Suspension Feedback

[luke]

Iride an 01'gsxr600 and I love it! I bought it used from a friend who races. I am starting to believe that one of the things that would be helpful for me to learn is how to read suspension feedback. I'm 5'11"--6'0" and about 165 pounds and I haven't touched the suspension. following an awesome instructor around thill in some corners when I hit small dips in the road it felt like my tires would push outward. verysmoothly I might add. I was on 208gpa's. my tires had balls of rubberon the edges, something I've gotten used to but there were also little lines of rubber. It looked a little like if you run a knife flat down a peice of cheese. This was well after I had my knee down and felt it come pretty close to the fairing. The stock suspension settings feel great and this was the first thing I've noticed that might suggest I need to adjust the suspension. I'm comeing to your school in feb. at infineon and will be raceing with ccs and maybe afm from then on. I've read that the best pros are very adept at explaining their experiences to their mechanics. well I've been working on remembering experiences like in soft science, but I would really like to have better knowledge on what to look for. thanks alot for any advice!

 

p.s. if any of you instructors look in the b.a.r.f. racers section and see my threads inder the same username any advice would be apreaciated.

[fastfreddie]

got any pics of the tires?

[RootsMan]

Luke,

 

I'm not a suspension expert, but from what I've read, you need to start by doing two things.

 

First, you have to find out if the spring on your shock is the correct one for your weight. If it's not, then you'll never get you shock dialed in.

 

Second, you need to set a baseline (sag) on your shock and forks.

 

Check these out...

 

Basic rules for suspension tuning

http://factorypro.com/tech/Suspension_Setting.html

 

Club Racers' Guide - Baseline suspension adjustment tips.

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Garage/.../ClubGuide.html

 

Sport Rider Suspension Guide

http://sportrider.com/tech/suspension/

 

Hope this helps.

 

RootsMan

http://CVibes.net/

[luke]

I'll try to get some soon.

[Steve M]

Luke,

 

What you describe is very common at T-Hill. For whatever reason, T-Hill is really, really hard on tires. It is probably a combination of asphalt construction and the fact that you spend so much time going so fast on the same side of the tire.

 

I decided to try different tires last summer - I normally ride 208's as well and have the suspension set up fairly well for those tires. I did not make any adjustments to my suspension after I mounted the new tires. I put on RS1/RS2 and did two practice sessions on a race day before the rear tire was destroyed. (this is like 15 laps or so) Like you say, it looked like someone took a very hot knife and gouged a line out of the tire. The gouged part was actually convex! Until that day, I normally chewed up the 208's pretty good too, but nothing like the Metzler.

 

At first, I started to believe that I was all that, spinning up the tire, blah, blah, blah. Turns out, I had way too much compression and rebound in my shock. I visited Phil Douglas' pit and he got me squared away big time. So, over to the Dunlop trailer I go (I had a race that afternoon). I put on new 208's, did one warmup lap and raced an 8 lap sprint. Guess what? The tire looked great, even after racing on it. Sure, it showed normal signs of wear, but none of the crazy tearing.

 

So, the moral of my story is this - take a very hard look at your suspension set up and if possible consult with someone like Phil next time you are at T-Hill.

 

Steve

[seitoninjarider]

Luke,

 

if you are in CA I would recommend calling CSS as I have heard they are giving a suspension class on the 24th of this month.

 

If you can get into that, it will probably be able to answer all of your questions.

 

I think that it is like $20 bucks or something.