Collecting my 16 plate S shortly with only 1400 miles on the clock, is there anybody within a reasonable riding distance of Oxford who can explain to me in basic english all about this suspension setup? i don't mind riding somewhere and as i am retired can do almost anytime. should collect on the 1st Sep. Alan
Mate, your more than welcome to my place, but I'm a trek near Southampton, hopefully someone nearer who knows there arse from there elbow will be along soon. PS. Welcome
This is the amount of compression the front leg had after ride on Sat, with preload screwed down 2 1/2 turns not had chance to carry out further adj. Also noticed the bike was wallowing like hell at rear in tight bends. Thought i had a puncture. Stopped & checked, all ok. Then i remembered in the morning while waiting for the other guys to turn up, i had gone into setting on Touring mode & altered preload from 16 to 14. Thought surely not so turned it back to 16 & bike perfect. Cannot believe what 2 increments do to rear end. Also 1st decent ride with new exhaust system on. Sounds good to me. But the bike is like its not the same one. Riding slowly through villages at 30-35, would have been in 2nd or 3rd just. Always at least 2750-3000rpm. Now around 2200-2400 a gear higher clean as a whistle no jerking & pulls away smoothly. Not sure if thats because of the cat, or ex valve remove or even the new upmap but whatever its worth doing for anyone fancying the conversion. Also noticed i,m using 6th gear a lot more at lower speeds than before.
Do you know i have seen this said quite a lot. How many teeth on standard sprocket, without me counting.
I can't say that I was disappointed with my bike (16 S DVT) before now but been reading this thread and checked the front fork preload last night - was at ½ turn out. I've had squirrely moments before hard on the throttle or at higher speeds (your honour) so wound up the front pre-load to 5 turns out from zero and have a new bike! All as described by Wayne58, much more settled, precise, no weave or headshake. I do find the difference in ride between Sport and Touring (both High on throttle settings) to be much less noticeable but it is discernable. Great thread and insight. Cheers!
Well said. I,m still out on this & if you have been reading this thread which i started you have probably guessed i,m not leaving it alone until i,m convinced. Doing lots of testing. I am not taking Ducati,s word for the leave it alone it sorts its self out answer. Spent the last 4 years honing my Skyline & that is nearly 700 bhp. So not leaving this 1 alone. They told me they have circuit racing guys as well as novices riding these things at breakneck speeds & never touched the front preload & i am listening to them. But then i listen to guys on here that i don,t know & have never met & don,t even know if they actually own a Strada. So going my own route. Some on here don,t know me or my background. So they mock me. They should come to the cafe at squires leeds & ask around. They may change there minds then. Anyway if you have found a setting you like then stick with it & enjoy as there,s nothing like a Strada on song. What i have found so far is by altering the front preload from factory 1/2 turn there is no difference. If you alter the skyhook settings you get the same results. Which is exactly what Ducati said. So far i have had my front preload at default 1/2 turn & measured dip. Then 2 1/2 turns & measured dip & have found about 10-15mm difference using the tywrap method which is the racers norm. When i have chance i will go to the recommended on here setting for my weight which will be about 6 turns in. Which i must say Ducati say under no circumstances turn it that far as the enduro mode will not work properly. The problem is. If you want a sweet perfect handling multi then buy a pikes peak & tweak it. But thats only good for a set of parameters say on smooth roads & no good for rough terrain
Steviegtr I'm not sure you really understand how suspension works. Preload is used to put all suspension into the right zone for the valves and springs to work in an optimal way in whatever circumstance. If anything, bumpy roads are far more critical than smooth tracks. It is the compression and rebound that is adjustsed once in that optimal place. It's why the ducati advice you have confuses: it goes against everything. Plus, why have a preload fork leg and why have a 'how to' and why not have a warning if that's the case?
Hi Steviegtr Yes it's been an interesting read and I guess we're all as anonymous as we choose to be in this forum so the only way to check things out is via dealers/Ducati or trial and error. Mine's in this week for a service so I'll ask then and see what their take on it is. In the meantime I'm going to back it off incrementally - it's definitely a more focused ride in sport mode but I feel it's a bit too taut in touring. Yes, I know, there's plenty on who only ride in sport but I like the choice for motorway runs, albeit with the throttle response in high. I always wonder why, if we aren't meant to use the range of settings available, are they provided. I understand basic suspension setups (sag, preload, compression, rebound) but this bike isn't that kind of system as everybody has said, if you want that then it's the Pike's Peak. Then again, I'm no software engineer so I don't know how the Skyhook system makes its calculations and what it's base level is meant to be. One thing I can say is that this forum is one of the best I've been on for information and clarity. I'll post up when I get out again and also what the guys say after servicing this week. Cheers
And what an apocalyptic cackhole it is too!! Fair amount of beer done, but not a place I care to visit again. Cornwall beautiful, just not that part. picture sums it up IMO
I really dont understand why there is this confusion about the skyhook system. For those that care to look there is plenty on the net about it. Here is one of the simpler articles from a UK Ducati distributor: https://www.pressreader.com/uk/motorcycle-news-uk/20160921/282140700850775 To summarise: a) Skyhook deals with rebound/Compression b) You, the rider, sort out the pre-load.
