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I'm fast approaching my first anniversary of ownership of my '93 900 SS. I have ridden it this entire year (approaching 12,000 miles on it already) without touching a thing on the suspension, leaving it as it was set up by the previous owner. I never actually met him, but it is becoming apparent he is much smaller than I am... I'm just over six feet, and a solid 240 pounds.
As my confidence and skills increase, I have had mounting suspicions that my suspension is probably way too soft. Then, last month I had the opportunity to take advantage of the free dyno day at Ducati of Seattle. The dyno tech, Marty, is about my size, if not a bit smaller. First thing he said when he sat on it was "wow, that's soft..." as he rocked it back and forth on the suspension. Suspicions confirmed...
The forks have been re-sprung and re-valved. The shock is a Fox unit. The preload collar on the Fox shock is only about 1/4 of the way from full soft to full preload. I assume the damping is set in a range useful for this preload setting, but also know that will go out the window when I increase the preload. I'm not sure where either is set in the fork, other than to assume it was also set to the previous rider's weight.
So, with that lack of information, where do I start? I'm thinking I can dial the damping adjustments to full soft, counting clicks, then to full hard, counting clicks. That will at least tell me where they are. Preload will be easy to adjust visually on the shock, obviously, but how is this quantified and matched to rider weight? Is there an accepted sag value that I should be shooting for? And, with the forks not as affected by rider weight, would there be a sag value for them as well?
How about matching damping to preload? Could it be as easy as setting both, say, in the middle of their respective ranges? Or, for a fat old man like me, say 3/4 hard on preload and 3/4 hard on damping? Or is it going to be a little more involved than that? I'm just looking for a firmer starting setting - something I can continue to tweak as I ride it. But I need a ballpark, at least as far as matching preload to damping.
Oh, and one last question. Are both bound and rebound adjustable on both ends of the bike? Or just rebound on one end or the other?
As my confidence and skills increase, I have had mounting suspicions that my suspension is probably way too soft. Then, last month I had the opportunity to take advantage of the free dyno day at Ducati of Seattle. The dyno tech, Marty, is about my size, if not a bit smaller. First thing he said when he sat on it was "wow, that's soft..." as he rocked it back and forth on the suspension. Suspicions confirmed...
The forks have been re-sprung and re-valved. The shock is a Fox unit. The preload collar on the Fox shock is only about 1/4 of the way from full soft to full preload. I assume the damping is set in a range useful for this preload setting, but also know that will go out the window when I increase the preload. I'm not sure where either is set in the fork, other than to assume it was also set to the previous rider's weight.
So, with that lack of information, where do I start? I'm thinking I can dial the damping adjustments to full soft, counting clicks, then to full hard, counting clicks. That will at least tell me where they are. Preload will be easy to adjust visually on the shock, obviously, but how is this quantified and matched to rider weight? Is there an accepted sag value that I should be shooting for? And, with the forks not as affected by rider weight, would there be a sag value for them as well?
How about matching damping to preload? Could it be as easy as setting both, say, in the middle of their respective ranges? Or, for a fat old man like me, say 3/4 hard on preload and 3/4 hard on damping? Or is it going to be a little more involved than that? I'm just looking for a firmer starting setting - something I can continue to tweak as I ride it. But I need a ballpark, at least as far as matching preload to damping.
Oh, and one last question. Are both bound and rebound adjustable on both ends of the bike? Or just rebound on one end or the other?