www.zxrworld.co.uk

I haven't! I played with the rear shock on one bike to get better turn-in, but didn't really know what I was doing!

Anyway, it seems I have some strange tyre wear on my 9r. The front has actually worn down faster than the rear! Plus the RHS of the front is more worn than the LHS. I wondered if it was my riding style, or even the compound of front tyres these days being softer? Aside from a few saying that this does seem to happen on BT021 tyres, someone suggested looking at the suspension. So today, I headed to The Dog at the start of the Warwick road, and decided to do as many runs as it took to dial in some settings.

I took the opportunity to have a look at my suspension for the first time ever, and used this guide to make me an instant expert:

http://www.gostar-racing.com/club/motor ... set-up.htm

It seems my front forks were at least 2 clicks out FROM EACH OTHER, and a good 3 or 4 clicks softer than the standard recommendations for compression and rebound damping!

Add to this rear shock compression that had to be on the 20th of 20 clicks (standard is 5), and I have a feeling my front tyre wear will be very different on the next set of tyres! ;D

Moral of the story - you should check what previous muppets have done to your suspension when you buy a bike!

Unfortunately, it started pissing down, so it's still a job that needs finishing, and I also think I need to change (top up?) my fork oil...

I had a fettle with mine a few months, didn't have a lot of time, so just set the sag as it was a mile out. Totally transformed, was gona start haveing a play with the settings (set to standard at the mo), but the bike is not in a rideable state now!!

The one sided tyre wear is almost certainly due to road camber

Too much roundabout surfing, ive done it myself.

RedexRobB wrote:Too much roundabout surfing, ive done it myself.

No - I think Cargo's right on that! Living by the Cloverleaf it's the left side that gets melted away!

The regular wear is in the 'normal' place - in the middle third of each side of the tyre. I shouldn't think having each fork working differently would be helping, though!

Did you buy your bike from a 7st 10 year old. Suprised you didn't get sick riding it with them settings. Always best to go back to standard and start from there.

Also agree settings out could make tyre wear unevenly, but might also be worth checking everything is inline, ie forks, yoke etc. Enjoy!!

I find my tyres wear more on the right hand side aswell, but only slightly, but think thats just down to me being more confident with rights than lefts and obviously you tend to go right on roundabouts (unless it's late/quiet etc!!)

Scraped both pegs on the run to work, and the bike is turning in much sharper!

I think I shall add another click every few days until it feels right.

Having never touched my forks, is there any way of changing the fork oil without having all the bike apart? Or is it a big forck-off job?

never checked my suspension on any bike, just get used to the bike you have,
Jamz have they finished resurfacing the dog-henley road???

Jamz wrote:Scraped both pegs on the run to work, and the bike is turning in much sharper!

I think I shall add another click every few days until it feels right.

Having never touched my forks, is there any way of changing the fork oil without having all the bike apart? Or is it a big forck-off job?

The forks need to come out to change the oil mate. Have you got cable ties on your forks? That will tell you how much fork travel you are using.

masterofinsanity wrote:never checked my suspension on any bike, just get used to the bike you have,
Jamz have they finished resurfacing the dog-henley road???

I think from now on I'll put the bike back to stock settings at the very least. It's worth doing - it really is as simple as turning 4 screws! (unless you're trying to set the pre-load, which is a bitch without 2 people and a centre stand)

The surface was all fine again - apart from the new 50mph limit... :wanker

Scott221 wrote:

Jamz wrote:Scraped both pegs on the run to work, and the bike is turning in much sharper!

I think I shall add another click every few days until it feels right.

Having never touched my forks, is there any way of changing the fork oil without having all the bike apart? Or is it a big forck-off job?

The forks need to come out to change the oil mate. Have you got cable ties on your forks? That will tell you how much fork travel you are using.

Haven't done that yet, but I am intending to after I get something that feels right. It's about time I got to grips with stripping forks... is it really something that's worth doing until the seals go? Can you re-use the seals again if you just have them apart for a clean?

Fork oil needs to be changed regularly. If... as it appears your bike has been set up for someone with a very different weight to yours the oil will have been changed for a higher/lower viscosity. Thats where things such as harder/softer springs come into it etc and things start to get complex.

Scott221 wrote:Fork oil needs to be changed regularly. If... as it appears your bike has been set up for someone with a very different weight to yours the oil will have been changed for a higher/lower viscosity. Thats where things such as harder/softer springs come into it etc and things start to get complex.

I think mine was set up by some monkey sat on the bike fiddling with it whilst I was in a pub!

I was quite surprised how easy it is to move the compression and rebound screws... you probably could shove a thumb nail in and twist it...