| Author | Message | ||
     Surlypacer |
Mid corner if you going fast feels a little unstable. If you push the forks down it(bring the front up) should add a little more stability to it. Anyone try this? | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
Jeff, It isn't quite that simple. Dropping the forks will increase trail as you suggest, but it involves changing several other characteristics at the same time, not necessarily in a beneficial manner. I tried doing this once on my nephews XB9R to compensate for a 190 slick he had fitted for racing, and it didn't work at all well. Perhaps you should check your suspension set up, tires, and steering bearings, before doing something like dropping the forks. I would suggest using good sport tires like Dunlop Qualifiers, Michelin Pilot Powers or Pirelli Diablos, inflated to factory spec.s : 36 front 38 rear. Secondly I would set up the suspension according to the "aggressive rider" settings developed by Buell Factory Rider Shawn Higbee. They are available in the Knowledge Vault on this site. If you are a larger rider, going to heavier springs will help. I had Trackside Engineering fit them to my former 2003 XB9, even though the factory no longer sells these parts. Finally, I am among those who believe that the Buell will benefit from a steering damper for spirited riding. Models are available from American Sport Bike, one of our sponsors. The short wheel base Buells can, in fact, be a bit unstable, especially with a heavier rider aboard, but dropping the forks is not the way to deal with the problem, in my opinion. Needless to say, time spent at a trackday with a good instructor will certainly pay dividends when it comes to improving one's own abilities, and one's understanding of the bikes handling characteristics. Just my .02ยข | ||
| Firebolteric_ma |
You can add the FREE SPIRITS Extra trail kit. It consists of an offset bearing kit. Adds 2 deg. of rake to the bike. I did it and like it. | ||
| Skully |
I added a damper from American Sport Bike and really like the way it makes the bike on and off the track. | ||
| Old_man |
Surlypacer, What tires are you running? If you still use the original equipment Dunlops, get rid of them before you do any other changes. A decent set of tires will be the best change you can make. It would be a drastic change to the better. I lowered the forks 3/8 in. in the triple tree.(I guess that is what you meant) But also use less front spring preload. I have a steering damper installed. With the Pirelli Scorpion Sync tires the bike handles beautifully. (Message edited by old_man on April 12, 2007) (Message edited by old_man on April 12, 2007) | ||
| Sparky |
I lowered the forks (raised the front) in order to keep the Firebolt from bottoming on a speed bump at work. It worked for that purpose but, as a side effect, seemed to slow down the steering response slightly and increase the steering effort. Didn't seem to affect the stability any. I like the way the bike handles better with the forks all the way up (lowering the front). It seems to initiate turns easier and makes the bike much more flickable with no hint of instability, IMO. Works well for riding double set up this way. | ||
| Disturbed |
You changed the rake angle. If your bike in handling weird, consult the OWNERS MANUAL. There are many tidbits of info in there regarding handling characteristics. | ||
| Surlypacer |
The bike handles great actually. but mid corner it wobbles just a little. i've tried all kinds of damping adjustments. On a long sweeping turns, a round about, you can really feel it. At normal riding speeds it great. I have hyperpro springs so a lot of the set up in the manual doesn't apply. Hyper pro big improvement. Here is a sport rider article and i found other review about the trail being to steep. I'm coming off a ducati 748, 900ss. Rock solid bikes. Buell- just a little unstable. http://www.sportrider.com/bikes/146_0210_buell_xb9 r_firebolt/ | ||
| Tpoppa |
XB's are highly sensitive to suspension setup. When the suspension is dialed in the handling in fantastic. What exactly do you mean by unstable? What are your settings for front and rear preload? Did the Hyperpro springs change the front height? (Message edited by tpoppa on April 12, 2007) | ||
| Surlypacer |
sag is set to 30 mm front and rear. preload front and rear set by weight. compression and rebound from stiff to soft. Just mid corner, feels twitchy. ducati rock steady. ride height the same. | ||
| Tx05xb12s |
I know exactly what you're talking about when you say the bike wobbles a bit on long sweepers. What I can't figure out is how come on this one particular turn my bike will do it violently enough to scare me into easing off the throttle and decrease my lean angle a bit, and other times I can rip through the same turn at three times the posted speed limit rock solid. I'm wondering what changed from one time to the next? I noticed recently it did the wobble dance with brand new Corsa III's at full running temp, properly inflated to 32f/36r, and the suspension dialed in per the owners manual for aggressive riding. I've also got a steering dampener. Once upon a time I had my forks pushed own .5" to help compensate for the steering dampener attached to my isolator bolt, but didn't like the way it made the bike feel more sluggish in response to steering inputs, so I put it back to stock fork mount position and just deal with the dampener slamming my front fender at full compression. Anyway, how about that wobble. Who can tell us what is likely to be the culprit? It's unpredictable and quite unsettling when it happens. | ||
| Sparky |
