re: [ST] Suspension

[Erik Miner <Axeis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Supposed to be 15wt


>
> I've heard there was a misprint
>and the oil is supposed to be 20w or something, which may be better. My Suzuki
>SV650S has 0.85 Kg/mm springs, emulators, and 20w oil. All RaceTech.
>
>FWIW,
>
>	"Jedi Dawg"  Jim Huber
>	'00 blue ST  "Rhiannon"
>	'01 SV650S  "Cherii"
>	Spring, Texas, USA
>
>
>Here's a "reprint" of an earlier email I sent to the list:
>
> >  could someone who has made the change, especially the racetech forks,
> >  try and describe the difference in ride, for someone who might not be so
> >  "suspension savvy"?  what characteristics of ride and handling does it
> >  affect?
> >
> >  paul
> >  =---------------------
>
>	Well, with fork springs too soft the front end feels mushy, especially
>under hard braking. I could get my forks to bottom out pretty easily just with
>braking - partially 'cause they're damn good brakes. You can increase the
>preload, but that just makes it feel choppier and didn't really help the fork
>dive. All preload really does is increase the ride height, leaving you less
>suspension travel if you go over a hole rather than a bump. With the proper
>rate springs (mine are 1.00 Kg/mm - I'm a pretty big fella; stock on the ST is
>0.70 Kg/mm) it feels much more planted and doesn't dive as much under braking.
>	I rode friends' ST's before I had mine done - one with 0.95 Kg/mm
>springs, 5w oil, and a stock rear shock; the other with 1.00 Kg/mm springs, a
>mix of 7w and 10w oil, and an Ohlins rear shock. The latter bike felt much
>better to me, but I still used just straight 7w oil. Mine still has the stock
>rear shock, which now feels a touch soft compared to the front, but just a
>touch. It's far better than it was.
>	Then there's the "cartiridge emulators". Damping rod forks have the
>unfortunate characteristic of damping going up exponentially with a 
>linear rise
>in travel speed. What that means in the real world is that it's underdamped on
>small bumps and way overdamped on hard bumps. Cartridge forks work completely
>differently to give different damping rates for "small" versus "large" bumps.
>The emulators do the same thing. The preload on the emulators is used to
>control when the system "breaks over" from "small bump" to "large bump"
>operation. Oil weight and hole size have a large effect on this, too. The
>RaceTech website has pretty pictures and such, and I'm sure a much better
>explanation. While the proper weight springs help a lot, the cartridge
>emulators are worth at least as much by sorting out the damping more
>appropriately.
>
>Happy Ridin'
>
>	"Jedi Dawg"  Jim Huber
>	'00 blue ST  "Rhiannon"
>	'01 SV650S  "Cherii"
>	Spring, Texas, USA
>
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