| Author | Message | ||
     Fcbuell |
If you haven't "dialed in" your suspension settings... do it! And for those of you who feel the Buell is a bit unstable or twitchy.. not smooth or fights for turns... play with your suspension... I'm a serious believer now. I've got 4000 miles on my bike now and for the first time I got out the manual, compared the suspension settings to those of more aggressive settings and spent a whole afternoon "dialing it in." holy crap... how sensitive these things are! Once dialed in, over the stock factory settings... my bike now tracks and is very predictable and stable in turns. I found that stiffing up the rear end really helps stabalize the bike. I'm honestly dumbfounded and mad at myself for not doing this earlier. The bike just feels great right now... | ||
| Bigbuell |
That's one of the first thing I did to my new 06XB12Ss, there set up for heavier riders. Stock is set up for 190lb person, but I'm 6'0 and 215lb, once I got set it up correctly for my weight, man what a difference, the bike stuck like glue and much more responsive. One of the best handling bikes that I've have ever owned.  | ||
| Slaughter |
Welcome to the fold of the true believers! Suspension setup properly (don't neglect brakes) will make you a MUCH faster rider than horsepower. Just having confidence in the bike being predictable and repeatable is EVERYTHING. Can I have an A-MEN! | ||
| Jpgrego |
Bigbuell, how did you set up your Ss for aggressive riding? I've seen the settings for the S model aggressive riding but the settings on the SS are different and I'm a little afraid to jump right into it. I know the basics of compression and damping adjustments but I'm really unsure how much a little change here or there will make. Thanks, patrick} | ||
| Bigbuell |
Patrick - What I did is went buy what the manual said to do. I set it up according to my weight and just played with it from there. Just do it in small increments. I adjusting the springs and the damping and rebound until I found that sweet spot that suited me and my riding style. Don't be afraid of adjusting your suspension, just write down what you did each time so you can go back if it feel uncomfortable. Good luck. | ||
| Jpgrego |
Thanks for the tips, I've got it set up as per the manual right now and it feels too soft... holds a turn well but just not quite right. From comparing the stock numbers to the 'aggressive' settings I think I need more preload front and rear and then fiddle with the compression and damping. I'll let everyone know how it goes. Patrick | ||
| M1combat |
Be careful... They're somewhat sensitive (actually, I think it's more like the damping adjusters have a lot of range, so a little goes a long ways). I can go from understeer to oversteer in .6 lines of preload , 1/4 of a turn more bump, or about 1/8th of a turn less rebound on the front. That's w/o hanging off very much though... I try not to go so fast that I need to hang off on the street. I've spent some time getting it balanced though. Now that I've switched to Metzeler M3's from M1's I'll need to do it again... Damn... | ||
| M1combat |
Be sure to set your controls correctly too... Like the angle of your foot controls and the height of your front brake and clutch... | ||
| Elff |
I am 5'5" and only 140lbs. The XBs come from the factory setup for someone around 200lbs So my first ride was fairly interesting. I wanted mine to be a little on the stiff side for better handling with a slight, but not too much, trade off on road comfort. As such, I set mine up for 150lbs which should cover me, my clothes and my gear with about 5lbs to spare. OOO BABY did that make the bike perform | ||
| Kurosawa |
http://sportrider.com/bikes/146_street_bike_suspension_settings/#buell Works great. When I got the bike, the understeer was horrendous, yet the bike was so skittish at low speeds it felt downright treacherous. Now it's light and lively and very confidence-inspiring. Also torqued down the steering head nut and dumped the cupped and flattened Dunlops for Stradas at 36/F & 38/R. (Message edited by kurosawa on May 01, 2006) | ||
| Spike |
Just an FYI: The XBs actually aren't delivered with any sort of suspension setup from the factory. I pulled mine out of the crate myself, the front was stiff and the rear was really soft. Even if you don't want to tinker with suspension tuning, you should at least check to make sure your bike is adjusted for your weight based on the owners manual. |