Do you have Hyperpro springs front and rear? I'm thinking if stiff springs are in the front and normal spring in the rear then, when midway in a fast corner, the rear may compress farther than the front thus altering the steering response slightly. The effect would be the bike wants to turn alternately inward/outward slightly causing a feeling of instability. If it seems like this is the case, you might try increasing rear compression damping only, perhaps going full comp at first to see if it helps. If that works, then ease off from full comp but not to where it starts feeling wobbly again. If you have hyperpro spring in the rear too and the above exercise doesn't help, then the stock damping may not be very effective with your setup. An aftermarket shock may be your ticket. | ||
| Tpoppa |
My XB has never felt twitchy, and I push pretty hard in corners. It sounds like your setup is making the steering too quick (too sensitive). Try reducing your rear preload by 1 or 2 clicks and see if it feels more stable. | ||
| Tx05xb12s |
I'm convinced I'm dealing with a suspension setting issue. I'll work on that and hopefully get some improvement. However, the fact that it is seemingly intermittent concerns me. Perhaps I should take a look at being consistent in my riding style as well. I'll pay attention to what I'm doing the next time it happens. Luckily, it's only done it maybe three or four times since I've had the bike. | ||
| Littlefield |
I have the same symptoms on my 07 Ulysses. On tighter, slower corners the front end steps out. I even put a cable tie on the front and a gadget on the back to measure the suspension travel. As close as I can tell the front and rear travels are almost exactly the same. I'm going to take it to the track in a few weeks and try some things in a more controlled fashion. | ||
| Surlypacer |
hyperpro front and rear. | ||
| Spatten1 |
The bike handles great actually. but mid corner it wobbles just a little. I've found that any input whatsoever unsettles the bike. If I am 100% set up before the turn and do not move my body while leaned over it works fine. If I blink or fart the bike does feel very twitchy to me. Forced me to be exceptionally smooth at the track. | ||
| M1combat |
"sag is set to 30 mm front and rear. preload front and rear set by weight. " How can you set the sag and preload to both your weight and by sag distance? Are you confusing responsive with twitchy? Have you swapped out the D207's? Are you hanging off? Is your spine crossed up compared to the lean angle of the bike? What are your tire pressures? What kind of tires? | ||
| M1combat |
Interesting... I've found that the bike is never "twitchy" but it responds predictably to any body movement. It can be used to your advantage. I've never understood why people say "Oh my god... it TWITCHED!". IMO it did exactly as you asked it to, but you didn't realize you were asking it to do something. I say learn body language. "I've found that any input whatsoever unsettles the bike." I disagree... I can change line mid corner as often as I'd like (with my toes scraping) with either input at the bars or the seat. Don't get me wrong... I'm not saying that the XB couldn't be made more stable. I'm only saying that raising the front has other consequences that may be undesirable. That said, I put about 4K miles on an XB12SCG and I thought it was a bit over eager mid turn. I lowered the forks about one notch and installed a steering damper... perfection  . The guy that owned the bike liked it better too. | ||
| M1combat |
You say "mid-turn"... Are you on the throttle? | ||
| Spatten1 |
Maybe I did not word it well. I think you have to be exceptionally smooth on an XB and it handles really well. Many other bikes will compensate for incorrect or untimely rider input. This can be expressed by some as "stability". The XB seems to be very sensitive to such input, but will be very stable if you hold correct form during a turn and do not move around on the bike when leaned over. | ||
| Surlypacer |
holding throttle best a human can and then roll it on. | ||
| Aj06bolt12r |
I did it to mine as bike felt a little twithcy to me at first but I was a beginner too. So I read that article in sport rider also and decided to try it. On the first try I moved them too much and altho the bike did seem to be rock solid stable to me after that it just made the steering effort too high for my taste, really took alot of effort to change directions quickly and that made the bike less fun to ride in my opiniion. So I just moved the forks about halfway in between the stock setting and where I had them the first time. To me this was a good compromise for quite a while. But now as I continue to gain experiance and become more comfortable on the bike Im considering going back to the stock fork placement in order to get that fickability back. I think once you get used to the bike and learn that you can trust it and you tires, ( yes even the stock dunlops will stick pretty darn good ) you wont be so unnerved by the feeling of unstability and will welcome the flickability. This will probably take some time tho. It did for me anyway. Hope this helped. | ||
| Surlypacer |
Ajo6bolt12r- how much did you finally move them, right before you went/going back to stock? Im think about 2mm raise at the most. I did 4mm on my ducati 900ss, but was lowering it. 4mm made a huge improvement getting it to flick. Loved that bike. | ||
| Aj06bolt12r |
Dont know how many mm i moved them but on the 06 models there are two machined rings cut into the fork tubes showing above the triple tree at the stock setting. I lowerd the forks untill the top ring was even with the top of the triple tree, this is the setting I was happy with for a good while. Also there is a snap ring on the forks under the triple tree that is not visible at the stock setting, once you drop the forks down enough they should be exposed and just below the bottom of the triple tree. Hope this helps but like I said im not sure if yours looks exactly the same or not. Id say it was roughly 1/2 an inch or so from the stock placement, but you will just have to try diff settings and play with it till your happy. Just be sure to mark the forks so you know where you started from and where you have tried already. |
