As above. Im not a seasoned track day'er (never even been on a track). I wouldnt class myself as a fast rider (well - i dont think so)...the age old adage "theres always someone faster than you" springs to mind..... Anyway. Over the years ive read various thread on various forums and when the subject of better suspension comes up ive frequently seen the phrase banded around "you dont need that mate your not on the track..." Personally...id disagree... With a bit of wheeling and dealing ive upgraded mine a few times on my RSV4 factory....started off on the stock ohlins....scored a cheap Nitron rear a couple of years back and sold the ohlins on. Then bought a tail can and ttx36 mk2 for a stupid price and sold the Nitron on. Finally scored some NiX30 forks. Ive not been out for a proper ride as it were since last september. Spent the last month or so, servicing, tiding, upgrading and general busying on it. Ive got a slacker sag tool so set it up as i think but ill probably ask more quesion on that in another thread..... Work done has been... 1. HiD lights removed and replaced with LED's. Headlight internals were burnt so bought a newly pulled headlamp from my mate...Do the whole shooting match at once. 2. Fitted tracker. 3. Shortened and tidied up heated grip wiring. (the net result of the first 3 4. Fitted new chainset 5. NiX30 forks fitted. 6. Set suspension up as best as i can...MH racing still arent doing setups so itll have to wait... 7. Oil and filter changed. 8. Cleaned and serviced front calipers. 9. Fitted USB charging socket up at the clocks for charging a phone while nav is running. So, this morning got out a 6am for a run from Bristol down to Loomies. Took about 20 mins for it to start to get the feeling for it.... Collected my mate at Staverton on his RC8r and then headed on down. The road down there is a nice one, consisting on long straights big sweeping corners and nice big roundabouts...perfect terrain for a sportsbike. As the morning went on i found that i could sit in corners at a more leaned angle as it were. If i was entering a corner that i could see through eg one corner i glanced at the speedo seeing 85 i would be thinking "i could go into that over a 100 easy..." and i kept thinking that more and more. Going round, roundabouts it seemed like i would be going low enough to almost put my hand down (if i was brave enough to try which there was no way of doing that). Taking corners fast it felt like it was almost "dug into a groove" going round said corner. Because of the new found stability in corners...this might sound weird but it's nice now "being, in the corner..." almost willing you to hunker down and hang off a bit more... On the oem suspension mid corner id be thinking...."once im out of this corner theres no then theres no chance of me being in the hedge..." Upgrading the suspension is probably one of the best things ive ever done i think. I was out for about 3 or 4 hours, i didnt really feel any fatigue as such, not as much as i remember anyway. As i say im not a racer, never seen a track but the only way i can describe it is "confidence inspiring". Everything is better. My 9 year owned rsv4 i love even more after today. I dont think id ever be able to afford it but if i got the chance to go up again i would without a doubt ( i have a mate who buys and sells parts who said to me "ive got some ohlins cartridged with k-tech internals...interested...fucker!)....there are NiX30's available as cartridge replacements for my z1000 if theres anyway i can afford it by fuck ill be getting some...same for the hyper. Both of them on the rear have good aftermarket shocks so thats taken care of (Bitubo on the rear of the hyper and Nitron R3 on the rear of the zed). I think the balancing up of the upgraded forks for the front was the ticket, that was the bit that made it all work really nicely. My only critique at the moment (which im sure will be sorted at MH) is when the bike is under heavy load mid corner on a corner with undulations/ripples/bumps/uneven it can feel a little see-saw'y which i think is where ive not got the compression and rebound correctly set between the front and rear. To anyone thats even remotely thinking of doing this: I had no idea of what better suspension felt like, no point of reference so it was to a certain extent a gamble but, its paid off (for me anyway)! All in all. Brilliant. I highly reccomend...
So, to continue this. Last week and mate and me went to MH Racing to get my suspension setup (he got his RSVR done also).....turns out my sag was spot on (used my electronic sag tool - Slacker) to get it setup for me. Once id set the sag i took an 8mm spanner out with me and made some fine adjustments to the rear sag to get the bike "level" doing about 1 to 1/2 a turn at a tme. My compression and rebound on the other hand were right out....too much rebound on the front too much compression on the rear which was the reason i was "see saw'ing" in the previous post. Last night all set up and ready to go we went into Wiltshire (from Bristol) to Warminster and back again. Initially everything felt the same with the added bonus of stability mid corner which while a very short statement made everything twice as much fun. Me and my mate had comms. "Fucking hell, manhole cover! - [oof]" i would have time to react and mine would almost glide over....The added stability that i was afforded by the compression and rebound rejig gave alot more confidence mid corner - i would exit a corner thinking (again but moreso than before) and on shorter tighter corners. Now ive got my "MH" settings recorded and a record of the oil i used in the forks and the levels ive got a good baseline setting which i can mess around with. The other added bonus of good suspension means that if i want to go out and make adjustments all i need is a 15mm socket, a small allen key and an 8mm spanner. Monumentally happy with my setup now. Ill definately be tackling the Hyper and z1000 as funds allow....both of them have stock forks and good rear suspension....a Nitron R3 on the z and a bitubo on the hyper. Oh and one last thing....last nights shenanigans were carried out on a pretty well fucked set of rosso corsa III's (Just hit the wear limiters on the rear) and almost there on the front...! New set of supercorsa's arrived today...ive got a little bit left on the front corsa III so ill do the back first...assuming were coming to end of the summer now its next trip out will be in the back of a van to aprilia performance to have the valves checked...
Great suspension is always worth while Sure the high end stuff has fine adjustment that is only really used on track, but the changes on that stuff can be night and day for a few clicks here and there, and it’s far easier to get that softer road ride needed for bumpy roads while dialling out wallowy tendencies.
I'd agree with having better suspension is a real eye opener. The S2r 800 is not a bike that is recognised as having great suspension, it's not bad it could just be lots better. My bike however is now running ST4s front TiN forks and rear Ohlins shock, both of which were serviced and set up by MTC. It's made a hell of a difference although it did take a while to get used to it as initially as it felt like a completely different bike (and it should do given the amount it cost!) It does however have a down side as it has highlighted just how completely inadequate S2r 800 front brakes are so I now have a set of Goldline calipers in the shed and am trying to find some 320 discs so that they can be changed as well...
Yep - my reasoning is....if BSB riders can get round a track at the speeds they do on manually setup suspension (albeit stratospherically way above the quality of mine) then i can do the same on a lesser scale. I dont need any more power than what ive got (id hazzard my old RSV4 running about 160bhp). If i wanted a nearly new rsv4 then id literally be handing another 8 to 10k over for the same bike (with the electronics) - which is a no go for me..!
