Motorcycle Suspension Tech.

[chickenstrip]

Can anyone recommend a good site I can go to, to read up on modern motorcycle suspension, so that I can better understand why the mods I have had done to mine make it handle better than it did? I have some basic ideas of what might be going on, but don't fully understand the tech., the physics of it all. Someone, for instance, has mentioned to me something about 'emulators', and I get the impression that this/these are why the bike now dives far less/in a much more controlled fashion under hard braking, but don't really know how or why.

Thanks.
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[Ste]

It all works something a bit like this:

https://i.imgur.com/122H80O.gif

Or, if you're more interested in words than you are kittens then this might be the type of thing you're looking for:

https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=1050226

[chickenstrip]

[Matt B]

You should try and find the Racetech Suspension Bible, maybe a download somewhere. It's comprehensive, see this bit on emulators:

https://www.racetech.com/page/title/Emulators-How%20They%20Work
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[chickenstrip]

[Fizzer Thou]

I have had Race Tech Cartridge Fork Emulators in the front forks of my Exup-R for years now.They did make far more of a difference once I had them 'dialed in' but initially I used far too thin fork oil and progressive fork springs.Once I had installed straight rate Ohlins uprated springs and thicker oil,it was then a question of adjusting how I wanted the compression damping.This was far more laborious as it meant removing the CFE every time,draining the fork spring,fishing out the CFE,adjusting it then buttoning everything back together again

The front forks on the R1 are much easier to tune
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[chickenstrip]

At the moment, I'm not looking to tune the suspension set-up further, as it's already way better than the stock set-up, and I need to ride it more before I can start to say, well, this or that could be better. I'm probably one of those who would just tie himself in knots and make things worse if I attempted such things for myself, for now at least. But I do like to know what's going on with my bike, just out of sheer curiosity, and hopefully so that maybe I can get the best out of it in the future.

Who knows, maybe I'll find that it just happens to be about right for someone of my weight and riding style/ability, and I won't need to fiddle with it at all. Very happy with it for the time being, still exploring it's new-found capability.

TBH, I don't know for sure what is in those forks. The ad said K-Tech internals, nothing more afaik. They were bought by the guy who fitted them to my bike. He has done literally dozens of fork conversions on these bikes, using countless permutations of forks, yokes, brakes etc etc, and I trust him implicitly when he says he thinks it has CFEs; he currently has another one he's doing for someone else, standard 2003 R1 forks, and reckons mine is much more stable, stays more level under braking than that one. I can't imagine it being more so.
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[Slacker24seve...]

The Nitron shock manual is pretty helpful and the troubleshooting guide explains why your bike feels like it does (from the rear end anyway)

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=6hEwVafyJsfjaqbUgEA&url=https://www.nitron.co.uk/files/nitron_motorcycle_manual.pdf&ved=0CCEQFjAB&usg=AFQjCNFA9d_DxJl3r8hIdfFGo6OmSLioqQ&sig2=rumPWC-hXmDb23yAH3AKAQ

It helped me make a few tweaks after getting a good base setting established. For example, it felt otherwise good but the back end would chatter too much on heavy braking; read the manual, backed off the rebound, problem solved.
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[chickenstrip]

Looking at that trouble-shooting guide, I think things are more or less bang on as they are now. The only thing that might not be quite right, according to that, is a touch of excessive rebound damping on the shock, causing the rear wheel to lift under braking. That's how it felt before the new forks went on anyway, but I guess things need to be taken together, and I haven't experienced this again yet since having the fork conversion done. But I'll be looking out for it.

Useful little table though, and together with explanations of how things work, I feel I'm beginning to understand it all a bit more now.
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[chickenstrip]

Had a bit of a ride today and thought about all this some more. I really think this is set up just fine for me. Tyres stuck like glue over all the bumps, dips etc. Edges of potholes definitely seem less harsh than with the standard forks, and the rear no longer feels like it's going light under braking (although I didn't need to touch the rear brake today, so don't know if it still has the tendency to lock easily - but I think if the rear is more firmly following the road surface, it shouldn't be an issue; will be changing out the HH pads for standards on the back anyway). So I'm thinking with the standard forks, it might have done with less rebound damping on the rear shock - front was already fairly firm. But with the new forks, less dive at the front so rebound on rear is now about right, without me actually having to touch it. Happy accident!
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