the ohlins version is a bit of a must for serious track action.

The front on mine was not far off preload wise.

I got Rsi on the stock settings riding in the pyrenees. I had numb fingers for 2 weeks after i got back and i honestly just wanted to get of it and cry on seriously long downhills as my hands went numb and hurt trying to stop myself sliding up the seat every time it dived at the front or launched me out of the seat. The excessive preload just transfers all the weight to the front off the throttle and braking. Good to a point but not that much.

As to preload and stiffness of shock/preload, damping is progressive so the further your shock is in the stroke, the more damping it has. If you aren't getting any serious compression on the rear due to excessive preload you are also affecting the damping zone. If anyone has Ohlins service manuals they give you the damping rates/travel and you will see how much it ramps up as the shocks/forks compress

If you are lighter than me and on stock preload on the rear you may have even less sag. It needs balance unless you ride on billiard table roads.

 

Adjusting the preload doesn't stiffen a spring unless its'a progressive spring. It just adjusts the area in which it works. Preload adjustment will only stop the suspension either topping out or bottoming out.

 

I have an Ohlins rear shock on mine with a 70nm spring (the 80 spring originally on the Ohlins was too hard for my weight). Mike Hammond (MH Racing) near Chippenham set it all up. The original 848 rear shock was impossibly hard for me and not adjustable enough, the bike felt like a frisky pony and was skittering about all over, especially round the bends on bumpy roads. After Mark had set it up, the improvement was noticeable even just sitting on the bike - wow - some sag! Never had that before :biggrin: Bike now feels fabulous, and also the annoying headshake has just about gone (afer fork tweaking). I also have a ride height adjuster, and have raised the rear just a bit.

 

Isn't it Mark at MH ? But yes he's a top guy, rebuilt my Aprilia Ohlins shock after it lunched the seals.

It's always going to be a bit flighty on a real bumpy road, it's the nature of the beat.
On a real bumpy road on tour some of the guys on BMW GS's plough through stuff that makes me wince but it handles anything but the worst roads without complaint.

My brother stepped off a Varadero onto a new Triumph Tiger but he can't get on with it. The Varadero was so planted because of it's weight that the Tiger feels like it's bouncing off everything to him. Yet to me the tiger feels like a heavy old bus compared to the 848.
I think with the 848 or any real light superbike you set it up as best it can be and then have to just accept it will move around under you sometimes and let it get on with it as long as it's not trying to bite you.
You just need to ride it lots and then it just becomes the norm. When you ride something else after you then realise how much feedback it was actually giving you but when it's new to you it's a bit like sensory overload. I've no idea how much a 748 or 996 weighs but i bet it's a fair bit more.

At 11 stone i don't think you will get enough sag out of the stock spring. At 15 in gear i nearly ran out of thread to get 28mm

 

I'm eight and a half stone and the original 80 on the Ohlins was wound right to the limit but was still on the hard side for me. I guess an Ohlins 80 would be ok for you at 11 and a half st. From reading stuff on other forums you can get the Showa set up ok but I was lucky to get a "second-hand but new" Ohnlins cheap.TBH most big blokes find the 848 standard set up pretty rock hard, so summat needs doing. Someone said they were all sold like that for the US market (fat spams on smooth roads) ....

 

Apparantly they are sprung for 2 up riding. Italians like to take their girlfriends on the back a lot. Wheras we like to leave them behind to nag someone else. :biggrin:

 

Yeah, it's Mark (God knows how I typed Mike instead of Mark!

He is indeed a top guy.

 

:biggrin:

No need, I can get behind the standard one alright.

Arthurbikemad on here knows a few things about 848 suspension, btw.