[92GTA]

My dealer did a full suspension adjustment for me at my 600 mile service for my riding weight and the bike felt great. I run 32/34psi in the stock tires also per his suggestion.

Now at just over 4,000 miles the front feels a little too soft to me. It doesn't feel as stiff as it used to be. Doesn't inspire the same confidence going into corners as it used to or with braking. It has the same little bit of bounciness on certain bad pavement so that hasn't increased or decreased, only does it feel softer when I apply the brakes or shift weight. I can feel the forks compressing quicker.

I'm not personally experienced enough to know from just from feel exactly what or how much I should adjust what on this bike. I think I need to increase the compression a bit? How many clicks (or degrees of rotation) before each ride is a good increment to try out? I see on page 196 of the manual (pdf) on how to make the adjustments; looks like I turn the little screw clockwise to increase.

I feel I need an explanation from someone one on how to tell if I need more spring pre-load vs. just needing to increase the compression a bit. Also on how rebound is tied in with them. I know verbiage wise what the settings mean, but my mind is having a hard time imagining what it would feel like when I need what if that makes sense.

I've seen the YouTube videos on how to adjust suspension, but I've never seen a really good explanation of how to feel for what to know how to fine tune from that base point onwards.

Thanks!

EDIT: Just want to point out that I do only aggressive street riding on mountain roads. I don't track, have no real desire to, nor desire to have to replace anything on my suspension. I only want the most out of what I have at the moment and I'll live with that for now.

 

[jarelj]

If you made no changes to the settings or your riding style, and now it feels like the forks are less controlled (i.e. have less damping) then you probably just need to put in some fresh fork oil. Most people rarely if ever change their fork oil, but it's a consumable just like the engine oil is, it wears out from heat and friction and gets more thin/wattery and then your damping control is less effective.

 

[92GTA]

Great point, I never would have thought about that at such low mileage but obviously something has changed so that makes total sense.

I'll look for a DIY on doing that. Thanks!

 

[Darwin604]

It seems way too early in the game for any type of fork maintenance to be required to be honest. I'd take this up with whoever did the adjustment and/or Ducati. I'm no suspension expert but I've rebuilt my own forks more times than I can remember and this sounds a little odd. Either that or you've gained a bunch of weight .

 

[92GTA]

It seems way too early in the game for any type of fork maintenance to be required to be honest. I'd take this up with whoever did the adjustment and/or Ducati. I'm no suspension expert but I've rebuilt my own forks more times than I can remember and this sounds a little odd. Either that or you've gained a bunch of weight .

Nope, I'm still 200lbs lol. I'm a diet and exercise thing though to get back down to 165

 

[T-wizzle]

That's kinda odd! I'd do a lil more research if I was you before you start spending any kind of money on servicing your fork oil. It does seem a bit too early to change them out. My front preload is maxed out when I set the sag on my suspension to my weight and I'm 165lbs. As for me, I'll be upgrading my front and rears to full Ohlins since I do a lot of trackdays. Good luck and hope everything turns out good with your issue

 

[jarelj]

I change my fork oil at around 1000 miles on the track, and it's usually cooked at that point, and noticeably better after the new oil is in. And that's with really high quality Ohlins 1309 fork oil. Professional race teams change fork oil every weekend. I still bet cooked fork oil is most likely culprit, especially if the shop who did the fork service used cheap Bel-Ray fork oil from a barrel in the service department, and doing aggressive mounting riding for 3400 miles.

To OP: You can try increasing the compression damping by 1 turn and see if that gets it back to where it was. If so, then I GUARANTEE you the fork oil is cooked.

 

[92GTA]

Thanks for all the info guys!

I think I'm going to change to some good oil (whats the best I can run Jarel, money no object?) and just go from there.

 

[Darwin604]

That's kinda odd! I'd do a lil more research if I was you before you start spending any kind of money on servicing your fork oil. It does seem a bit too early to change them out. My front preload is maxed out when I set the sag on my suspension to my weight and I'm 165lbs. As for me, I'll be upgrading my front and rears to full Ohlins since I do a lot of trackdays. Good luck and hope everything turns out good with your issue

Is that a straight swap from the 1199 or does the different geometry / DSSA make it a custom job?

 

[jarelj]

Thanks for all the info guys!

I think I'm going to change to some good oil (whats the best I can run Jarel, money no object?) and just go from there.

Ohlins 1309 is what I use, it's pretty much the "standard" racing fork oil.

 

[92GTA]

Ohlins 1309 is what I use, it's pretty much the "standard" racing fork oil.

Thanks!

 

[rybo]

on another note ( and I know you said you didn't want to replace parts, but)

Getting the right springs (a one time thing) is THE MOST important part of setting the suspension. If you have the wrong spring, it doesn't matter what the clickers are set at or if you have $20,000 Ohlins gas charged World Superbike forks, they will be wrong.

If you're getting the oil swapped anyways, then it would be a great time to make sure that there were a set of springs in the tubes that were suited for your weight and riding style. The cost for the parts should be less than $150.

My .02

 

[FastBikeGear]

Here is a comparison of some oils from another forum discussing this.

Comparison of Viscosity ([email protected]/[email protected]/VTC)

Ohlins 1309: 19/13/0.32
Showa SS-15: 20/13.4/0.33
BelRay HVI 5wt: 19.5/6.6/0.66 (viscosity index 345)

Shell Advance 7.5: 22/4.9/0.78 (viscosity index 153)
Shell Donax TA: 34.9/7.2/0.79 (viscosity index 141)

Note that the Ohlins oil's Cst varies less than the other oils with temperature - a good thing.

Just changing to a better grade oil could net some performance improvements.