Hi and thx. Love my bike (longest I've kept one - 5 years) just was finding it starting to cripple and aggrevate old injuries. Deffo dont need to sell (certainly not giving it away) and it gets a lot of attention. A few ergo changes and a trip to mct suspension specialist in stowmarket sounds the best thing to do. I'm sure bike's too "stiff" for me (i know its a proper ss etc) - hardly moves when i get on it (as in sag).
I think i have sato clip ons, so poss no more height gain to be gotten? Or does that not necessarily have to be the case? Will take pics of what i have and post up for further comment / advice if ok?
Couple of pics close up of my set up. Any thoughts re my clip ons - looks like they could go up 10 - 15mm at a guestimation? Can they rotate outwards at all, or are there slots (or something lol) that locates them? Any thoughts re where the compression / rebound is / should feel like with the settings i have? Cheers again all your help.
And you have a gap between the top of the clipons and the bottom of the yoke. You should be able to slide them up.
Yeah loosen those two silver bolts on each of the gold clamps, raise them until they hit the bottom of the top clamp. Looks like you have a lot of preload on those forks already, count how many rings are showing or take a close up photo. Get familiar with the owners handbook and where the settings are - we can tell you but it's easier for you to become familiar with it and helps us feel that you're not just being a lazy ass
Lol - I'm used to being told!!! Take your point - I really should know a bit more about these things, but do lack a bit of confidence when tampering with stuff I don't fully understand. Will check out the manual (I take it this stuff should be in there), but being a slightly lazy arse (and cos I'm not at home and am interested in this stuff) are you talking about the large rings at the bottom (looks like about 5 showing, or the smaller ones between these and the blue top (looks like about 5 or 6)? I'll have a proper look tonight for the correct numbers, but just interested to know that it's right the bike should feel pretty stiff with those settings, with very little sag when I get on the bike. Either way, a visit to MCT to get a basic (or possibly full set up could reap reward I hope) If I go for it looks like £450(ish) gets new springs, fork oil, revalve etc. I think I can move my rearsets 1 down and 1 forward also which would make a marginal improvement. Food for thought. Cheers again all, Andrew. Ps - can the grips rotate around the fork at all (ie place 'em anywhere when I move then up, or is that plain fixed?
There was a painless mod that people used to do to raise the clip on height,turn them upside down and swap left to right etc....never tried it myself but I know people who have,with good results...might be worth a try and it won't even lighten your wallet!..
The big outside bit with the rings showing is the outside of the fork, you can slide the forks up/down in the yokes to alter front ride height. Lower the front/more rings showing = better handling but wrists hurt more (to a point obviously). The 2nd set of rings, inner set above the nut, controls the preload, how much sag you have. Regards preload, the bike should move a bit when you sit on it, but not loads. If i was you, i'd just start by moving those clip-ons up to the bottom of the yokes and go for a ride. After that: If your legs get sore, move the feet pegs, arse sore, buy a comfier seat or get the current one recovered with comfy gel inside. Wrists hurt, move the forks up through the yokes. Suspension setup for your weight/riding is fine, £450 for revalve, new springs, etc seems excessive at this point. CR
Sorry got that wrong,I think it's just a case of swapping them over left to right,without turning them upside down.
Yep - free ones first makes perfect sense. I think I can manage the foot pegs lol (it's one allen bolt round the back from memory - they are DP rearsets I believe) and the clip on move - will check that there is enough play in the cables first / as they go up! Per above, can the clip-ons rotate round at all - would be useful if they could move a little way out / forward away from the tank (just a few degrees). Looking at a sargent seat (seem to get good review, as in more comfy and not so much sliding about) - that may (hopefully) sort a lot of the probs and poss a little more sag just to soften the ride a touch (will get MCT to do me a basic set up as a first gambit) - I realise it ain't never gonna be a comfy sport tourer
Yeah the little thing with the blue thing on top, that silver thing is the preload thing. You can position the bars wherever you like but you have to make sure they don't hit the tank or fairing when going from lock to lock both ways. Loosen the clip on clamps (gold colour) and get them at the highest point, tighten them a little. Get on the bike and put both hands on the clip ons, how do your wrists feel? Are your elbows touching your torso? If so then push the bars away from you (forward). When in the wheel in the straight position you don't want your wrists to be angled relative to your forearm, also your forearms should be approximately parallel to the road surface. Tighten the bars in whatever position seems to be the best fit for above after you've tried to make both bars equally spaced, ie the same on both sides of the bike. Adjust your levers and controls now to suit the new bar positioning. Check again that nothing touches when going from lock to lock both ways. You've been riding this bike for years without any problems so leave the suspension alone as advised and just refine your ergonomics for a few weeks. Get a couple of mates over (free beer helps) to help you check your sag out, there are LOADS of articles on the net about it and HUNDREDS of videos on YouTube alone to that explain in detail how to measure and adjust the sag.
Look at what @yellowducmaniac and @Mongoose have done in this RECENT thread, be like them, don't waste your money buying a new seat, the standard one is well designed for the bike it's just too slippy, especially after being polished by arse leather for a few years: https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/sargent-seat.42903/
Thanks for this - great advice (and to all others also) - I need to take a breath, stop and think before deciding that instant drastic action is the best first option
I'm roughly the same weight as you ( circa 11 stone) I found the o.e.m rear Showa spring too stiff, and even with all the pre load wound off was unable to get the static sag in the region of 10mm, so I bought and fitted an 80 spring instead of the 90 that's fitted as o.e.m. Then I was able to get the rear shock working much better and was able to dial in the pre load to get the shock working in the middle of it's range.
