Disclaimer: I am a total newb when it comes to bikes. I just got a 2006 DRZ-400S. I read in the manual that you can manually adjust the stiffness of the forks and rear suspension, and was wondering if many people have messed with them? I weigh about 190, so I was thinking of possibly setting them to the stiffest settings possible. The manual states that the factory settings on the forks are like 16 clicks...whatever that means. Any advise? I don't think I want to drop a lot of cash on new suspension stuff. I plan on doing 95% offroad riding, with bigger and bigger jumping as I get experienced. Thanks all.
Anyone manually adjusted the suspension?
Started by elchulo, Apr 05 2006 09:39 AM
20 replies to this topic
Posted 05 April 2006 - 09:39 AM
Disclaimer: I am a total newb when it comes to bikes. I just got a 2006 DRZ-400S. I read in the manual that you can manually adjust the stiffness of the forks and rear suspension, and was wondering if many people have messed with them? I weigh about 190, so I was thinking of possibly setting them to the stiffest settings possible. The manual states that the factory settings on the forks are like 16 clicks...whatever that means. Any advise? I don't think I want to drop a lot of cash on new suspension stuff. I plan on doing 95% offroad riding, with bigger and bigger jumping as I get experienced. Thanks all.
Posted 05 April 2006 - 09:47 AM
-Start by setting your 'race sag' to between 90 and 100 mms.
-Then back off the blue high-speed compression adjuster nut all the way out on your rear shock. The bike is WAY over-damped in this regard.
-Then set the 'clickers' (rebound and compression adjusters) on the top and bottom of your forks and rear shock to the factory settings, as a starting point.
-Then dial in a couple of clicks at a time on each adjuster, until you have taylored the suspension to your riding.
DO NOT set all the clickers to the stiffest position! That will just be an invitation to a crash.
And DO NOT crank the spring collar down past 9.74 inches of static total length. The springs 'usable' effective range is only 1/2 of an inch...(9.74 to 10.25 inches).
Forget about big jumps at your weight, without modifying the suspension with aftermarket components.
The stock suspension will be fine for spirited trail riding, but that's about the limit of it. Just ask me for proof of that statement, and I'll show you an interesting photo.
:thumbsup:
-Then back off the blue high-speed compression adjuster nut all the way out on your rear shock. The bike is WAY over-damped in this regard.
-Then set the 'clickers' (rebound and compression adjusters) on the top and bottom of your forks and rear shock to the factory settings, as a starting point.
-Then dial in a couple of clicks at a time on each adjuster, until you have taylored the suspension to your riding.
DO NOT set all the clickers to the stiffest position! That will just be an invitation to a crash.
And DO NOT crank the spring collar down past 9.74 inches of static total length. The springs 'usable' effective range is only 1/2 of an inch...(9.74 to 10.25 inches).
Forget about big jumps at your weight, without modifying the suspension with aftermarket components.
The stock suspension will be fine for spirited trail riding, but that's about the limit of it. Just ask me for proof of that statement, and I'll show you an interesting photo.
:thumbsup:
Posted 05 April 2006 - 10:09 AM
I want to see!!! Let me see!
Don't make any drastic changes to the settings. If you move any of the "clickers"(just move them and find out why they're called clickers.) do it a little bit at a time. First take it out for a joyride through the desert. Then see what made it hard to handle and adjust the settings accordingly. There's an article available from some guys here on this site that is very helpful. I'll find it and PM you with it.
I just got into the in's and outs of suspension and let me tell you. It's a little scary at first but if you take it slow and record all of the changes you make it's really simple and straight forward.
Good luck. Update us and let us know how it's going. :thumbsup:
Don't make any drastic changes to the settings. If you move any of the "clickers"(just move them and find out why they're called clickers.) do it a little bit at a time. First take it out for a joyride through the desert. Then see what made it hard to handle and adjust the settings accordingly. There's an article available from some guys here on this site that is very helpful. I'll find it and PM you with it.
I just got into the in's and outs of suspension and let me tell you. It's a little scary at first but if you take it slow and record all of the changes you make it's really simple and straight forward.
Good luck. Update us and let us know how it's going. :thumbsup:
Posted 05 April 2006 - 10:18 AM
Quote
I want to see!!! Let me see!
Here' the photos I always use to show that the DRZ's stock suspension is not designed for us big boys to fly jumps on. I weigh 220, and here's what a stock DRZ suspension looks like when I land the bike, with just five or six feet of air under the bike.
