Suspension Mods Gen1

[GIXERHP]

Great write up here, But you left out another option that works awesome on Gen and Gen 2 busa's

Traxxion Dynamics Ak 20 cartridges, and double clicker Penske shock works awesome.
You had great luck find that WP rear shock, and you have the ability to rebuild it i see!
I have used all different manufactures of Suspension components on my all of my Busa's! My Gen 1 Busa had Ohlins RT forks and rear shock with superbike valving in them.
And Bang for the buck, the Traxxion set is very competitive!
Biggest thing i see your missing here is rear ride height, Busa's turn in so much quicker with added rear height, even if its just a 55 rear tire!
Even my Concours 14 has the Traxxion set up on it!

 

[mabupa]

@omc1984 i keep reading comments about the compression stack that Racetech recommends is normally on the stiff/aggressive side. Any experience with that? Is that only true for their off road application recommendations or is it the same for street and I should go 1 or 2 steps softer than what they’ll recommend?

 

[ROADTOAD1340]

I have just been watching Dave Moss as you recommend , and I realize I had seen quite a few of his excellent tutorials when I first received my forks , really very lucky to have access to people of that caliber and their extensive knowledge , once again great thread and thanks for sharing .

 

[omc1984]

Great write up here, But you left out another option that works awesome on Gen and Gen 2 busa's

Traxxion Dynamics Ak 20 cartridges, and double clicker Penske shock works awesome.
You had great luck find that WP rear shock, and you have the ability to rebuild it i see!
I have used all different manufactures of Suspension components on my all of my Busa's! My Gen 1 Busa had Ohlins RT forks and rear shock with superbike valving in them.
And Bang for the buck, the Traxxion set is very competitive!
Biggest thing i see your missing here is rear ride height, Busa's turn in so much quicker with added rear height, even if its just a 55 rear tire!
Even my Concours 14 has the Traxxion set up on it!

The Penskes are lovely shocks. I am not that familiar with them, as they are not very popular in europe. The AK20 - for me it is a bit complicated to figure out which of them are open cartridge or closed/pressurized. I would always prefer the open cartridge because a regular service is much cheaper and they perform very well. So that is the point there.

In terms of geometry: before changing ride height in the back I personally would check swingarm angle and real(!) tire circumference to find out whether a change in shock length is necessary or whether the right tire circumferences front and back would give me the geometry I want.

@omc1984 i keep reading comments about the compression stack that Racetech recommends is normally on the stiff/aggressive side. Any experience with that? Is that only true for their off road application recommendations or is it the same for street and I should go 1 or 2 steps softer than what they’ll recommend?

Don't try to find the truth behind "community postings" and project about a problem that might or might not appear. You have no idea which tire the people are using (stiff or soft carcass) or which shim stack, which clicker setting, which preload, spring rate, geometry and what they really prefer. Use the stack that the DVS tells you. If you are getting into the last 25% of the adjuster....think about changing the stack!

 

[GIXERHP]

On another not here, as stated if your going to be doing track days, the DVS settings are usually a bit soft for more track conditions, i usually set forks depending on the riders style of riding, and usage .

 

[Kiwi Rider]

Here's a couple of pics of the cartridge base valve cap from my '99 Busa forks, I heated the base valve cap to loosen the loctite, but unfortunately the alloy thread picked up and is now destroyed, darn it.
Dunno how I'm going to repair this, will have to do some research . . .
Anyone got any bright ideas or suggestions?

 

[ROADTOAD1340]

How hard would it be to source a new one from Suzuki , or even try to locate a second hand gen 1 leg maybe Kiwi ?

 

[Kiwi Rider]

How hard would it be to source a new one from Suzuki , or even try to locate a second hand gen 1 leg maybe Kiwi ?

Thankfully, this is out of one of my spare forks, the original forks that came on the '99 when I bought it.
The forks on my bike at the mo' are all good, '04 model with Ohlins springs and gold valves fitted by previous owner.
Bought them used about a year ago, $420 so fairly cheap, and they work very well.
The cartridge pictured, and now damaged, I was just stripping to have a play with. With directions from omc1984 I was going to modify the piston by opening up and flowing the ports in it and creating new shim stacks with a list of shim sizes and thicknesses supplied by omc1984.
I am training myself in suspension mods at the mo' Toad,
It's an interesting field of m/cycle improvement mods to get in to.
Very few people specialise in this area as you know, and omc1984 is willing to share his wealth of knowledge so I am keen to learn as much as I can! Good plan huh?

 

[omc1984]

Alright...this isn't the end of the world.
At first you have to clean up the threads in the tube.

You can buy new base valve from kyb...the part numbers are following:
110500002701 - 8.0x12x55mm
110500002801 - 8.0x12x54mm
(Inner Dia x Screw Size x overall length)

The damaged parts costs about 35Euro + shipping. You have to check where you could get this part.

Another option is rebuild the base valve on a lathe.

Also the available k-tech piston kit comes, as far as i know, with the base valves.

 

[ROADTOAD1340]

Definitely a good thing , I am a suspension novice , I have paid lots of money for kit and qualified advice because of this fact , and some realtime guidence and wisdom shared , is always something to be thankful for .

 

[omc1984]

@Kiwi Rider this kind of damage is really rare.
So please don't take this as a "normal risk"

 

[GIXERHP]

You where clamped to close to the threads.

 

[Kiwi Rider]

You where clamped to close to the threads.

No, in actual fact I had the end of the cap clamped in the vice and I used Knipex multi grip pliers (large) to grip the tube around the middle area and rotated the tube to unscrew the thread.