playing with my pre-load

[ninjablk08]

I thought i had mine pre-load set till i went on the freeway to try it there and i it felt like it was all over the place and it was not that windy , i'm around 150 , had the bike lower 1 inch front and rear and pre-load at 2 , guess ill keep trying different setting till it feels better

[Nemy]

Could it also be that your rear's become misaligned? The preload would mainly feel spongy or stiff. But if your bike's not going in a straight line it could be a sign of something else... There's a post here for alignment and/or check the number of threads on the exposed bolt where you adjust the chain slack.

[Banzai]

WOW, WHOPPER of a bad thread title, dude!

Originally Posted by Nemy

There's a post here for alignment and/or check the number of threads on the exposed bolt where you adjust the chain slack.

Sorry, but that's been proven to be unreliable from bike to bike. Unless you KNOW that your bike is good to go with this method, it's not safe to assume anything, although the alignment issue will surely cause the bike to feel like it's all over the road.

Is this the first ride after the lowering?

Are you sure that everything is stable with the lowering? If it's even as little as 1/2 inch different from perfect 1 inch front and rear, it'll change the handling somewhat.

What tires and pressures are you rolling on? Everything tight from the lowering? What method/parts did you use to lower the bike?

Have you done anything else to the bike lately? I'm 155lbs, 6 foot. Add gear, and I roll on BT090s set to 28f/30r with the preload set to 1. Even when I was rolling on the GT501s @ 28f/32r, #1 worked best for me. #2+ just seems too harsh for the roads that I have around here, which are pretty bad.

[noche_caliente]

Oscar, I noticed the same thing when I bumped mine up to 2 - I felt better with it at 1 - seemed happier to me at high speeds that way - could be all in my head, but so be it

As for your thread title, I'm not sure that's something you want to go advertising to everyone - my mama always told me that there are some things that are too private to share with everyone

[HKr1]

Originally Posted by Banzai

WOW, WHOPPER of a bad thread title, dude!

I got a chuckle from it too

[Kolya1981]

I have mine set to 3, weigh 165lbs. I find it didn't affect freeway/straight line riding at all, just made the suspension feel tighter and less sloppy in the turns. At 3 it is still a much softer ride then how the KYB is set on my Triumph. I vote something is wrong on your bike, alignment or from when it was lowered.
Posted via Mobile Device

[CC Cowboy]

I must be a twisted sicko too. The thread title lured me in too.

Anyone use one of those laser alignment tools?

http://www.laser-lines.com/

[Nemy]

Originally Posted by Banzai

Sorry, but that's been proven to be unreliable from bike to bike. Unless you KNOW that your bike is good to go with this method, it's not safe to assume anything, although the alignment issue will surely cause the bike to feel like it's all over the road.

I'm actually confused now... I thought the string alignment check and counting the number of exposed threads was shown to work?

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showt...2&postcount=23

[Alex]

The string alignment is guaranteed to work, and if you do it you can then confirm that the thread length is a decent proxy. If it is not inline in your bike, the swingarm is no longer inline with the bike, and there are bigger issues at play. (Unless the axle bolts have been replaced or modified in some way). There's also another tool you can make to carefully measure the distance from the rear axle to the swingarm pivot on each side (I think Banzai showed pics of it as well), which can also confirm alignment quite well, perhaps even a little quicker than the string method.

Only thing that is terribly inaccurate is the notches on the side of the swingarm, as measured by the sliding plates that are slid onto both sides of the rear axle.

[kkim]

Originally Posted by Nemy

I'm actually confused now... I thought the string alignment check and counting the number of exposed threads was shown to work?

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showt...2&postcount=23

before I'd believe the hacks in that thread, I'd confirm with the string method that it supports the exposed thread method on your particular bike. Once you establish that it is, then you can use the exposed thread method to set the rear wheel alignment.

[Nemy]

Guess I've got myself a project tmmrw. Thanks for the clarification

[paterick4o8]

Originally Posted by Banzai

WOW, WHOPPER of a bad thread title, dude!

I was thinking the saaaaaaaame thing

[backinthesaddleagain]

twist on the exposed thread method - using measuring device like a t-square, measure the center of the axle to the back of the swingarm and compare both sides of the swingarm. that would check that the axle is aligned in the swingarm. not saying its as accurate overall as stringing front and rear distance, but assuming swingarm bearings are good, frame and swingarm aren't bend, wouldnt this work rather? comments?

[backinthesaddleagain]

Originally Posted by backinthesaddleagain

twist on the exposed thread method - using measuring device like a t-square, measure the center of the axle to the back of the swingarm and compare both sides of the swingarm. that would check that the axle is aligned in the swingarm. not saying its as accurate overall as stringing front and rear distance, but assuming swingarm bearings are good, frame and swingarm aren't bend, wouldnt this work rather? comments?

ok, near 1:30am so my typing and sentence building are failing - my apologies

[Alex]

Maybe, but the measurement would have to be very precise for it to tell you what you need to know. That's why the string method works so well, as the slightest bit of misalignment and it shows up quite magnified by the time it gets to the front tire. The threads method is decent because it's easy to count 'em accurately, and a single thread is a pretty small distance. Give it a shot and compare your results to some of the other known methods and let us know what you find out.

[backinthesaddleagain]

Originally Posted by Alex

Maybe, but the measurement would have to be very precise for it to tell you what you need to know. That's why the string method works so well, as the slightest bit of misalignment and it shows up quite magnified by the time it gets to the front tire. The threads method is decent because it's easy to count 'em accurately, and a single thread is a pretty small distance. Give it a shot and compare your results to some of the other known methods and let us know what you find out.

Will do and report back. Nice that chain adjustments aren't that often. Benedit of less power I guess.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Nemy]

Just wanted to mention that I've confirmed the exposed thread method with the string method. Surprisingly, the swingarm marks are pretty close too.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Nemy

Surprisingly, the swingarm marks are pretty close too.

But they may not be the next time you check; the concern is twofold. Those plates move forward and back at least a mm when the axle nut is loosened, the axle doesn't fit firmly in the hole in the plates. Also, if the plates get unintentionally flipped after the wheel is replaced on the bike, the indexing mark isn't directly in the center of the plate, so they can be off another mm or two, even if the position of the axle never changed a whit.