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Thread: Diavel suspension is too firm

  1. #1
    Join Date
    25th May 2010 - 13:46
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    Ducati Diavel
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    Auckland
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    Diavel suspension is too firm

    I just traded a Ducati Monster for a Diavel and finding the suspension on the Diavel is really firm. I have made many tweaks as per the owner's manual and the best I have found is backing everything off (comp and reb) to their softest setting (front and rear) and then winding the rear preload right up to the maximum. I found this suggestion on another forum. This is the best I can get the bike to feel but it is still very harsh over every little bump on the road and motorway. It is cornering great on a smooth surface but imperfactions on back roads does cause it to "skip" on the corner. Basically it is not compliant and it feels like the high speed compression is non existent and it's like riding on a wooden plank with no suspension each time you hit any little (and I mean little) imperfection in the road. I weigh 83kg geared up so I am in the sweet spot of 80-90kg according to the manual.

    Is this normal for this bike and has anyone else experienced this on the Diavel and found solutions around it... do I need to fork out for an Ohlins or does it sound like the shock is faulty? The bike has only done 300km but gut feel is this harshness may not improve with wearing in.

  2. #2
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    28th May 2006 - 19:35
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    Quote Originally Posted by jamjam View Post
    The bike has only done 300km but gut feel is this harshness may not improve with wearing in.
    I got a Gut Felling once when I was having sex with a woman that had had her uterus surgically removed....

  3. #3
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    23rd February 2007 - 08:47
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    I know nothing of Diavel suspension but this does not sound like the way forward. Having the preload wound up will make the bike very firm over bumps but the lack of rebound control could see you thrown out of your seat if you hit a really sharp bump. I would suggest at least setting the sags to your weight-see Utube= and returning the clickers to factory positions, and playing from there. If it is truly bad, take it to a suspension specialist who may respring it for your weight and revalve the shock and forks to be more compliant on NZ roads.

  4. #4
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    28th September 2015 - 10:26
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    Quote Originally Posted by jamjam View Post
    I just traded a Ducati Monster for a Diavel and finding the suspension on the Diavel is really firm. I have made many tweaks as per the owner's manual and the best I have found is backing everything off (comp and reb) to their softest setting (front and rear) and then winding the rear preload right up to the maximum. I found this suggestion on another forum. This is the best I can get the bike to feel but it is still very harsh over every little bump on the road and motorway. It is cornering great on a smooth surface but imperfactions on back roads does cause it to "skip" on the corner. Basically it is not compliant and it feels like the high speed compression is non existent and it's like riding on a wooden plank with no suspension each time you hit any little (and I mean little) imperfection in the road. I weigh 83kg geared up so I am in the sweet spot of 80-90kg according to the manual.

    Is this normal for this bike and has anyone else experienced this on the Diavel and found solutions around it... do I need to fork out for an Ohlins or does it sound like the shock is faulty? The bike has only done 300km but gut feel is this harshness may not improve with wearing in.
    Preload doesn't alter the spring force so should be set so that the travel of the suspension is correct. The damping settings can make the suspension seem hard. If there is too much compression then the suspension doesn't go down fast enough and with too much rebound the suspension will stay down too long. If you have these correct then the only thing you can do is replace the springs.

    Cheers

  5. #5
    Join Date
    25th May 2010 - 13:46
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    Ducati Diavel
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    Yeh i tried factory comp and reb settings first on "Standard" with 0 preload on the rear. I then tried on "comfort" settings with 0 preload and it was still really really bad. The manual calls for 0 preload unless for sport setting or with a passenger. I tweaked the settings around this but the harshness is always there. I spent about 2 hrs going back and forth through the same corners and bumps with a screwdriver tampering with settings. I then tried a drastic approach of back everything right off and raise the rear preload to max. This is about as best as I can get it to feel but it's still really harsh and of course I shouldn't have to have the preload all the way up. The geomery of the bike like this is good (ie turn in etc) I am not sure if I was bottoming out the shock before or not. Over long undulations in the road the suspension flows with it but any little bumps in the road are jarring and sudden through the bike... like it's bottoming out the shock instantly or has no high speed compression control at all. I could be way off whack on what the problem is so just wondering if anyone else out there has come across this on a Diavel.

    I am thinking of putting it into a suspension specialist to see what they can come up with but not sure who is a good one or preferably one that has worked on a Diavel before and seen this problem or these symptoms.

  6. #6
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    30th June 2011 - 14:30
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    have you checked out feelthetrack.com ? lots of good info and videos on suspension settings
    "If 50 million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing" - Anatole France
    ZRXOA #9170

  7. #7
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    16th January 2010 - 17:09
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    Quote Originally Posted by jamjam View Post
    I just traded a Ducati Monster for a Diavel and finding the suspension on the Diavel is really firm. I have made many tweaks as per the owner's manual and the best I have found is backing everything off (comp and reb) to their softest setting (front and rear) and then winding the rear preload right up to the maximum. I found this suggestion on another forum. This is the best I can get the bike to feel but it is still very harsh over every little bump on the road and motorway. It is cornering great on a smooth surface but imperfactions on back roads does cause it to "skip" on the corner. Basically it is not compliant and it feels like the high speed compression is non existent and it's like riding on a wooden plank with no suspension each time you hit any little (and I mean little) imperfection in the road. I weigh 83kg geared up so I am in the sweet spot of 80-90kg according to the manual.

