Suspension adjustemnt benefits.

[John]

I have a KX5 and a KX125. The KX5 is totally modified and I had to setup the suspension from scratch and it works very nice for me now. My KX5 is in parts now, so I have to have to use something else to ride with = KX125.

The 125 was previously used by a Kawasaki factory racer i.e. top rider. The suspension was dialled in for him and the type of riding he did (with the skills he's got). Me, I'm just a weekend warrior...

I have never bothered to tweak the suspension on the 125 (stupid, I know). I figured this guy knew his stuff and the suspension would be optimised. That might have been the case - for him. I did some experiments today and ended up with soooo much better suspension setup for my type of riding (40 years and brittle bones).

This change actually improved my riding and my comfort with the bike so that I was again the fastest on the track - without my KX5!

A lot more shifting gears and working with the clutch though. It's good practice whilst I am waiting for my KX5 cylinder.

What I meant to say is; unless you already have tweaked your suspension - do it! Power is far from everything - comfort and traction will give you even more speed than 60 odd HP.

There are lots of good advices in this forum about suspension set-up as well as elsewhere on the Internet. One step at the time approach...

Finally, it helps if there is another (skilled rider) looking at you when you are riding. I found it hard to understand what the issues were with the suspension and it took me longer than it should to adjust it properly.

Maybe this is obvious to everyone except me?

Happy tweaking!

//John

[hughes]

Any idea's where I should start with my rear shock on my 500. It's like a pogo stick the rear end. I am running 3wt. oil in the rear. I am having a hard time keeping the back from hopping. I have a post called rear shock/pogo stick. See if you have any idea's.

[John]

Hughes,

Let's see if I will get this right in a very short instruction, if not I am sure Rick or TeamGreen will chime in (this is not my area of expertise);
 
This is applicable for both the front and the rear suspension.

Terminology used: ?fast? is the same as ?soft?, ?slow? is the same as ?hard?. What you are doing is adjusting the resistance of movements in your shocks i.e. limiting the speed of shock movements.

Prerequisites:
A) Your suspension is not broken; it just needs adjustments.

B) Make sure your race sag and fork oil levels are OK.

C) Choose a track to test your adjustments. You the same track throughout all the tests to get a feeling for any changes you make.

D) If you are not sure if the setting are OK at all; take note of the current settings and adjust both compression and rebound to their respective middle positions and test run the bike until you are familiar with how it behaves on your chosen test track.

Start with three clicks in any direction just to get a feeling for what the change does to your bike. Adjust front OR rear - one at the time - to avoid conflicting information from any changes you make. When you are getting closer to your optimal setting, change just one click at the time and test the effects of your changes.


Compression
Decrease the compression (increases the suspension travel) until you almost bottom out in bigger jumps. Rather a bit slow than fast. The two extremes are:
   Too slow = headshake and arm-pump
   Too fast = bottoming out

Once you have the compression OK (front and back) go to the next step.

Rebound
Adjust the rebound - this is where it helps if someone watches you ride. Rather a bit fast than slow. There are two effects you could experience here;
       Too slow = packing - the suspension will not extract to full length fast enough.
       Too fast = bouncing bike (similar symptoms as too slow compression)

I found it hard to really get a feeling for what the changes made on my bike until after a while. It took me the better part of a whole day to set this up until I was happy. You will notice once the overall set-up is OK that you become more comfortable with the bike and can go faster especially in corners and on uneven surfaces.

I found the articles below very helpful (what you see above is a boiled down version of these pages (Thanks Rick Johnson);

http://www.off-road.com/dirtbike/tootechp1.html
http://www.off-road.com/dirtbike/tootech.html

Maybe someone who knows their stuff could confirm this approach as valid?

//John

[hughes]

Thanks John,

I have been using the same track line to do my testing and making one adjustment at a time. You posted some go info that will help. I think what is happening is that my shock is blowing through the stroke(oil bypassing the piston instead of going through the valving). The reason I think this is becasue with the rebound changes very very little from full soft to full hard. My sag is set at 4in. I am using a stock rear spring. I am ordering a rebuild kit for my shock and I am going to try 5wt. shock oil. What do you think about the shock blowing throught he stroke.

[Arigato]

Good advice John.  Video taping the rider works well too. Hughes, is your shock stock, or has it been re-valved.  I have found that the K5 is valved and sprung way too soft for anyone over 165lbs.

[hughes]

Yes, My shock is stock trim. I am not a pro rider. I just need the back  end to hook up better for off road riding.

[Arigato]

Too-tech suspension did  1alldave, BigKX's and mine and made a HUGE improvement.  The nice thing about Too-Tech is that he (owner Rick Johnson) sets 'em up for your average guy like you and me.