GSX-R600 K9 suspension settings

[jamjam]

I want to get an idea of what kind of suspension settings people have found work for them on the new gixxer 600's. I've been tampering with mine and think i am in the right ball park figure for road use but not quite there yet. Sag is set so it's really compression and rebound i'm interested in. I am 75kg and riding solo. Generally my settings are on the softer side of the half way mark or factory settings (ie turned more than half way out counter clockwise with slight variances as i see fit). Does anyone wanna chuck up their settings that they've found work quite well for them.

[slofox]

Haven't meddled with the settings on the K8 yet - but might soften it a little sometime soon...

[dipshit]

I am 75kg and riding solo.

I am the same weight and the first thing I did was swap out the standard 9.4 spring on the shock for a 8.5 one.

It was way too hard in the rear with the standard spring for me.

[slofox]

I am the same weight and the first thing I did was swap out the standard 9.4 spring on the shock for a 8.5 one.

It was way too hard in the rear with the standard spring for me.

72kg, me. I do find the back a little bouncy at times...trouble is I am comparing with the SV still - so it still feels wayyyyy more betterer.

[jamjam]

i would agree with the little bouncy in the rear. Many people do suggest swapping out back spring and i'm contemplating it. Only thing is i wanna carry the misses over summer so actually want the heavier spring to stay in for that. so i'm trying to compromise with what i have to work with.
I got my settings on a spreadsheet at home but i've done the ratio to give me an idea so going by memory it is something like this:

Rear H/S compression - backed right off so 100% soft as a lot of people recommend
Rear L/S compression - 74 % towards soft
Rear Rebound - 75% towards soft (slow rebound... or more damping)
Front compression - 53 % towards soft
Front rebound - 67 % towards soft (slow rebound... or more damping)

So as you can see the front is closer to the factory setting of half way hard to soft, but more on the softer side. The rear is a bit softer than the front and seams to be compensating the harder rear spring.

It's still not ideal but close. I've also noticed i started softer and slowly been dialing it harder, this bike has 800km so still running in. I noticed a bit much nose dive this morning on the brakes so gonna dial the front compression a little harder and seemed a bit understeery exiting a corner so gonna turn the rear rebound a littler harder (quicker rebound) too. to see how that goes. Only quarter turn adjustments at a time.

[jamjam]

btw to save some confusion how i got the percentage figures it's like this...

Front compression.. max turns is 3.5... factory is 1.75 turned out counter clockwise from full in.
Therefore that is 50%.. if i was 2.25 turns out from full in then that is 64% towards soft. It just gives a nice visual of the relations between the front and rear settings.

[slofox]

btw to save some confusion how i got the percentage figures it's like this...

Front compression.. max turns is 3.5... factory is 1.75 turned out counter clockwise from full in.
Therefore that is 50%.. if i was 2.25 turns out from full in then that is 64% towards soft. It just gives a nice visual of the relations between the front and rear settings.

Makes sense to me...

[SVboy]

Can I suggest getting the static and dynamic sags set before altering your various settings. Getting this small but important job done will give you an accurate and personalised suspension baseline from which to work from.

[Pussy]

btw to save some confusion how i got the percentage figures it's like this...

Front compression.. max turns is 3.5... factory is 1.75 turned out counter clockwise from full in.
Therefore that is 50%.. if i was 2.25 turns out from full in then that is 64% towards soft. It just gives a nice visual of the relations between the front and rear settings.

The adjusters only really take care of a small window of low speed bleed.
They don't cover the full percentage of damping characteristics

[jamjam]

Oddly enough i've made a further tweak due to some instability entering corners now. i'm sure the suspension has been running in because it was shit on factory settings when i got it and now my settings are almost back to factory. It's done 1,100 kms.
The preload was set a while back, although i got two different readings depending on whether my mate did the measures or my girlfriend!!! i should really check it again.

But the front compression/rebound is pretty much on factory, except the rebound is 1/4 turn out further.
The back is 1/2 turn out on rebound, 1/4 turn out on H/S compression and 1.5 turns out on L/S compression from factory settings.

