| Author |
Message |
    
Old_man
| | Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 04:11 pm: | 
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Terribletim,
What tires do you have?
You are describing what my bike did with the stock Dunlops.
Pirellis made it a different, and much better, handling bike.
It turns in easily and holds the lean. |
Terribletim
| | Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 04:18 pm: |
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Yup Old_man, you guessed it. The stock Dunlops. And when I say stock, I mean I think these are the Dunlops that were on it when it rolled out the factory doors in 2003. I know they need replaced, budget says wait a bit. I think I want to go with the new Pirelli Diablos. Those are the stock '07 tire right? So the dealer should have them. |
Old_man
| | Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 04:30 pm: |
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Yes Tim, that is definitely the problem.
The dealer should stock the Pirellis.
I put the Scorpion Syncs on mine and found them better than the Metzler M1 that I replaced the stock tires with. (The M1 is a very good tire)
I have no experience with the Diablos but I'm sure they will cure your handling problems by what I read on this board. |
Terribletim
| | Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 04:43 pm: |
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I run the Metzlers on my Harley, they are good tires. A bit soft so you go through them faster, 'specially when impressing the masses with tasty burnouts. Don't tell my wife that.  Girl has no sense of humor I tell ya'! What's the price difference from the Diablos to the Scorpions? Anyone else running 'em? |
Trojan
| | Posted on Friday, March 30, 2007 - 03:21 am: |
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Tim,
If you want to improve turn in then the best way is to raise the rear ride height slightly (only around 5mm). Unfortunately with the stock shock this isn't as easy as it sounds, so you can only do it by increasing preload. If you fit an aftermarket shock with adjustable ride height you'll be amazed at the difference  |
Old_man
| | Posted on Friday, March 30, 2007 - 10:04 am: |
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Tim,
Change the tires before you spend any more money.
Then decide if you need to do anything else.
I don't think you will. |
Doerman
| | Posted on Friday, March 30, 2007 - 12:07 pm: |
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Just a thought. Might this bike have come with a defective rear shock?
Asbjorn |
Terribletim
| | Posted on Friday, March 30, 2007 - 12:12 pm: |
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Old_man - I think I'm gonna go with the Scorpions, and yea, they both need swapped out. I got on it to go home from work yesterday and the rear had bled down to like 10 pounds. Slow leaker, gotta go! Now is the time I guess to go to the Scorpions. They look a tad more "track" oriented than the Diablos. Would you agree? I never worry about lifespan, heck the Metzlers on the Harley are good for about 6-7k really. That's like, 1 good trip to Sturgis after you factor in the obligatory burnouts!  |
Steve_mackay
| | Posted on Friday, March 30, 2007 - 12:29 pm: |
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Actually, life span wise, the Scorpions are EXCELLENT for their capabilities. I have about 6,500 miles on the rear on my S3T and it's got about 20% of the tread left yet. They warm up *MUCH* faster than Dunlop 207 or 208s. The 207s I had on it previously SUCKED in the cold weather. Sliding all over the place. The Scorpions stick really well, even when the temps dip below freezing. |
Old_man
| | Posted on Friday, March 30, 2007 - 06:36 pm: |
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Tim,
I took a long ride in the country today.
I love those Scorpions - No effort steering, just think about turning and it seems it turns, and holds the lean until you want to straighten up.
I don't think you will be unhappy with them.
Everyone on this board that has them praises them.
(Message edited by old_man on March 30, 2007) |
Nickwarne
| | Posted on Saturday, March 31, 2007 - 12:34 am: |
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UPDATE:
This could be a case of user error, folks. After re-reading all the posts above, I went back to first principles and re-set the damping. Then I went for a very fast ride 'round my favourite bit of bumpy back road and used the cable-tie to measure suspension usage.
In summary, it DOES bottom out, but only under severe braking (normal, I'd say) and truly massive hits. The rest of the time it's using the full length of the suspension, but coping pretty well.
As of my last ride I think it's as good as it's going to get without spending up on new springs and/or dampers. I plan to get my expert mate to ride it again to confirm this impression cos, as I said, I'm no expert with this stuff.
For those who are interested, my settings for fast, bumpy back-roads 1-up, no luggage are:
FRONT:
Max pre-load (still four rings showing. Why?)
Forks dropped 2mm through the trees.
Re-bound damping all in then out 1 turn.
Compression damping all in then out two turns.
REAR:
Max pre-load
Re-bound damping all in then out 1 turn
Compression all in then out 1.5 turns |
Stretchman
| | Posted on Saturday, March 31, 2007 - 02:14 pm: |
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May want to change the fork oil out to heavier. Also, max preload is going to give a stiffer ride with shorter travel.
So, it will feel like it is bottoming out more. Relax your settings and it will smooth up quite a bit.
The best way is to set it up according to the manual, and then, taking measurements and seeing if the sag is too extreme.
In other words, for rougher rides you want to soften, not stiffen your shocks.
Makes no difference to compression. Those few turns won't really matter. But there's a valve in there that controls how fast the shocks dive and that is what you need set right. Too stiff and you will have a hard time with it, and it will want to stand up. Too soft and it turns in too quick and will want to dump you. But softer means smoother.
Rebound is how quickly it returns, and damping keeps it from bouncing up and down as much. Try the manual settings first for your height, check the symptoms, and the sag, and we'll go from there.
Stretch |
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