Front suspension settings

[Meteor]

Does anyone know how far the front forks of my '98 M900 should stick out from the top of the yokes please?

At present they are 23mm (5 rings). I'm not sure of the exact make of fork, but they have blue adjusters for rebound and compression on them.

thanks in advance....

[steve wright]

If you mean the the preload, for showas the std. setting is 18mm

[Meteor]

Thanks for the info Steve, 18mm sounds a little more reasonable - currently the adjusters are hard against the underside of the bars.

The guy I bought it from was a lot shorter than me, so I guess he may of dropped the yokes.

I wasn't sure of the correct terminology when I posted originally, but thanks to the attached web page http://www.sportrider.com/tech/146_0006_susp_lingo/ i'm now an expert (almost)

cheers,

Darren

[Pedro]

Leave em where they are!! Lifting the forks up through the yokes sharpens the steering and makes the bike turn in properly. Lift the back as well and the turn in is effortless.

Ped

[gary tompkins]

Meteor,

Think you may be talking about two different settings here?

The rings engraved on the top of the leg indicate the amount proud of the top yoke, and as Ped said effects ride height & turn in. The preload (for sag adjustment) is set using the large threaded bit sticking out of the top using a spanner. A small screw in the middle of the preload adjuster is for damping settings, and there's another damping adjuster at the bottom of the leg. I think the upper one is for rebound damping and the lower for compression - but I'm forever getting these mixed up & its a long time since I last tweaked my front end TBH.

[Meteor]

Hi Gary,

It's definitley ride height that I'm talking about/interested in. I want to experiment with the settings, but needed to know what the standard set up is before I started.

I plan to increase the ride height as i'm over six foot, but to keep the front bias lower to help turn in etc.

thanks

Darren

[gary tompkins]

My 900 dark (trike) has 22mm proud of yoke, where as my old 600 used to have 25mm - running either non adjustable Showas or Marzocchi's. The solo 900ie now has 916 forks fitted which are slightly longer, but i still run that at 22mm proud with a slightly jacked rear for increased ground clearance.

A lot of guys drop the front end to quicken turn in, but it can make front end a bit flappy or twitchy if you go OTT. The preload adjusters (if fitted) will eventually foul the underneath of normal flat bars if you drop the front too far, but is something that can be avoided if you swap to clip on type bars.

See if you can get over to the Kent meeting (Oakdene cafe) this Sunday, and maybe we can have a natter about suspension tweaks then?

http://www.ukmonster.co.uk/monster/showthread.php?t=17833&page=3

[Meteor]

Thanks for the info Gary, I think I'll pull the front yokes up by 5mm and tweak the rear by roughly the same.

Unfortunatley I can't make the 4th as I am already booked to do a run on my old Royal Enfield Meteor (geddit) twin.

Have a good one,

Darren