The handling feels pretty good with these settings so hopefully it's not gonna change any more from here. And i spent hours and hours scouring the internet for other peoples settings but so few people have posted their actual settings (in fact none had) so maybe this will help someone else in the future.

[dipshit]

And i spent hours and hours scouring the internet for other peoples settings but so few people have posted their actual settings (in fact none had) so maybe this will help someone else in the future.

If 10 people posted up their settings you would probably end up with 10 different configurations.

eg... Sport Rider's http://www.sportrider.com/suspension...gs/suzuki.html recommended settings compared to another journalist's settings... http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/563/73...the-Track.aspx on a K8 GSXR 750.

Sport Rider start with preload...! WTF... preload is set to the weight of the rider.

Front forks: Rebound, Low-s comp, Hi-s comp. (all numbers are turns out from full in)

Sport Rider: .25, 2.5, 3

Other journalist: 1, 1.5, 1


These are worlds apart considering 1/8 of a turn can make a noticeable difference.

I can't compare the rear shock settings because the numbers in Sport Rider are cut off by the add running down the side of the page in both of my web browsers. (can anybody else see them and post them up?)

Frankly I think recommended settings are a load of bullshit. There are too many other variables that will have influences on what someone will arrive at.

[Odakyu-sen]

[QUOTE=jamjam;1129810659]

gonna turn the rear rebound a littler harder (quicker rebound) too. to see how that goes. /QUOTE]

The factory rear spring is probably too heavy for a solo 75 kg rider. Think about it. The manufacturer will fit a spring that caters for the rider of average weight who may want to carry a pillion. The manufacturer will be banking on the common perception that "sports bikes have hard suspension" as well as the knowledge that bottoming out is worse that having a spring that is too firm.

Generally, if you back the rear shock's compression damping all the way off to zero and the rear feels a little better, then you are probably in need of a lighter rear spring. No amount of twiddling with the compression, preload or rebound settings will compensate for this basic problem.

The way I see it: the rear suspension preload is used solely to set your rear static sag -- say 10 mm. After that, you put your leathers on and sit on the bike. Hopefully, the rear end will go down about 25 mm when you sit on it. If it goes down much less, your spring may be too firm. If you were a 170-kg gorilla, and the rear end were to go down, say 40 mm, you would have a rear spring that wasn't firm enough for you.

The beauty of many after-market rear shocks is that you can swap their springs. You can physically alter the length of the shock, which is great for tuning the turn-in feel of the bike. (My old 900SS always seemed reluctant to track easily through fast sweepers until I undid the screw shank at the bottom linkage of the Ohlins and lenthened the shock by 5 mm. Completely transformed the cornering -- you could countersteer simply by "looking" where you wanted to go and the bike would do the rest. (Well, that's what it felt like.)

[SVboy]

+1 to the above threads-common sense ideas.

[imdying]

These are worlds apart considering 1/8 of a turn can make a noticeable difference.

Interesting... we've been told on here a number of times by reputable people, that the adjusters make bugger all difference, especially small changes like those....

[jamjam]

Good comments. I agree that small turns do make a difference. i could feel the difference. One ride the bike is wallowing into corners with a bit of unpredictable tip in mid corner. I add half a turn rebound damping and 1/4 turn compression at the front then voila she's entering corners nicely.

I had similar experiences with the back aswell where it would feel vague and minor adjustments would fix it. I have documented in a spreadsheet and made about 6 or 7 changes (minor changes) over the last few weeks based on how the bike is feeling front and rear, entering/exiting a corner etc until i've narrowed it down to what i have set now and am pleased with it.

And yes the rear spring is too stiff for me but i want to carry the misses over summer so am working with it the best i can. Probably the only feeling i don't like about the back is it a little bit slippy feeling (particularly in wet) as i don't think it is comforming to the road at it's best but i am just wary of the throttle to compensate this. I've tried different configs and got it about the best i can at this stage. It has been worse with say too much rebound damping but it's good enough for me now to work with so is minor enough to not really be an issue.