Quote:
Originally Posted by Amber Lamps
Okay and you call Race Tech, spend a couple hundred and get the forks/shock re-valved or you change the oil weight... BTW if you are getting tank slappers on the street on a re-sprung and "correctly set up" bike...Well, I'm not sure what modern bike you're talking about but have you ever heard of a steering damper? Seriously, what street riding requires a $5,000 set of Ohlins suspension components?  |
Who said you need to buy Ohlins? Not me. And I didn't say just "on the street".
What you said was "I replace the springs to match my weight and adjust the pre-load, etc and leave it alone after that." That's fine. For you. And your bike. For where you ride.
Sportbikes aren't the only bikes in the world...
About half of the suspension work we do is on touring, SM and standards with people who have specific issues. Unless someone has deep pockets and a need for bling, I try to talk folks into Racetech, Elka or Penske (1/2 the price of Ohlins) for the rear and Racetech g2-r ($179) and a correct spring set for the front.
That and a sag set and dialing in comp and rebound front and rear will do it for
most.
The other half of the work we do is split pretty evenly between WERA and AMA guys doing serious racing,
and everyday riders who split their riding between street and track and are finding the limits of what they have in a stock set-up during their trackdays. Not everybody has more than one bike, and for some, they "need" the versatility that a top-notch set-up brings to the table. That set-up might be a $2600 Ohlins fork, or it might be a new cartridge from one of the other folks (about 1/2 the price).
Note that the title of this thread was "Bling vs Bang".
And yes, sarcasm aside, I've heard of a "steering damper", and a steering damper fixes the symptom, not the problem...it's what you go to after all else fails. If you've never been to a high-speed track that's had the lines on the exits to the turns rippled from high HP (1000+) slick-shod race cars the week before, you wouldn't appreciate the need to use equipment that has separate high and low speed damping adjustments and the absolute difference that a REALLY well set up system can make.
I realize that most folks think that performance increases should be "formulaic"; i.e. the bike does THIS, so change THAT...at the limits of the envelope it seldom is so, ergo my initial post...