    Is this normal for this bike and has anyone else experienced this on the Diavel and found solutions around it... do I need to fork out for an Ohlins or does it sound like the shock is faulty? The bike has only done 300km but gut feel is this harshness may not improve with wearing in.
    Quote Originally Posted by jamjam View Post
    Yeh i tried factory comp and reb settings first on "Standard" with 0 preload on the rear. I then tried on "comfort" settings with 0 preload and it was still really really bad. The manual calls for 0 preload unless for sport setting or with a passenger. I tweaked the settings around this but the harshness is always there. I spent about 2 hrs going back and forth through the same corners and bumps with a screwdriver tampering with settings. I then tried a drastic approach of back everything right off and raise the rear preload to max. This is about as best as I can get it to feel but it's still really harsh and of course I shouldn't have to have the preload all the way up. The geomery of the bike like this is good (ie turn in etc) I am not sure if I was bottoming out the shock before or not. Over long undulations in the road the suspension flows with it but any little bumps in the road are jarring and sudden through the bike... like it's bottoming out the shock instantly or has no high speed compression control at all. I could be way off whack on what the problem is so just wondering if anyone else out there has come across this on a Diavel.

    I am thinking of putting it into a suspension specialist to see what they can come up with but not sure who is a good one or preferably one that has worked on a Diavel before and seen this problem or these symptoms.
    I rode a two different Diavels in Canada and they both had a rather harsh ride now that I think of it, didn't bother me too much as I was used to my gixxer.
    One of them had been taken to a suspension guy though and was definitely loads better turning in than the other which was set to the stock settings. I'd suggest going back to the dealer and see if their mechanic can dial it in for your weight better, if not go see a guru who'll get it working for you.

    All this aside, how fucking good is the engine? Put it in sport mode and lay black lines

  8. #8
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    25th May 2010 - 13:46
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    Ducati Diavel
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    Auckland
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    The motor is pretty sweet indead, i gave the demo bike the beans in touring mode but didn't try sport mode... Once mine is run in i'll have to try that out

    I am wondering if I missed the firmer suspension on the demo given half the time was with the misses on the back. It does have a sports bike feel to the suspension, perhaps a wee bit firmer but less compliant so maybe that's just the way they are... thankfully half of my riding is lane splitting the motorway and the other half is a weekend blast or tour - sometimes with the cook on the back. Compared to the Monster I wasn't expecting a harsh ride, the Monster was nice and I thought the Diavel would be similar or smoother.

    I think you are right and the next best step would be to take it back and use the dealer's facilities to measure and dial in the SAG for me. I guess unless they spot something wrong with it then I probably have to accept that it's just the type of bike it is. I could still go the Ohlins path if I have to because another forum said that it made the ride much better but I would kick myself if it was still a hard ride after spending the money.

  9. #9
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    13th March 2003 - 11:47
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    Winding the preload all the way up is only going to make the bike feel stiffer and did you not try taking the preload the other way to soften it or we at crossed purposes here and when you say winding it up are you meaning in the softer direction?
    Cheers

    Merv

  10. #10
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    16th January 2010 - 17:09
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    Quote Originally Posted by merv View Post
    Winding the preload all the way up is only going to make the bike feel stiffer and did you not try taking the preload the other way to soften it or we at crossed purposes here and when you say winding it up are you meaning in the softer direction?
    Plus taking off preload lowers your ride height

  11. #11
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    23rd October 2013 - 18:30
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    Increasing preload doesn't stiffen the bike, and decreasing preload doesn't soften the bike.

  12. #12
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    25th May 2010 - 13:46
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    Initially the preload was right down to soft, so lowering the bike. That is the factory setting according to the owners manual. This is how I had it for the first 2 hours. I then tried it on 7 clicks (10 clicks is sport setting) and then 20 clicks and then up near max at 40 clicks - so as high as it goes.

    The compression and rebound were both at standard settings front and rear which is about 1/3 dialing back from hard. I then tried on comfort setting so about 3/4 towards soft (ie really soft compression and not much rebound damping to keep it higher in the stroke).

    Adding more preload to the rear would improve the harshness each time so it seemed like the right direction to go in. I then tried more compression with this and it got worse again so I backed off the compression towards soft. The more I could keep the suspension up in it's soft region of the suspension the better it was and then only preload seemed to compensate for this.

    The bike only has 4" of suspension travel so maybe I only have a small window to find that sweet spot between weight (with preload getting the SAG right) and compression/rebound after that. Perhapd I missed that window altogether. I have left a message with the bike shop mechanic to call me to see if he knows of a good starting point to help me tune this bikes in.

  13. #13
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    17th April 2006 - 05:39
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike.Gayner View Post
    Increasing preload doesn't stiffen the bike, and decreasing preload doesn't soften the bike.
    Not quite correct.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    25th May 2010 - 13:46
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    Ducati Diavel
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    Auckland
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    Does anyone know a good bike suspension specialist in Auckland that can set the SAG and fine tune the settings to my weight?

  15. #15
    Join Date
    23rd February 2007 - 08:47
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    Red face

    Can I suggest KSS aka Robert Taylor in New Plymouth? Call him, book in, ride down, get job done, cruise home and love the difference. Take a big cheque book, but well worth it. I doubt the Diavel was peanuts to start with.......

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