07 GSXR 750 - front end fights me on turn in + hard braking

zammer

Tripler
1. ill defer to afm199 on the shock length u need.

3. i still dont care about sag :p. all the way closed on compression doesnt mean the fork doesnt move. the oil still flows past the shim stack for all fork velocities and u might have a bleed hole in the valve body. and only one leg, psh :laughing jk. ya im sure riding that sucked, esp if u werent pushing that hard on the brakes.

4. 11-12mm preload is great. a good range for preload on almost any shock is 8-16mm total preload. obviously, putting the adjuster so that full soft is at 11mm ruins your ability to get down to 8mm. the tuner saying "no preload" threw me off, an odd thing to say. dont forget, preload has nothing to do w/ spring stiffness as well.

i dont know what u mean by "chopping". can u explain?

6 cont'd. the travel isnt the same on most pro setup bikes, at least on the ones ive seen. a good tuner can use an aftermarket fork cart to extend the travel by 10-20mm. the extra travel allows for a wider range of useable springrates before hard braking causes bottoming. this in turn moves the dynamic ride-height around a lot, for better or worse. ive heard the whole reason GSXRs "need" extenders for race pace is because the fork bushings only allow for 10mm extension (or something) and u still gotta go higher.

but rly, that part ^ doesnt matter much for your actual question. say uve found some dynamic* ride-height, some ideal fork position, that allows the bike to turn as good as possible on the brakes... but now u want to brake harder. u must add fork height, add preload, or increase springrate to maintain that ideal position given the stronger input. the same goes for midcorner too. faster riders load the suspension more w/ higher corner speeds, so they might run a taller dynamic ride-height to deal with it. im sure u can think about how all this relates to my prev paragraph for #6 w/ compromises and pace.

funny thing... RaceTech recommends .875 fork springs for me and "roadracing". with the stock fork travel, i can bottom .925 in any hard braking zone. so why the hell would they recommend .875!?!?!. however, that Graves bike i rode 2 weekends ago had the longest R6 forks ive ever seen, 8mm longer than my extended forks. they had .90s and i couldnt bottom them. midcorner grip felt good too.

7. heres the manual for your shock. its interesting that they recommend 14mm installed out of the box. sounds like the adjuster is setup to allow ~10mm at minimum. its all making sense now. https://www.ohlins.com/app/uploads/world/documents/2006/03/MI_SU647.pdf

*i say "dynamic" because u are riding the bike when u need this ride-height. its not static ride-height when the bike is on a stand.

1) I don't know how high to run it without risking tucking the front. I've heard a lot of people like ~535mm (top of bottom triple to axle center) in the front which is about +15mm or so, and 326-328mm in the rear.

3) I know you don't and I think a lot of pros don't. From what I understand it's a start point and that's about it, but just as a static measure of where the fork is in it's stroke, at least it says something without seeing it.

4,6) Good to know. I'm learning shitloads here.

By chopping I mean I can feel the rear end slip and regrip in relatively quick succession at full lean/just coming out of apex as I crack the gas. The tuner lead me to believe that it's just riding too high in the stroke, and I think a softer spring would give me some more grip. Don't know. Maybe I'm just too slow right now for the super stiff springs the fast guys are running on this bike use.

7) I have seen that - yeah it seems to come with 1cm of 'installed preload' before the hydraulic can take up about another cm.

I wonder why it says 317 for ride height and then the very tiny 6/0 mm beside it? EDIT - looks like it can only go +6mm (323mm) then. I suppose I need to find a couple shims. I think that also means I'm running closer to 319 now which is probably way lower than it should be.
 
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afm199

Well-known member
I've run 330 plus without tucking the front. What will happen is you will have problems finishing out the corner and also spinning up the rear.
 

stangmx13

not Stan
i wouldnt worry too much about tucking the front due to shock length changes for a few reasons:
- changes at the opposite end have a very diminished effect. some ppl say the rule of thumb is 4 to 1. for ex, a 4mm shock length chance is comparable to a 1mm fork length change. super rough estimation, but u get the point.
- adding shock length puts more weight on the front end which is prob a good thing. most ppl tuck the front from underloading, not overloading.
- your setup is currently out of range. getting the bike more in-range is going to improve grip on both ends.
- +1 to afm199, ull notice rear end issues first

re chopping. as long as the shock isnt compressing real far and unloading while its doing slip-grip, then i agree a softer spring will prob help that condition. for that feeling, i generally try less preload first, then less shock length, then a softer spring w/ the original preload and length. the first 2 are eliminated, so ya.
 

somesuch

Well-known member
One Man's Opinion: I think the fork spring rate is a bit high for your weight, unless you're absolutely killing it SuperMoto style trailing in on the brakes.

I'm 220 lbs naked and run the same spring on the same bike with caps, so my forks are probably 10-12mm or so lower in the triples than what you've got up front. Rear length sounds similar, but I would have to measure to confirm. My setup is stable on entry and neutral mid-corner to finish, enabling late brakes and early throttle.

