Busa front and rear suspension ..help

[john74]

Can someone please share there suspension settings with us here??
The factory settings after 5000km just plain suck
Riding in twisty road at kind of high speeds the front just wobbles all the time

Any help will be appreciated,and no i am not going to put after-market suspension on yet!!

 

[roadthing]

Hey John:

The factory settings are pretty plush, and that's a fact. I am a little concerned about your high speed wobbling more than anything.

What tires are you running, and at what pressure? Have you checked your spring sag yet?

Setting up your suspension properly has quite a few intricacies, but it's by no means a "black art". If you want to keep it simple, you can add some overall front spring tension with your pre-load adjusters, and then maybe firm up the rebound. I'm at 200 lbs. so my settings may, or may not be a good baseline for you.

I have changed the settings on my front and rear to feel a little more sure-footed in and out of the twisties. I have gone up in viscosity in the front fork oil, and the handling feels significantly tighter (cheap fix). I hear you about not wanting to go to an aftermarket suspension yet, but you can always swap out your valves to improve the front fork action.

Now quit being a malaka, and go for a ride!

 

[Charlesbusa]

Set your sag, there are many threads on this site and many articles on the online magazines like sport rider on how to set sag.

Once you set your sag, you just have to try different reb and comp and see what's best for you.

There is no one setting. However someone that weighs the same as you should have a very similiar sag setting.

 

[john74]

im 80kg so i guess ill try a few different clicks here and there until i get right!!!
i was just wondering if someone had the ideal settings for the busa then perhaps they can share it with us with step by step instructions etc etc

 

[solarbarack]

Do a search on jinksters suspension. It will tell you exactly how to set yours up.

 

[Over_Easy]

Keep in mind he's on the 2008 model...different and much better than the Gen 1. Sport Rider settings were on the Gen 1 I believe.

 

[john74]

i have the 2008 model
any links ??

 

[Tufbusa]

You and I are similar in weight. This is the suspension settings I have settled in with on my completely stock suspension.

Forks Preload        5 turns out
Compression (Bottom) 7 clicks out
Rebound (top)        4 clicks out

Rear Shock Preload   6mm of thread showing
Compression (Top)    8 clicks out
Rebound (Bottom)     10 clicks out

Your suspension settings from the Factory are not that bad. A bit of fine tuning is still needed for your personal preference.

I wouldn't suggest changing oil viscosity except as a last resort since most forks and shocks are designed with the recommended viscosity.

 

[Tufbusa]

Your head shake on corner exits may very well be due to weight transfer to the rear causing the swingarm to go negative making your front become a bit unstable. A common problem with bikes that have been lowered.

Try being easy on the throttle and see if the problem goes away. If it does, keep adding a tiny bit more throttle on exits until the problem reappears. This will give you a good indication as to the source of the problem.

Suspension is an art within itself. Sometimes it can become very frustrating when trying to work out these little problems.

 

[tourbus]

I have a good friend that works for track addix as there suspension guru, i have him set the sag on all my sportbikes and everytime he does this i end up with positive results, the factory suspension set-up on the 08 isnt terrible but once you start pushing it in the twisties she starts coming unraveled very quickly. get the sag set for YOUR body weight then fine tune the rebound & compression settings and you'll have a nice handling bike.

 

[john74]

many thanks to your responces guys i really appreciate the help
Truth is the actual whole suspension setting is kinda hard if you dont know what your doing..i might give Tufbusas settings a shot

By the way anyone have the factory settings handy,just in case???

 

[Tufbusa]

Factory Settings:

Forks:

Preload 6 turns out
Compression (Bottom) 7 clicks out
Rebound (Top) 7 clicks out

Shock:

Compression (Top) 7 clicks out
Rebound (Bottom) 11 clicks out

 

[BIKE DUDE]

I think I'll do a little fine tuning also. Good stuff. How much sag should we have. Is this listed in the owners manual? I read it cover to cover but I can't remember.

 

[john74]

@tufbusa mate your a legend,thanks for all the help!!!

 

[john74]

just so you know my problem,the Shock is perfect,my Fork settings are a little jumpy when it hits bumps or when i go into turns with speeds over 180km,the thing i dont understand is should i make it harder or softer??
my tires have 7000km on them,does this effect the handling perhaps??
sorry for the dumb questions

 

[Tufbusa]

Oh My Goodness, I am Flattered!

The type of tire as well as it's wear certainly has an effect on how your suspension set up works. It doesn't do much good to fine tune your suspension on worn out tires just to be forced to do it all over again after installing new tires or changing to a different tire brand.

If your front tire is skipping over bumps it could be you have to much compression dialed in causing the front tire to not ride up over the bump or it could be you have to much rebound not allowing the tire to return to it's original position on the back side of the bump quickly enough. To much rebound can cause packing which does not allow the fork spring to return to it's original position before hitting the next bump. On a series of bumps this can cause the forks to actually bottom out after several consecutive bumps. Once the forks bottom out, the next step is loss of traction.

Making your suspension harder or softer is accomplished through compression and/or rebound adjustments. Adjusting your preload has no effect on spring stiffness. Changing the spring is the only way to make the spring stiffer or softer.

 

[Tufbusa]

I think I'll do a little fine tuning also. Good stuff. How much sag should we have. Is this listed in the owners manual? I read it cover to cover but I can't remember.

You won't find anything in your owners manual addressing proper sag.

This is what I have found works best for me. Proper sag for track/race use is 25-30mm, 30-35mm for street use. However, as much as 40mm is acceptable for street use fork sag.

Use a zip tie or oring on your front fork to get an indication of proper travel. You want to use almost all of the travel without bottoming out. It's not odd to find your well balanced suspension bottoming out under very hard braking when almost all the weight is transferred to the front forks.

Rear suspension can be checked for proper spring tension by checking free sag (Amount the bike settles under it's own weight)after rider sag has been set properly to your weight. If the free sag is between 5-10mm, the spring weight is correct. If it's less, you'll need a softer spring, if it's more you'll need a stiffer spring. This doesn't necessarily mean you need to run out and buy a new spring. Most of the time you can make a calculated compromise that will work for you.

 

[pulk]

I have been wanting to adjust my suspension just to see what kind of difference in handling and riding it makes. I am at 195 lbs but still used Tuf's suggested setting. I didn't get around to adjusting the rear shock preload, it was getting late and I'm not too confident a rider in the dark, plus the stock lights suck ass. Anyway, I got in a short ride with the other adjustments and I already like the results. I'm sure once I adjust the rear preload a little bit it will feel better. It just has a stiffer feel going in to a corner and the bike feels like its stuck to the road a lot better when going up and down hills.

 

[ichiban]

I'm having the same problems myself...and still haven't found the solution.

the bike starts weaving on corner entry (and through the corner afterwards) when I close the throttle (even if slightly closed) when the speed is plus 180 and it does the same if I don't close the throttle on the entry and start opening it mid corner. it doesn't get to serious but it gets a bit interesting having the bike weaving at 220-230 mid corner.....

 

[Tufbusa]

If she is getting a bit unstable at speed when you tip in, you may want to try getting your head down low. I have had guys with similar problems and it was due to having their head up in the wind stream. It's worth a try.