WP suspension trouble shooting guide

I'm gonna try your settings for the rear shock and see if it maintains the control I now have but at the same time makes it a bit softer.

I'm having great fun pissing about with the shocks, proper nerdy fun :D

Andres
 
I'm gonna try your settings for the rear shock and see if it maintains the control I now have but at the same time makes it a bit softer.

I'm still somewhat surprised at winding the comp back so much on the forks but it's defo worked............

I'm having great fun pissing about with the shocks, proper nerdy fun :D

Andres
 
i know this is an old thread, but i've been looking at it with a view to playing with the settings on my R.

not actually done anything yet, but i have one observation re: OTM and Giles' comparisons. according to the parts lists i looked at, you have different rate springs on your shocks. 2013 bike is 170Mm and 14> is 180Nm so not directly comparable.

interesting to note you both upped the rear preload. at least at first. i too find the rear suspension very choppy on uneven road surfaces. this is amplified by the minimalist seat padding. my first thought was to back it off. if it did help, it wasn't by much. otherwise i think a dab more rebound is my next thing to try. i'm on Comfort settings with just the rear preload backed off at the moment.

oh, and i would expect the suspension to ease a fair bit after a couple of thousand miles and then need readjusting. of course by then, i will have adjusted to it myself and think it's perfect :)
 
Ah well ... that's interesting !

Suspension is such a dark art and I sort of mostly do ok, but sometimes make some real errors.
And one of them was my initial rear spring. Like you, when I first got the bike I thought the rear was too choppy and harsh so backed the rear spring off, and I just got lost - things never really got any better.
I took it to a local set up bloke and his first and immediate impression was that the spring was too slack. Eh? But it's choppy and hard I said - Ive been backing it off .... Your spring isn't really working - you have to compress it to get it to work in the first place - you need to actually wind yours up.
So that was a real classic error I guess, feeling harshness and diagnosing it the wrong way. I think my max preload is 8 (Cant quite remember without looking it up) and I think i'm on 6 at the mo.
Whats interesting is that two up, the bike floats even more nicely, and that actually, I probably need a slightly softer spring for my weight.
I still prefer manual adjustments to electronic though ... it's sort of set up for quick smooth B roads, and at the right pace it's just sublime.

:thumb2
 
Earth to Andres ... Earth to Andres ... are you receiving, over ....

<a href="https://gileslamb.smugmug.com/Backtoschool/i-TLV5fmj/A"><img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Backtoschool/i-TLV5fmj/0/XL/IMG_0410-XL.jpg" alt=""></a>


Since you rode it I've increased the rear preload a bit ...

(during our trip away, I wound it right up for two up, then when we took a day trip without the heavy panniers it felt quite good, so I've experimented with a firmer rear shock for just me and it seems a bit better ... :thumb2)
 
Brilliant, cheers Giles :beerjug:

I'll have a 'proper' play in couple of weeks when back from my sojourn in France with the Gnarley hippies - I'll report back.

Andres
 
Ooooh ... ??!

That was January 2015 .... Maybe they've had an IT revamp .. ??!
 
I have been pressing the buttons on my ES Adventure :D

After years of fitting Ohlins and Wilburs to bikes and enjoying messing around to get a good setting this was a bit of a change for me, and one I was not overly looking forward to.

I have to admit the standard WP suspension on the KTM is actually up there with the aftermarket stuff I have added to other bikes, certainly the rear shock is light years ahead of the standard kit on my last three bikes (Super Tenere / GS / ZZR1400).

Measuring the sag the front seems a bit soft and the rear a shade stiff, but it seems to work well enough on the road apart from a fair bit more fork dive than the Yamaha - but it does ride the bumps a lot better.

Found most of the time I can get away with the "comfort" setting with no more than a very slight wallow when hitting bumps / undulations at speed (even when loaded with luggage) on smooth roads when pressing on the standard setting is about spot on for me.

Just got back from a 2500 mile tour and I am still very impressed with the overall performance of the suspension, it worked very well and was tested on all kinds of roads. Sort of got used to the excessive fork dive by the end of the trip and think this will be the first bike I have owned for about 10 years that I will not bother modifying the suspension on. If I keep it long enough to need a suspension service I would be tempted to just fit ever so slightly stiffer front springs.
 
