motorbike handeling

[dicki]

hi guys,

well i've been riding my VTR firestorm since about september last year and while i can ride it quite swiftly i'm constantly terrified of what i thought was skitty handeling. now i put this down to the fact that its a mind buggeringly fast bike and i came to it from a little 400cc pocket rocket so i just assumed it was too much for me...

anyway i just took an old friend on the back for a bit of a back country blast and i had the best ride i've ever had, with her on the back the bike just suddenly clicked, acceleration (while strill wheel loftingly quick) felt calm and controlled, i was leaning further, turning smoother and breaking harder than i've ever been able too so i was wondering how and why? is my suspension setup for someone twice my weight? did her weight slow the bike down enough to stop it terrifying me? anyone got any ideas?

dicki

[spldart]

I'm wondering if the back in is skittering around during breaking and acclerating during turns giving the unsettled feel. Her weight right over the rear tire would get it planted more firmly. What do you have your tires inflated at?
Oh, and what's your weight?

[dicki]

i think your right, i weigh 13stone (85 - 90 kgs?) but i've heard a lot of rumours about people trying to "improve" the handelling of these bikes by stiffening the rear suspension to lift up the back end making it turn sharper. apparently it just screws things up though!

the extra weight would have moved the rear shock into the correct operating range which would certainly make things better...

[dicki]

oh and the tires are at the manufacturers recommended spec and they are bridgestone BT020's

dicki

[illmatik]

I noticed the same thing on the ducati 955 I was bikesitting one summer b4 my dreaded accident. These free revving torque laded bikes love to push the front wheel up and you find yourself putting more weight towards the front wheel making it feel wild in the rear when u throttle in turns. I found shifting your weight back a bit in a turn b4 you gas it some more gives the front wheel a little more freedom in carving the turn and the extra weight on the rear gives the rear wheel a little more grip.

Man I miss bikes (http://www.bikepics.com/pictures/051529/)

[dicki]

as far as i am concerned that is *the* ducati.

they are just stunning bikes, no other word for it... they redefined bike styling and just don't look at all dated compared to other bikes of thier age

going back to handelling. i do tend to sit a long way forward on my bike, i also sit up a lot as well but then again i do more miles than fast riding so thats natural i guess.

the bikes due for a service soon so i'll ask them to ensure the suspension is set at the correct stock settings for a 13stone bloke and see what happens i guess :)

[illmatik]

Well, at the time I was a 16.5 stone bloke ;) Yeah that bike there best represents 'lucretia', a 1996 955SS Indy, part for part duplicated and tuned to replicate the 96 that won the supercross. The nice thing about that bike was the abiility to tune the suspension, almost on the fly as you rode. I dunno where you are in the UK, what the roads and weather are like, but on the hot, humid summer day before a joe-maxi slammed me to make a right turn w/o stopping thus throwing me into the rear windscreen of a parked minivan, I actually clicked the suspension 2 clicks softer to compensate for the extra heat which can stiffen suspension (depending on what you're running). Sometimes a softer, bouncer, ride gives you a little more control, especially on a high-powered motor, when you're trying to get the good edges of the tires into those turns.

[illmatik]

Hey, maybe you should look into a ride-adjustable suspension.. it's not that expensive, and your stock ride can prolly be modded to allow for it.

[BigBen]

Hi,
Maybe a steering damper and a change of fork oil? and soften the rear suspension to start with

Regards

[dicki]

i can well believe the suspension needs a service (change of fork oil etc...) the bikes coming up on 22000 miles so its due for it.

is a bike service hard to do? i'm pretty technically minded... trouble is i'm really short of cash due to house buying so i need to save money... on the flip side however is that i don't want to sacrifice safty (or myself!!!) due to poor maintinence!

i thought about a steering damper because it does occasionally shake its head under hard acceleration but its so gentle i've not been worried about it, i think the skitty feeling at the back is due to an excessivly stiff shock. it might also be worn out so maybe an aftermarket shock would be the answer...

illmatik: was that bike pictured actually yours? i thought it was the race bike!

[illmatik]

No, very similar tho. I'll find a pic of one closer to mine.

[dicki]

when you find it post it here (http://www.liquidninjas.com/bbs/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7463)

mines in there near the bottom :)