Yeah definately so easy just swapping seats when taking a pillion! Well spotted with the levers What a palava regarding the photos, i used to just upload them no bother, sumit must have changed
Honda Dark Tint high Screen Got my Honda High Screen from JD... Thanks John!! Knucklehead who had the bike before broke the front tabs, so no worries there for me... Before and After...
Then I started messing with the suspension... Will copy paste below from my Word Document... Spreadsheet with settings also linked... Right so my bike is getting a new tyre as I picked up an allan key today... Anyone know the full range for rear compression to help complete my spreadsheet below?? No worries if not, will check tomorrow when I get the bike back and edit / update as required...
Only1Matrixxx Suspension Settings Log Book https://www.dropbox.com/s/uswj0d0rt40c4bd/Only1Matrixxx 2009 Fireblade Suspension Settings.pdf I did not want to start an entire thread for this, but now I have written it out in Word, I may as well copy it to the forum, so I can access it anywhere... and update as necessary... Ok, so I had a bit of a fiddle with my suspension settings this weekend, and thought I’d just document my process... So that I have some notes of my feelings... Firstly, the bike was not set up correctly at all, and that is easily seen by the OLD settings that I inherited with the used bike from the dealers. The front would dive alot under braking, and when I tipped into a corner, I could feel the front tyre getting alot of load on it. Some of that was originally incorrectly inflated tyres, but when inflated to my desired pressure, still felt a bit loaded for want of a better word. From water marks I could see over the months that at times I would only have about an inch left of the front suspension travel. I will use a zip tie from now on to be more precise. The rear felt very firm. A bit bouncy when cruising, not wallowy, and not bouncing up and down, but it would try to flick my bum off the seat (not quite so bad but in that direction). (Rear felt the best when my wife was on the back, once) So what I did this weekend was turn all adjusters towards full hard and counted the turns, so I would know what the OLD settings were. While at full hard, I pushed front, rear and middle of the bike to feel what it felt like. Yup, ROCK hard everywhere. So I backed off all adjusters to full soft. Again, pushed front, rear, and middle of the bike so I could feel what full soft settings felt like. Then I turned one at a time, Preload, Rebound, then Compression, to full hard, independently – Only Preload at full hard, then back it out, then Rebound to full hard, then back it out, then Compression, just to feel what each one does on its own... Then I set up the bike to Dave Moss settings, which were very close to Sportbike Magazine settings – I think I chose Dave Moss settings because he is really good at what he does, and I don’t know who wrote the Magazine settings. Ok, so I did not measure sag to set my preload, but will do so in the very near future when I can get a friend over the help me. I weigh 165 pounds so I consider myself an “average” rider where weight is concerned, so once the preloads were near factory standard I thought I’d just set it and see, just for comparison. Once set to Dave Moss settings, I could instantly feel that the rear allowed more travel and the front less. Pushing the bike in the centre showed that it was better balanced, front and rear moving together, and rebounding slower than before but controlled... Probably getting back to position somewhere between a quarter and a half second, more like a quarter though... While riding, the front FEELS like it sits higher (maybe just millimetres, but still higher than before), probably because of less diving... Also, the bike is more stable / harder to turn... It is not HARD to turn the bike, just harder than before. Once leaned though it tracks well, and holds a line on throttle. The bike feels balanced now over bumps, absorbing the bumps, and not kicking my bum up like before, or at least not giving that sensation... The front definitely does not dive as much as before under braking, and therefore also does not give that digging in feeling when leaned over, and just before cracking the throttle... I DO feel like the front may be a bit stiff, maybe just relative to how it was before... Not sure I like it for road use... So once I get used to it, I MIGHT try to reduce compression on front just a quarter turn or half turn to see if it feels better to me. I think a good comparison would be to also map out the Sportbike Magazine settings into my spreadsheet, and if compression is softer in those settings, then go a little towards that... Whatever I do, I will do it one change at a time, and note how it feels...
I said above that the front felt too stiff, and the bike was harder to turn... Took a half turn OUT of fork Compression, and feels ALOT better, turns in easier, does not feel like the front is riding as high, and I get alot more feedback from the front end as well. Was instantly noticable, as soon as I was pulling out of the driveway... Now the rear is just a TAD stiffer than the front, I feel the difference when I hit a little sharp edge in the road, rear is stiffer... Therefore, I will probably take a quarter turn out of rear Compression... Just to balance it properly... I will also put the new settings in this post when I update the spreadsheet... Updated Spreadsheet for 20120823 - https://www.dropbox.com/s/6u6hq5jje...09 Fireblade Suspension Settings 20120823.pdf
Bike looks great mate, always liked the HRC colours. Just a quick question about your alloy paddock stand as I have been looking at them. Is it very secure or is it like most and wobble a little ? only ask as I want something very secure and thought this fabricated design might be more rigid.
