Suspension setings help - Ducati.ms

JFB1973 · Jul 6th, 2009, 2:09 am

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Hi,

After my first real ride yesterday on my new Hyper, high way, wide mountain roads and narrow twisty mountain roads, our roads condition is not good, uneven asphalt and a lot of putholes, add to this that I am kind of a beginner and not agressive rider, I realised that the suspension is a bit stiff for my liking and whenever I brake to dip the front end into a curve I feel the travel on the suspension is not that great, I think I need the front end to dive a little more to feel more confortable turning.
Any suggestions will help as I have no prior experience in setting up suspensions.

J.

MTScott2 · Jul 6th, 2009, 7:18 am

Hi J welcome to the forum congrats on the Hyper ! Is it an S model or a base model? When I bought mine I asked how they were going to set up the suspension and they said we are not going to touch it, It is best for you to get used to the bike as the Ducati engineers set it up for the best all around handling...What ever you adjust will affect another part of the bikes geometry and handling characteristics,,from what I have ONLY READ it is complicated....And with shifting try to have upward pressure on the shift lever when letting the clutch out see if that helps with the mis shifts (your other post) Your shift lever is positioned down so far as to assist in making correct shifts. The more time you spend on the bike the better it gets...It is still breaking in it will change every time you get on it....Be Patient and careful and have fun

JFB1973 · Jul 6th, 2009, 7:45 am

Thx Scott2 for the reply, I guess I will wait a bit to get used to the bike, it is the regular model. And thanks for the advise on the shifting part, I asked the dealer and he said the same as you, most of the people who are new to Ducati have the same issue in the begining.

Activator · Jul 6th, 2009, 9:59 am

I turned all the compression adjusters OUT a bit from the factory settings, which made the ride a little more comfortable and settled the suspension down over rough roads.

On a non-S: Both rear adjusters 15 clicks out from fully tight, then add 3 clicks more. Front 1.5 turns out from fully tight, then a 1/4 turn more.

That little bit extra really makes a difference.

1hotrod · Jul 6th, 2009, 1:18 pm

I would personally setup the sag first in the front and back, and then play with the rebound and compression.

The compression is how stiff the suspension feels, and the rebound is how slow or fast the bike comes up after it's compressed.

But as the Activator said, you probably want to turn out the compression to make it softer, and turn in the rebound to make it come up faster.

dave2riff · Jul 6th, 2009, 7:23 pm

My front forks were unbelievably stiff for the first 150 miles or so. I over-
reacted and backed out all the pre-load and compression damping. Then,
when the forks broke in it way under-damped! So I would avoid doing any
adjustments on a machine that is brand new and let it wear in a bit first.
Mine was barely using half the front travel even on bumpy coast roads on
the first two rides. It came in nicely after that, and returning to more normal
settings for compression and pre-load (which should really be used to set
the sag, not to attempt to compensate for wrong spring rates).

freezer16801 · Jul 6th, 2009, 9:41 pm

don't even mess with the dampening adjustements until you set the sag for your weight. Maybe you can look on youtube for a vid on how to measure preload?

33996 · Jul 6th, 2009, 11:04 pm

Anyone know what the factory sag is supposed to be set at ?

JFB1973 · Jul 7th, 2009, 2:35 am

Great Info from all, I was hoping I didn't have to mess with the sag to soften the suspension a bit, now some are saying not to touch the dampening before I set up the sag.
Activator seems to have done so and is happy with the result.
I just need a little bit softer suspension, not that much, if I change the settings and note down what i did, can't i reverse what I did and go back to the original settings?

Activator · Jul 7th, 2009, 7:35 am

JBF1973-

Try softening it up a bit. It takes 2 minutes. 3 clicks out at the rear and a 1/4 turn out at the front is hardly a radical change, but it may make the difference, and you can always go back to stock. Note that there are 6 different screws you need to adjust. They are pictured and functions described in the manual, along with the standard factory settings for each.

Note that I also lowered the tire pressures at the same time I softened the shocks. The bike came from the dealer with the tires at 33f/36r, and I dropped that to 32f/33r. That's still higher than the manual, which says pressures should be 30 f/r. The lower tire pressures may actually have the biggest effect on the ride and handling!

All I can say is that I was feeling like the Hyper was a bit fiddly on rough surfaces, particularly when leaned over, but now it's smooth and drama-free.