The suspension is supposed to compress as you land, naturally, but not all the way to the end of it's travel, like this...
So if you weigh more than about 175 lbs, you need to upgrade the suspension, unless you're happy staying on the ground.
Posted 05 April 2006 - 10:23 AM
The basics:
"Race sag": is the amount the rear end sags when you are on the bike.
High speed compression: the amount the suspension reacts to being compressed QUICKLY. Has nothing to do with the speed of the bike.
Compression damping: How the suspension reacts to being COMPRESSED. More damping slows or increases the resistance to being compressed.
Rebound damping: how the suspensions reacts back from being compressed. Increasing this SLOWS down this action.
Have fun..................... :)
"Race sag": is the amount the rear end sags when you are on the bike.
High speed compression: the amount the suspension reacts to being compressed QUICKLY. Has nothing to do with the speed of the bike.
Compression damping: How the suspension reacts to being COMPRESSED. More damping slows or increases the resistance to being compressed.
Rebound damping: how the suspensions reacts back from being compressed. Increasing this SLOWS down this action.
Have fun..................... :)
Posted 05 April 2006 - 10:25 AM
Yikes!
That doesn't look like fun. I'm in the middle of going through my suspension. The Ohlins shock comes in the mail today. I can't wait. It seems like an eternity since I rode. only about 3 weeks.
That doesn't look like fun. I'm in the middle of going through my suspension. The Ohlins shock comes in the mail today. I can't wait. It seems like an eternity since I rode. only about 3 weeks.
Posted 05 April 2006 - 10:37 AM
Sorry to interject, but what adjustment would I make to decrease the amount of dive when braking. I am a new rider and I find it a little unnerving when trying to practice emergency braking :eek:
Thanks
Ron W.
Thanks
Ron W.
Posted 05 April 2006 - 10:53 AM
elchulo said:
Disclaimer: I am a total newb when it comes to bikes. I just got a 2006 DRZ-400S. I read in the manual that you can manually adjust the stiffness of the forks and rear suspension, and was wondering if many people have messed with them? I weigh about 190, so I was thinking of possibly setting them to the stiffest settings possible. The manual states that the factory settings on the forks are like 16 clicks...whatever that means. Any advise? I don't think I want to drop a lot of cash on new suspension stuff. I plan on doing 95% offroad riding, with bigger and bigger jumping as I get experienced. Thanks all.
Its a good video for beginners. It is a little pricey for it's length, but still helpful. It goes over adjusting the clickers, and setting sag.
For your weight, if you want to jump at all, I would suggest stiffer fork springs and a higher weight oil. I weigh around 160 without gear and I am thinking about stiffer fork springs. I already changed to a 7.5wt oil (stock is 5wt) and added a little more volume than stock, and that helped some. If you are comfortable working with tools, fork spring and oil are an easy upgrade you can do your self for around $100, that will make a big difference.
Posted 05 April 2006 - 11:59 AM
2 things would help.
Increase the compression damping on the forks and also increase the rebound damping on the shock.
Also if your race sag is set too high that will also increase the brake dive.
Increase the compression damping on the forks and also increase the rebound damping on the shock.
Also if your race sag is set too high that will also increase the brake dive.
Posted 05 April 2006 - 12:52 PM
Wow, thanks for all of the replies. I appreciate all of the advise. I will take it easy and make slow adjustments as you advise.
Posted 05 April 2006 - 01:27 PM
POSSIBLE "dumb question": What happens if you crank the spring down past 9.74 inches? How is it less effective past that measurement?
Posted 05 April 2006 - 07:03 PM
If you crank it down too far the shock explodes into a million pieces and you have to buy a new one... :eek:
Come to think of it, that's a good question. I never bothered to ask.
Come to think of it, that's a good question. I never bothered to ask.
Posted 05 April 2006 - 07:08 PM
This is a guess, but I would think it would limit the amount of travel. :excuseme:
Posted 05 April 2006 - 08:59 PM
elchulo said:
I plan on doing 95% offroad riding, with bigger and bigger jumping as I get experienced. Thanks all.
In Jan i purchased a 2006 DRZ400S. I weight 185 lbs so i'm not far off from you. I ride about 98% off road and still like to play on the MX tracks. First, if you dont have alot of money, set the sag, and turn all your clickers to full stiff. I'll tell you now if you want to jump it wont be enough but if you have no money what can you do. You'll bottem the front and the back off of minor jumps. The scary part (and dangerous) is you'll blow through the suspension so fast ,when at high speeds, on things like braking bumps that it will want to throw you over the bars :eek: .
