How To Setup A Motorcycle Suspension

There are lots of misunderstandings about how to setup a motorcycle suspension setup. I’ve seen questionable work from even supposed specialists. Those specialists make riders believe that one click on the front rebound could lower lap times by 7 seconds. I’ve really experienced this. There are a lot of things to look at, even motorcycle tire pressures.

Stuff like this is totally off reality of course, especially as I still saw his bike bouncing around on Thunderhill Raceway- totally out of balance. In fact i believe that an intermediate to advanced rider don’t even feel the difference of even 15 clicks- especially not on a OEM suspension system.

If you would approach the setup with logic, you wouldn’t have to spend $50 bux to let an expert do some ‘big deal clicks’ on your stock rear shock, which are most of the time not even going nowhere. You don’t need to be nervous to do it yourself, because the range of an OEM suspension is just to small to make a significant change in terms of stability and safety of your bike.

To really make a significant change to match your riding style and purpose- you need to make rearrangements to the geometry of the bike, and then to match the suspension to this geometry… for example:

• Super tight track: You want to drop the front end or to raise the rear a little
• Long braking travels: You want to drop the rear right height to keep weights low
• Long acceleration periods: add a chain link to use up chain adjuster recourse for a longer swing arm.

Please Note All Following Points

• There is NO “perfect” suspension setup- only the’ best compromise. A setup grows with your rider level.
• So when someone says “I’ve clicked you the same suspension setup as I gave to Valentino Rossi”, then this is logically not going to work for you well.
• Use the potential of a OEM suspension first before you buy aftermarket stuff… then you really know what it is capable of.

OK, the link below will open an additional page which you can print out to bring it to the track. It’s just hat this page is too much for this section here, because it throws a light on how to set it up right, and how to trouble shoot. Enjoy:

Motorcycle Suspension Guide by Erik

Superbike-Coach conclusion: Don’t be blind and use logic to see the reality. Even totally overrated suspension hero’s can change much on OEM shocks and forks. Don’t make a big deal out of it. Just make sure the preload settings are right, and bring it in a balance as close as possible. If the OEM springs are way too soft… exchange them it more harder ones. If you want to have it ‘real good’… you’re looking at 4-5 grand… easily! [….]

Even better… come see us in our ‘Suspension Workshop & Track Time‘ class.