Rasher said:
I have been pressing the buttons on my ES Adventure :D

After years of fitting Ohlins and Wilburs to bikes and enjoying messing around to get a good setting this was a bit of a change for me, and one I was not overly looking forward to.

I have to admit the standard WP suspension on the KTM is actually up there with the aftermarket stuff I have added to other bikes, certainly the rear shock is light years ahead of the standard kit on my last three bikes (Super Tenere / GS / ZZR1400).

Measuring the sag the front seems a bit soft and the rear a shade stiff, but it seems to work well enough on the road apart from a fair bit more fork dive than the Yamaha - but it does ride the bumps a lot better.

Found most of the time I can get away with the "comfort" setting with no more than a very slight wallow when hitting bumps / undulations at speed (even when loaded with luggage) on smooth roads when pressing on the standard setting is about spot on for me.

Just got back from a 2500 mile tour and I am still very impressed with the overall performance of the suspension, it worked very well and was tested on all kinds of roads. Sort of got used to the excessive fork dive by the end of the trip and think this will be the first bike I have owned for about 10 years that I will not bother modifying the suspension on. If I keep it long enough to need a suspension service I would be tempted to just fit ever so slightly stiffer front springs.
Click to expand...

that was my experience right up to getting a passenger + luggage on the bike, whereupon the rear shock ceased to cope regardless of setting.
 
cookie said:
that was my experience right up to getting a passenger + luggage on the bike, whereupon the rear shock ceased to cope regardless of setting.
Click to expand...

I solved the passenger problem a few years ago - The Mrs has her own bike :thumb2
 
I finally grabbed the proverbial nettle today and have spent the morning with MCT in Stowmarket.

I think I have finally, after much fannying around, got the suspension and handling exactly how I want it. I am extremely pleased (and surprised) with the result.

What I have now is a bike that turns quicker and tracks more evenly (i.e. holds it's line better).
The ride is firm yet much more supple (if that makes sense) and under heavy acceleration and anything other than very hard braking the bike stays steady, no pitching/yawing. Before the work was done the back end would sink down/dig in under hard acceleration, it just doesn't do that at all now. It now feels more planted and confidence inspiring. The geometry/ride height has not been changed it's purely the back end no longer sinking down that makes the bike quicker turning and better tracking whilst accelerating through a bend.

Comfort is also better with the 'crashy' feeling from the back now completely gone.

MCT reckoned it'll be a whole load better off road too so I can't wait to have a go there sometime soon.

What was done?

My brief to MCT was to do what ever they needed to do to the shock and forks to get it handling how I wanted it so the shock was rebuilt with custom shims and then set up in conjunction with the from end which MCT were happy to leave stock.

Oh, and they cut 10mm off the bump stop to give more suspension travel; they couldn't understand why there was such a large bump stop?

Some piccies below plus the final settings if you want to give them a go - bear in mind that the shock is obviously not standard but the front end is. It should still be a good starting point?

Super clean workshop:



Shim stack about to be changed:



Settings:



Andres
 
Outtomunch said:
Oh, and they cut 10mm off the bump stop to give more suspension travel; they couldn't understand why there was such a large bump stop?
Click to expand...

Might has something to do with the 1190s lack of sump to ground clearance.:nenau
 
Spout said:
Might has something to do with the 1190s lack of sump to ground clearance.:nenau
Click to expand...

I guess it could be there to stop the sump getting too low off road, I hadn't thought of that??

He was able to get the bottom of the shock body to hit the stop just by pushing down on the back of the bike hard and genuinely could not think why there was such a large stop there. He reckoned that two up and off road I'd have been knocking against the stop quite regularly.

Andres
 
You sods. I've been quite happy with my suspension up until now. No doubt I'll over analyse the ride quality next time out and will want to give my bike a similar treatment. Are you burgers going to help with the bill?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
MilkMaid said:
You sods. I've been quite happy with my suspension up until now. No doubt I'll over analyse the ride quality next time out and will want to give my bike a similar treatment. Are you burgers going to help with the bill?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Nope, I'm veggie :dabone

Andres
 
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