:prof: Yes you normally make small adjustments and only with one thing at a time, since we are on the same bike and about the same weight i thought i would save him some time. If your bottoming the bike like crazy it's hard to fine tune the suspension. Take care of bottoming first then fine tune the handling :prof:
I've already got my suspension revalved and re-sprung. The first springs were not stiff enough so I'm getting stiffer ones put in today. When it's all done I'll post some cool Big Jump Pics and what all i had done to the suspension. :ride:
Posted 06 April 2006 - 03:10 AM
Quote
POSSIBLE "dumb question": What happens if you crank the spring down past 9.74 inches? How is it less effective past that measurement?
The short answer is...
You'll f_ck up your handling and risk premature wear of the suspension components.
The spring has design parameters, just like anything else. It is not designed to do what it's supposed to do, within the geometry of the rear suspension, if it's static length is set shorter than 9 3/4 inches, or longer than 10 1/4 inches.
However...
A half inch of usable adjustment range at the shock collar, gives you a pretty wide range of adjustment through the arc of the axle as the swingarm travels up and down like a lever. So it's not like you only have a half inch of suspension adjustment to work with. A half inch of adjustment at the shock equals about a half a foot at the axle.
:thumbsup:
Posted 06 April 2006 - 07:09 AM
Bigdog54 said:
In Jan i purchased a 2006 DRZ400S. I weight 185 lbs so i'm not far off from you. I ride about 98% off road and still like to play on the MX tracks. First, if you dont have alot of money, set the sag, and turn all your clickers to full stiff. I'll tell you now if you want to jump it wont be enough but if you have no money what can you do. You'll bottem the front and the back off of minor jumps. The scary part (and dangerous) is you'll blow through the suspension so fast ,when at high speeds, on things like braking bumps that it will want to throw you over the bars :eek: .
:prof: Yes you normally make small adjustments and only with one thing at a time, since we are on the same bike and about the same weight i thought i would save him some time. If your bottoming the bike like crazy it's hard to fine tune the suspension. Take care of bottoming first then fine tune the handling :prof:
I've already got my suspension revalved and re-sprung. The first springs were not stiff enough so I'm getting stiffer ones put in today. When it's all done I'll post some cool Big Jump Pics and what all i had done to the suspension. :ride:
:prof: Yes you normally make small adjustments and only with one thing at a time, since we are on the same bike and about the same weight i thought i would save him some time. If your bottoming the bike like crazy it's hard to fine tune the suspension. Take care of bottoming first then fine tune the handling :prof:
I've already got my suspension revalved and re-sprung. The first springs were not stiff enough so I'm getting stiffer ones put in today. When it's all done I'll post some cool Big Jump Pics and what all i had done to the suspension. :ride:
Thanks! Let me know what you do to the bike, what parts you use, and how much it all costs. I have already dropped about $600 into the bike for a new exhaust and to rejet it. Upgrading the suspension in the future is possible, just now I am tight after buying the bike and upgrades. I look forward to hearing your results.
Posted 06 April 2006 - 07:49 AM
Here is a very good article written by our own motoinmoab that will walk you through the whole process of setting up your suspension.
http://www.thumperta...ad.php?t=330794
http://www.thumperta...ad.php?t=330794
Posted 06 April 2006 - 08:23 PM
elchulo said:
Thanks! Let me know what you do to the bike, what parts you use, and how much it all costs. I have already dropped about $600 into the bike for a new exhaust and to rejet it. Upgrading the suspension in the future is possible, just now I am tight after buying the bike and upgrades. I look forward to hearing your results.
Will do. I can tell you now I spend $820 on it. Heres a list:
1. Fork Springs $110
2. Rear Spring $110
3. Front Re-Valve $250
4. Rear re-Valve $250
5. Shorten rear $50
6. Shorten front $50
Total:$820
I have a 30 inch inseam and i'm only 5'7 so i needed to shorten the seat height. You don't have to do that so it would have cost you $720 (unless your short like me).
The guy doing the work is Doug Harvey. He's located in Deland Florida so if your close i would recommend him. The first set of springs were to soft so he ordered new ones and installed them yesterday (no charge). He said if these are not right we'll order more. Great guy. It'll be next week till i get to ride it. I'll let you know how it goes.
