Forks pre-load problems

[kmo]

Take out some compression damping to let the suspension move through more of the stroke. But not so much that the bike dives when your hard on the brakes

Spring may be stiff in the front. I'm no expert though just an idea

[Dave73]

Originally Posted by kmo

What are the causes of stiction? What did you do to limit yours?

Many things cause stiction: the bushings against the tubes, the piston against the cartridge wall, the damper rod going in the fork cap, the fork seals, and a biggie that is often overlooked (and easily preventable) is fork/triple/ axle alignment.

I reduced mine with some polishing, grease on the dust seal, and careful attention to fork and axle assembly.

Originally Posted by rikke

well, just did another trackday after lastest fork service, and im getting only 25mm Sag and it bottom out 30~35mm above axle casting...

My numbers didn't coincide with the often parroted Dave Moss spec of 17mm. I have a post in this forum somewhere where I measured the mechanical bottom out with the fork disassembled.

First make sure the suspension has all its movement, then you may want to consider reducing air gap to prevent bottoming. I had to go from 120 to 110 on mine after disabling the hydraulic bottom out.

Originally Posted by kmo

Take out some compression damping to let the suspension move through more of the stroke. But not so much that the bike dives when your hard on the brakes

Spring may be stiff in the front. I'm no expert though just an idea

If you take out compression damping it will dive and bottom out more.

[Smeghead76]

So I have found a similar problem with my 06 Daytona.
I had the forks serviced about 12 months ago. Lately I have been pushing a lot header and finding the front very hard and nervous.
So with the help of a friend I se about checking my suspension settings and the max I can get in the forks is 19mm.
We checked and re-checked and 19mm is it. As far as I know the springs are stock!
I am wandering if its a spring issue an oil issue or maybe some binding, although fork movement seems free and fluid.

[sittingturbo]

Originally Posted by Smeghead76

So I have found a similar problem with my 06 Daytona.
I had the forks serviced about 12 months ago. Lately I have been pushing a lot header and finding the front very hard and nervous.
So with the help of a friend I se about checking my suspension settings and the max I can get in the forks is 19mm.
We checked and re-checked and 19mm is it. As far as I know the springs are stock!
I am wandering if its a spring issue an oil issue or maybe some binding, although fork movement seems free and fluid.

How many mils of stiction do you have?

[Smeghead76]

Stiction was 5-6 mm.
And I should mention I am currently 83kg or 182lb with out gear

[MacBandit]

Oil level could be too high.

[Dave73]

That would be a lot of oil to lock the fork at 19mm.... I would think oil would be puking out of the seals like crazy.

5-6mm stiction is pretty good for stock forks.

Whats the free (bike) sag? Is this a new problem or has it been there since the forks were serviced?

[Smeghead76]

To be perfectly honest I can't remember what the free sag was. I would have to remeasure.
I have been very lazy since the forks were serviced and this is the first time I have actually gone through and done a full setup. They have always felt very stiff though.

[MacBandit]

Originally Posted by Dave73

That would be a lot of oil to lock the fork at 19mm.... I would think oil would be puking out of the seals like crazy.

5-6mm stiction is pretty good for stock forks.

Whats the free (bike) sag? Is this a new problem or has it been there since the forks were serviced?

Maybe but it wouldn't take too much extra oil to reduce rider sag.

[Ruby Racing]

Smeghead76, you may have missed my earlier comments about the standard springs:

Originally Posted by Ruby Racing

As I mentioned before the standard springs were far too hard even for track work. I weigh 182lbs. The forks also left at least an inch of unused travel before being worked on.

Darren at MC Technics is a top suspension guy and has worked on my GSXR1000 race bike, ZRX1200R road bike, 675 Track bike and recently my Daytona Street below. On each bike he has worked magic and made them far better handling. Trust me, he knows his stuff. So when he says that every Daytona he has worked on has too hard fork springs as standard then I believe him.

This was backed up by my lack of faith in the front end when braking hard on the track. I needed to brake harder, but the fact that the front end felt solid was preventing me from doing so. Now with the .95 springs in it is transformed and I can also trail brake into the corners. He also remove a fair amount of fork oil too as there was no air gap.

As he has found a lot of overly hard springs in Daytonas I would suggest you get to a reputable suspension expert and get them tested as it would appear that the early Daytonas may have suffered from differing spring rates, possibly due to bad quality control.

Whatever the reason, a suspension expert is your best bet, because if you have no confidence in the set up then it is not right for YOU and it needs changing. This is why there is never a perfect suspension set up for a bike, only a perfect suspension set up for the rider, as we all have different views as to what is ideal.