My mate has a new V2 and he has said the rear shock is really hard. He has been out the last two days on his bike and he says the back end is so hard his back and kidney area are aching and he couldn’t wait to get home. He asked if I could ask others with a V2 if they also find it is too hard.
Nope. I don't find mine that harsh. EDIT: On re-reading this it might imply I find it a little harsh - and I don't. It's not any more firm than other bikes I've owned.
I went out for a razz on mine yesterday evening, warm day, warm tyres, I'm not a great rider, so I don't know if it's all in my head but certainly the warm conditions inspire loads of confidence - is it just imagination, or will the bike turn sharper with higher grip levels even if you never actually notice 'slip' in colder conditions? Anyway, absolutely loving the bike, and it sounds excellent even with stock exhaust. Needs to be revved for faster acceleration - the advantage of a 'smaller' bike is that you _can_ rev it out, and that just adds to the sense of fun. Oh, and I do find the rear on the firm side of comfortable.
Yep the suspension is a bit firm, but so were the Ohlins on my Supersport S. Personally I like it firm, so it doesn't wallow around during hard cornering. Firm gives you better feel.
I obv haven't ridden the Streetfighter but have loads of experience of the suspension from my Panigale V2 and previous 899's/959. 2 things I found out and tested.. 1) The Big Piston Forks, change in their behavior noticeably with heat, because of the relatively large volume of oil being moved by the pistons, they can be slightly 'slower' to respond when at the lower end of the working range for the oil. 2) The shock.. it's been covered to death, but even if you take all the compression out of it, it will still lock out over fast bumps at speed, it's to do with how the valving has been done, the oil basically 'locks' out under very fast movement which is what translates to harsh feel. I had my 899 Sachs shock 'reworked' by MCT and honestly it was incredible afterwards. That cost me £250 and was the best £250 I spent on the bike. On my V2, I had a full Ohlins TTX GP because I bought it from a mate for £600 but for most of my usage, it honestly was only maybe 10% better, for a massive extra cost. If I had a Streetfighter I would have already sent the shock to MCT, I honestly rate the work they did that much.
Just had the suspension set up, I have no clue about how it should be, I weigh 100kg. They wound the preload to the max, dropped low speed compression and rebound by 2 1/2 and 1, on the front. Added 6 to the preload, 1 to low speed compression and 2 to rebound on rear and adjusted the sag front and rear by 42 and 37 respectively. I have no ideas what the units are or if that makes sense to anyone. But the result is the front end feels a lot firmer, not so good on bumpy roads but miles better in fast corners and drops it to corners more confidently and the back wheel doesn't seem so keen to come off the ground under hard braking. So I think the moral of the story is spend £100 on getting the bike set up by someone who knows what they are doing if you are as clueless as me and don't eat yellow snow.
Loving my V2. For a bit of fun, I turned off wheelie control - I've not deliberately done a wheelie, but I thought a bit of front wheel lift might be fun. I went for a quick burst overtake yesterday, and maybe the front lifted, I think it may have a little, but not quite sure. Anyway, what surprised me more was quite a bit of headshake causing me to back off a tad during my overtake until it settled. I thought I might need to adjust the steering damper to add a little more damping, but then realised it is not adjustable. Thank goodness it at least has some damping. Anyway, I put wheelie control back on
my front wheel comes up, and don’t get an instability, granted it’s probably only about 6 inches off the floor before I bottle it.
Anyone got a picture of the evotech tail tidy from the rear. My mates fitting his and if he uses one of the spacers a legal sized plate partly covers the indicator which I presume would be an mot fail. Fitting both spacers and the small retaining bits makes it right but doesn’t look as good with a smaller plate.
