Suspension Tuning

[mania]

Just wondering but,

Have any of you folks tuned your suspension much on the full sized bikes?

It seems here in Thailand the popular bikes like the

Honda CBR 250/500

Kawasaki 250/650 etc.

All come with very basic suspension tune-ability

Aside form a 5 way adjustable rear shock that is it.

With nothing at all available for the front end.

Getting a bike balanced for twisty spirited rides is pretty impossible.

It means nothing to be able to stiffen the rear if the front is so soft

& diving on hard braking etc.

So I wondered what if anything have some of you tried?

Of course I can up the oil in weight & viscosity but that will be

a very small improvement on just dampening.

Preload adjustment would be nice but of course will mean on the N250 going to clip-on's

not a problem & not too pricey so do-able.

What else short of changing forks ( too pricey for these bikes )have any of you tried?

Any source for better springs & valves/cartridge emulators here?

Thanks for any tips & especially any specific to the N250

[bbradsby]

Look at Thailand-made (expat-run) YSS shocks for their higher-end bits with separate oil/gas reservoir - very nice for track & twisties at a fraction of Ohlins cost. I just took one off my NSR when I sold it, and will sell it at half retail cost from Red Baron - PM me if interested and give me your bike's model and eye-to-eye shock dimension, fully unladen/uncompressed. The shock works miracles over the stock pig metal items.

Pretty sure they also have fork cartridge upgrades for many bikes. Check em out on the web.

[loserlazer]

I found some yss gas rear shocks with all kinds of adjustments for my cbr250 before. Cool stuff. I think it was around 13k. I m sure they have somthing for ninja250.

For front, i bought bikers shock adjusters which you can play a little like less than an inch. They had it for ninja250 too. But some oil and it gets firmer. Still, not enough and difference is not great.

For 40 - 50k k i remember a bike shop in thailand fits bigger upside down forks with adjustments. Maybe?

Edited February 24, 2013 by loserlazer

[mania]

Yes I have seen many after market rear shocks available here.

But really all many bikes need is some tuning up front to allow the use of

the stiffer settings available even on the stock rear shock

on most of the bikes I mentioned.

In fact I would bet of all the models I listed they are all running the softest or 2nd from softest setting

on the stock rear shock. Because you really cannot go any firmer with the Fronts set-up as they are

from the factory on these bikes. A balanced suspension is most important & with these front ends

you can only balance to the lowest common denominator of these fronts being too soft stock.

I think I will take a look & see if I can get springs of a higher rate, maybe some Gold valve cartridge emulators if not

too costly & I know pre-load adjusters are available but may not be needed with better springs & emulators.

Edited February 24, 2013 by mania

[BSJ]

Well I only replaced the PCX rear suspension units a few days ago with YSS units and the difference was apparent straight away. Slightly too firm one up but better 2 up. The real test comes when we do a shopping run!

[dave_boo]

YSS offers five different shocks for the old style N250 (assuming I'm reading their graph correctly..)

* Click on Article Number for View

Brand

Model Name

Year

Hydraulic
Shock

Gas
Emulsion

Gas
Reservoir

Article-Number

Type

Length

KAWASAKI ZX 250 R Ninja

< 08

MX366-320TRCL-13

MS

320

KAWASAKI ZX 250 R Ninja

< 08

MZ366-320TRL-13

MS

320

KAWASAKI ZX 250 R Ninja H.10

< 08

MX366-330H1RWL-25

MS

330

KAWASAKI ZX 250 R Ninja L5

< 08

MX366-315TRCL-20

MS

315

KAWASAKI ZX 250 R Ninja L5

< 08

MZ366-315TRL-20

MS

315

Three of them are the gas reservoir style and two of those appear to have some sort of presets for the rebound to make tuning easier(?). Pricing unknown. At this time I can find no information regarding forks.

Ohlins has a rear shock which is 731 USD. Which dirtshop has for a hefty 11 000THB markup.

Penske, an American company, has a distributor in Australia who will build a shock to your preference. Didn't see the prices on their website, but scuttlebutt is 600-1200 USD. Of course with Penske's modular design you can start 'cheap' and if you, and the bike, exceed it, you can send it in and upgraded to the next level.

Racetech has a bunch of stuff for the bike; upgraded fork springs, cartridge emulators and a rear shock. To go wild on your front end will set you back 295 USD and their shock is quite expensive at 1 100 USD.

Sato also offers preload adjusters for the N250. For 140 USD it may be worth it just for the bling.

As I've stated before, installing the Racetech springs made a huge difference in my ride. Of course I am a *ahem* bigger guy, so others may not need as much as I do...

[mania]

As I've stated before, installing the Racetech springs made a huge difference in my ride. Of course I am a *ahem* bigger guy, so others may not need as much as I do...

Thanks Dave & I know Racetech makes good springs in various rates.

Did you buy in Thailand or needed to order them in yourself?

I am 79kg not big but not tiny

But I know this front could use a little help.

The springs would be a nice start & I see from their site I can pick from a few

rates & the 80-85's look good for me.

[dave_boo]

As I've stated before, installing the Racetech springs made a huge difference in my ride. Of course I am a *ahem* bigger guy, so others may not need as much as I do...

Thanks Dave & I know Racetech makes good springs in various rates.

Did you buy in Thailand or needed to order them in yourself?

I am 79kg not big but not tiny

But I know this front could use a little help.

The springs would be a nice start & I see from their site I can pick from a few

rates & the 80-85's look good for me.

Had them shipped over from Stateside. They've gone up a lot in price in the last 4 years; 33% more than what I paid, but if it was needed I'd do it again.

I got the 95s because I'm quite a bit bigger than you and really like a firm feeling. Just take your time installing them which consists of removing the handlebars, a circ-clip, and pulling out the old ones. Drop the new ones in, measure, cut the aluminium tubes to the correct length (remove all burrs and clean them well!) and then measure your oil and add/subtract as needed.

Just be warned, you'll then start looking at brake lines...pads...etc. It's quite addictive and luckily for me I only get to see it every 3 1/2 months otherwise I'd probably go stupid.