Minor Winter Project - installing suspension worth 1/3 of the bike

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

The 150-lb target might have been true several years ago, but nowadays most of the SS 600's and liter bikes are set up for heavier people. I know a lot of people including myself who have swapped in softer springs. Especially Kawis and Yamis. My 2005 R6 was way oversprung, and the people at Racetech confirmed it. Same goes for first generation 675's and 636's.

Over-sprung or under-sprung, it's still not the right spring rate for your weight

I have no idea what the stock spring rate is for the ER, as it doesn't appear to be in the shop manual, but I would guess it to be over-sprung like the Ninja 650R is (an insane 1.2Kg/mm). I guess that they did this to hide the fact that they used damper rod forks, in what is nominally a sportbike.

Bikes like the SV650 are grossly under-sprung. They're perfect if you're a 120 pounder, but not so much for anyone else. My '00 VFR800 had something like 0.75 Kg/mm springs. I needed 0.95, and that was for a plush sport-touring style ride. I don't think that the more recent VFRs have stronger rate springs than that.