I'm going to guess that your front spring rate is going to put your bike at a good attitude mid-corner but limiting wheel travel and making the tire work harder. Softening the rate MAY increase front grip and help you relax a bit.

-Tom



I am 185 and like the .9 springs myself.

when I tried 1.0 they were way too stiff for me
 

afm199

Well-known member
My experience with the GSXR is that it likes front spring. I weigh 142 and run .9/.95.
 

WeekEndWarrior

Shake and Bake
I had the same problem on my 13 r1. Turn 11 for example at Laguna. The bike would not turn unless I was off the brakes. I went and told Dave moss he added two clicks of compression and fixed her right up. It was amazing.
 

stangmx13

not Stan
I had the same problem on my 13 r1. Turn 11 for example at Laguna. The bike would not turn unless I was off the brakes. I went and told Dave moss he added two clicks of compression and fixed her right up. It was amazing.

im surprised that change helped that feeling. can u explain the improvement that u felt a little more?
 

WeekEndWarrior

Shake and Bake
im surprised that change helped that feeling. can u explain the improvement that u felt a little more?

I should add I had 30mm Cartridges in the forks and a ttx Rear but the change was huge. I could brake now to the apex of the corner and not have to brake straight up and down then release and then turn in.

He had explained to me at the time why the change did what it did but That was 5 years ago now and I didn’t fully understand then and don’t really know now. Lol
 

stangmx13

not Stan
I should add I had 30mm Cartridges in the forks and a ttx Rear but the change was huge. I could brake now to the apex of the corner and not have to brake straight up and down then release and then turn in.

He had explained to me at the time why the change did what it did but That was 5 years ago now and I didn’t fully understand then and don’t really know now. Lol

Damn. Was hoping to learn something. Oh wells

The only time I’ve felt that drastic a change from only a compression damping change was when I accidentally left the setting at full soft after pulling the fork apart. And the change I needed def wasn’t 2 clicks :laughing
 

Holeshot

Super Moderator
Staff member
make sure u buy those forks w/ Ohlins carts and extenders in the For Sale section :D

Why Ohlins VS GP Suspension? I'm pretty biased, but GP Suspension comes with manufacture support, especially trackside.

OP: What's your fluid level in the forks? Springs at 1.0 seem too heavy as does the rear spring. Bike sounds like a board. Aim to use the lightest springs you can get away with.

Given the problems you've got, I'd suggest sending your forks in for a service and making sure everything is Kosher. I can't tell the times I had incorrect work in the front end or shock early on it my racing endeavors and didn't know that was the cause of much of my grief.

I'd encourage you to send them in the us at GP Suspension...our tech(s) are excellent and will help you with setup issues long after you get your forks back. Shoot me a PM and I'll get a discount code for the service. I'm interested to see what's going on in the front end....
 

stangmx13

not Stan
Why Ohlins VS GP Suspension? I'm pretty biased, but GP Suspension comes with manufacture support, especially trackside.

ahh zombie quote. like afm199 said, it was a screaming deal.

ive never seen any GP suspension guys trackside. who does it and when/where to they show up?
 

Holeshot

Super Moderator
Staff member
West Coast based: All AFM and CVMA rounds...some WMRRA rounds too. No WERA rounds...too small.
 

zammer

Tripler
thread from the dead....

To wrap up my results, At Ernie and other's insistence I:

Softened front to 0.95 and rear to 92.5N

Rear out to ~329mm eye to eye

Front at ~525mm full droop (that's ~2mm of the gp cap extenders above the top triple)

Things I've noticed - buttonwillow this year was consistently hitting 2-3s faster and feeling like it took much less effort to get there (most important). Bike turns in just OK but responds very stably under heavier trail braking, in fact it feels much smoother the harder I push the front into a corner.

Exit seems pretty neutral and doesn't feel like it wants to drift too wide though a little more than before.
 
Cool thread and great read. Glad bike feels better. Throughout this whole thread I was wondering if anyone else has rode your bike and felt the same?
 

zammer

Tripler
I haven't had the chance to have someone else ride it, actually, either or before the changes I've made.

I felt like softening the bike up made it a bit more forgiving wrt dynamic ride height etc.. but it really started to shine when I pushed it harder this fall. I went to t-hill and honestly after riding it harder it felt much more stable mid corner than it ever has without being weird on entry/exit.
 

afm199

Well-known member
I haven't had the chance to have someone else ride it, actually, either or before the changes I've made.

I felt like softening the bike up made it a bit more forgiving wrt dynamic ride height etc.. but it really started to shine when I pushed it harder this fall. I went to t-hill and honestly after riding it harder it felt much more stable mid corner than it ever has without being weird on entry/exit.

When that bike is set up properly, it's one of the best handling and easiest to ride chassis's around.
 
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