F1 Fan in Nascar Land

My buddy wrote this to me today and got me thinking, does anyone have any info on this or what I should try, I want to adjust the bike for optimum handeling corners. Thanks

I was thinking today about something that i was gonna mess around with on the VFR but i think you should definately try it, is starting to play around with the front fork height adjustment. Just a couple of millimeters can make worlds of difference for overall being able to flick the bike around and quick handling. Ive been researching what the vfr guys have done with theirs and what the optimum setting is over factory. I think you should do a search on the superhawk forum, cuz if anyone knows anything then they're be a few posts concerning it.

cliby

I'm sure there is a lot posted already. There is a lot of opinion also, some time tested rules of thumb and probably lots of mis-information. There are also some great website resources (this one has a lot of good stuff (http://www.peterverdonedesigns.com/index2.htm) and some thoughtful books on motorcycle chassis tuning that give a solid bunch of info (one in particular by John Robinson I found really useful). Not sure how indepth you want to go.

Basically though, start with stock settings and then get your front/rear sag set right before doing anything. If you can't get it right, use spacers or different springs so you can. Then start making changes one at a time and keeping notes on a single piece of road. All other things being equaly, changes in front height affect turn in mostly; changes in rear height affect squat and thus affect handling at turn exit. Both can be altered, but should probably be done with those primary objectives in mind. Obviously other things affect both of those variables too. So on the SH its really common to raise the fork tubes up slightly (5-10mm) in the triples and see if you like the change in lots of settings. People also raise the rear, though its less clear what effect they are going for when doing that; it does seem to diminish the tendency to run wide accelerating out of a corner.

hope some of that is helpful. You can substitute your own observations and fiddling with anything you can read however. so have fun.

bill

Hawkrider

As F1 said, before you go changing anything else, make sure your sag numbers are good. If you've not done springs/oil/revalve then that would be a good idea (at least springs). Once sag is set then you can start playing with raising the forks. I've tried 5, 10, and 15mm and although the 15mm turn in was REALLY nice I had clearance issues with the front header. I lowered them back down to 10mm and never had that problem again. I also have the rear ride height raised the maximum on the Fox TC shock.

Instability will come if the front suspension is not set up correctly before you go playing with rake/trail.