So what can I do to make the Duc ride and handle better? I'd particularly like it to turn in faster and be more compliant over bumpy roads!

First thing to do is replace the stock front fork springs. Stock ones are 0.65 kg/mm which is WAAAYYYY too soft. At 260 lbs. RaceTech recommends 0.971, that's a 50% stiffer spring. That will get rid of the mushy feeling you are undoubtedly feeling with the stock springs. You must have very little spring travel available with the amount of preload required to keep from bottoming out at your weight. The springs will make a big difference.

Next you can steepen the fork angle (decrease rake) by dropping the triples on the forks. I dropped mine about 1" and this makes it way easier to toss the bike into a corner.

The rear shock isn't too bad, the spring is too stiff for most riders as the bike is sprung for two-up riding. Your weight helps you out here...stock spring is 8.5 kg/mm, RT recommends 8.25 for your weight. Because the Showa shock lacks a rising rate linkage you are going to end up with a bumpier ride than with an Ohlins or equivalent... it shouldn't be painfully so, though. The biggest thing you can do for the rear is put in an Ohlins shock... the difference in feel and handling is HUGE, it's just a much better shock. The Ohlins also gets you a ride height adjustor so you don't need to lower the front end to adjust rake angle, i.e. you don't need to sacrifice any ground clearance. Unfortunately it is a pricey upgrade.

 

I agree with most of what dspear99ca told you, with a couple of exceptions. I weigh 150 lbs and I use 1.0 kg/mm springs in my track SS forks. My street FE has .9 kg/mm fork springs. I've found RaceTech's recommendations for fork springs to be way too soft.
Also, I would not go as far as 1" when raising the fork tubes in the triple clamps. If you put on a longer shock (1/2"-1" longer), as dspear99ca suggested, with the correct spring and damping for your weight, it will do more to lighten and quicken the steering, and you won't lose cornering clearance or run the risk of the front fender hitting the bottom triple clamp or bending the brake hoses excessively. I went with a Penske shock, since they are incredibly well made and I wanted an alternative to Ohlins. I'm sure Wilbers would be good also, assuming they make a (longer) shock for your bike.

 

RT recommends 0.87 for me, I am running 0.95's so yes I agree with you on that one as the 0.95's are fine for street riding, I'd go stiffer for the track.

There are two ways to adjust decrease the rake/trail: drop the front or raise the rear. Okay, you could also put on adjustable offset triples but that's a lot of work and expense.

Dropping the front 3/4-1" is not too much, I am doing it now. I can do 130mph on the highway and it still feels rock solid stable. This is just my experience, but it's with the identical hardware the OP has. I can also report that I go over speed bumps and haven't scraped yet, nor does 1" make any significant difference to the bending of the brake hoses. Not saying I'm right, just that's been my experience.

There's actually one other pretty cheap alternative to an expensive new shock for raising the rear and that's putting in a 99+ rear shock. They are between 15-20mm longer. I was going to do this, but as I have found I really don't miss the ground clearance, I saved myself $100 or so on a used shock on eBay and have stuck with my lowered front end. YMMV. Good luck and report back whatever you choose to do so we can all learn something.

 

Thanks for all the advice so far!

I'll probably get the Wilbers stuff as it's readily available in Germany (and somewhat less expensive than the Öhlins stuff ) - progressive fork springs and either a 540 or 640 series rear shock. Not sure if the front springs come in all stiffnesses, but the rear shock does, and also has a +20mm length option.
I hope this will make the bike more compliant and also steef faster.

BTW, am I right in thinking that replacing the front springs and oil is a major pain in the backside?

Cheers

Es

 

BTW, am I right in thinking that replacing the front springs and oil is a major pain in the backside?
Es

It depends. If you've never done it before, it certainly is at least a moderate pain in the butt. Somewhat time consuming. After you remove the forks from the bike, you have to remove the cap. Be sure you loosen it while the forks are still mounted, and the bottom triple clamps are still tight, in order to hold the fork leg. Loosen the top triple clamp pinch bolts first, so you can loosen the cap. Then you need to figure out a way to hold the forks compressed enough to get to the damping rod lock nut. Otherwise you won't be able to remove the cap from the fork in order to change the spring.

The only other issue is that sometimes replacement springs are not the same overall length as the originals, making it necessary to cut and install new spacers. PVC pipe works well. The Haynes Manual explains the steps quite clearly. I'd recommend getting one before you begin. Here's a pretty good write-up I found online (Google).

http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/26653469/900ss/Showa GD 041 Rebuild.PDF

 

Good thread guys.

I am not that concerned about my suspension but ....

I have been riding a lot of 2013 bikes of various brands and styles lately and find the SS sort of lopes or steers slowly into corners.

I reckon I might start lifting the forks thru the triples a bit at a time to quicken things up - right thoughts?

Richard

 

Give it a try. I was very happy with my results, and you can't beat the price. I didn't feel much of a (any, actually) loss of stability and got a signficantly quicker turn-in feel.

I don't think you'll ever make the SS into a twitchy, flickable bike without drastic geometry changes... the "lopey" style is one of the characteristics that makes these bikes so damn easy to ride for hours and hours. I personally do not miss the high-speed head shake I've experienced on other tricked out bikes, mainly 600 fours of similar hp.

There are tons of threads on suspension... I put in RT springs that I happened to pick up from another forum member for a good price. I noticed a significant difference cornering on bumpy terrain, probably as much due to the new fork oil as the springs but I'm pretty happy with the overall result. Suspension is one of those (many, many) areas that you can pretty quickly approach or exceed the market value of the bike. If I had money burning a hole in my pocket, I'd probably get the racetech gold valves for the front ($120), and buy a properly rated spring for the rear at least ($120). No way I can justify $1K for an Ohlins rear, nice as it would be.

One other option I've contemplated is replacing the whole innards of the forks with GSXR 600/750 K4-K5 internals. Apparently they're the right size, there's a thread by pajazo who just commented on the spring rate here:

http://www.ducati.ms/forums/57-supersport/142215-k4-5-gsx-r-750-fork-internals-carb-ss-forks.html

Some new spacers need to be made up but that's pretty simple to do with PVC pipe.

 

Sorry, I wrote low speed damping when I meant high speed.

Try ordering the springs from racetech, they will forward your order to the local dealer.

 

Another option for quicker steering is using early Monster triple trees. I don't remember the figures but they do steepen the angle a fair amount. It might be better because pulling the tubes up also reduces your ground clearance. The downside is some loss of stability on bumps at high speeds. On my 900 I've got the .95 fork springs with some damping work along with a longer Fox [old I know] shock and it works well with my not so svelt 240lbs. Choice of tires will also affect the turn in feel and the more V shaped fronts will give you a quicker response.