| Author | Message | ||
     Avc8130 |
I just switched from riding my R to riding my CR with High Bars. My R handles WAY better than my CR and both were set to factory suggested settings for my weight. Does anybody know if there is a "standard" suggested change to the suspension settings for the high bars since the rider weight is repositioned more to the rear? ac | ||
| Dktechguy112 |
check the 2010 cr manual, the high bars came stock on the 2010, so the suspension settings for the high bars should be in their. | ||
| Froggy |
The high bars negatively will affect the handling. I noticed much a huge improvement switching to clubmans. | ||
| Avc8130 |
Dktechguy, The settings appear to be the same for 2009 and 2010. It doesn't appear the manuals approach the CR differently than the R. Froggy, I think that may be true without getting the suspension setup properly. I have ridden some other naked bikes with handlebars and they handle very nicely when setup properly. ac | ||
| Bueller4ever |
You should be measuring sag, not changing things for a certain rider weight. That's for preload, dampening has even less to do with rider weight and more to do with rider preference. | ||
| Ratbuell |
If you read your manual, it has a great section on "how suspension behaves" and it defines a lot of the terms, and tells you how to adjust for certain deficiencies. I've found it to be priceless not only in helping me understand the whole system ("I'm not bright but I can lift heavy stuff" was a tee shirt I had when I was a roadie), but in helping me really tune my bikes the way *I* wanted....which is not necessarily the way the engineers want them when they set the manuals up. Start - baseline - your suspension setup at the manual settings. Ride a road you know. Find a characteristic you don't like. Check the manual and see how to tune out that one characteristic. Make ONE CHANGE ONLY - be it compression, rebound, or preload - then go ride the same road again. Better? or worse? If better but still not right, identify the new "not right" part and repeat the process. Ride, repeat until happy.  | ||
| Nattyx1 |
What you're really talking about is perception based on feel. You can feel the front tire a bit better with lower/narrower bars, but the trade off is you are doing two things with your arms and hands in that sitch - supporting weight and controlling steering (and throttling/braking, but that's another issue). It's sort of like the challenge FWD cars face and the issues around torque-steer. I find I ride better when I'm comfortable -- and doing a handstand isn't comfortable for me. So that's why I've always been quicker on sportbikes with more neutral riding positions than extreme ones like (for example) the early RSV Mille or the duc 998. Everyone's different to be sure, but the sense that your CR isn't "handling" is most likely incorrect -- the bike is probably handling just fine (unless something is broken internally). What's at issue here is that you aren't handling it... the difference...because it isn't confidence-inspiring. The only practical difference the bar position might make is a bit of weight transfer to the front wheel. The clubmans are low, but not SO low that this would mean more than a (guessing here) a couple percentage points (if that) of ratio shift from front to rear (going from "R" to "CR"). So this is all my two cents - but I ride lots of different bikes all the time -- is you have to give it some time and rinse out the old sense memory before you begin to throw out hard parts. I'm gonna ride the CR on a racetrack this weekend with the high bars (ok, it's because I haven't bought a set of clubmans for it), and I'll bet that I'll be less fatigued at the end of each session because of it. The questions are: will I be slower because of it? Will I find situations where I'm scaring the crap out of myself or crash because of diminished front end feel? I kinda doubt it, as I ride pretty quickly in tight canyons all the time, but we'll see. Report comes monday (if I can still type)...KIDDING  | ||
| Dannybuell |
The g-forces trying to throw you back are very subtle when you are leaning over the front with club-mans, clip-ons, drag bars,... In comparison any type of sit up straight high bar will give you an instant abdominal muscle test every time you you crack the throttle the g-forces will try to throw you off and generally upset the balance of the bike. | ||
| Nattyx1 |
Danny: Is that his problem? I took his comment about "handling" to be about cornering. Even accelerating out of a corner, even with the (now standard CR) "high" bar, you're leaning forward and toward the apex and then exit if you're riding correctly. You aren't sitting bolt upright ever on this bike. Seriously- these aren't ape-hangers -- they're neutral-position. More like vintage superbike standard bars, yet actually narrower than those. And it's absolutely possible to ride hard, fast, and well with these bars. Others have proven it with far squirrelier (not a word) bikes than ours. Here's Fast Eddie Lawson at Willow Springs like 30 years ago.  And do you think freddie spencer is wishing he had clubman bars?  | ||
| Nattyx1 |
Actually -- Freddie WAS wishing he had more ground clearance - I know that for a fact. | ||
| Avc8130 |
My problem is the bike doesn't feel "planted". It feels like the front wants to slip or wash every now and then. It also doesn't seem "precise" like my R. I guess I need to print out the important pages from the manual and head to a road I can ride back and forth through and start playing. ac | ||
| Dannybuell |
Avc8130 - "It feels like the front wants to slip or wash every now and then" Look at the owners manual, it is explained there. Assuming that your fork fluids are fresh enough to be responsive, quicken the rebound by unscrewing that screw on the tops of your forks 1/4 turn. Take it out and try it. Let me know what you think. | ||
| Avc8130 |
Bike is a 2009 with 3500 miles. I hope the fluid is still fresh enough! Will try tomorrow and report back. ac | ||
| Ratbuell |
Another thing to think about - and this helped me greatly when I got my CR - is where your hands are. Picture a clock face. "Normal" bars put your hands at 3 and 9, and they stay opposite each other throughout a turn (i.e. 9 goes up to 10 when 3 goes down to 4). Clubmans...put your hands at 10 and 2. Then, keep your hands the same distance apart, and move them BOTH around the circle in the same direction (as in, 10 goes clockwise to 11 when 2 goes clockwise to 3). Instead of R and L hands being opposite, they're tracing the same side of the circle...just one behind the other. More like a boat-rudder. Once I got that sorted...my CR is psychic. The trick is to let your shoulders *follow* each other instead of working *opposite* each other. I go from the CR to one of my tubers, and the tuber feels like a schoolbus. Hell, even my ULY feels bus-like. I know...apples and oranges and all that...but despite its differences the CR is an amazingly capable bike (and I'm just a street-hack!). Steve - make sure to get someone to take some pictures of you putting the CR through its paces, and let us know your thoughts. Can't wait to hear your perspective! | ||
| Rombi |
While coasting with engine off the clubs do improve handling??? High bars are great. | ||
| Xb1200rick |
My problem is the bike doesn't feel "planted". It feels like the front wants to slip or wash every now and then. Avc8130 I had the same problem when I got my CR. I had the suspension tuned at Wheelers and it made a huge improvement. The high bars do not put as much weight on the front. He set my front preload at 0 turns in and the rebound and compression at 1/4 out. I road up there with the bike set per the manual for my weight. He said the back was good but the front is way off and could actually use lighter springs and thicker oil for my weight(185) The bike stays planted in the corners now. I put some Q2 dunlops on a few weeks later and the CR seems to like their profile better also. |
