I used search, I saw the article from Sport Rider, but I am looking for other people that had gone through the setup process with their F4i's to give a recount of their experiences and what they suggest.

It's an '05 F4i, and I weigh about 225 pounds. I know that I need to get heavier springs and perhaps a new rear shock rated for my weight, but in the interim, I need to get the best settings to tide me over until I can get that stuff.

Bike is making 100hp at the rear wheel, with -1/+2 gearing, PCIII, custom map, etc... Using OEM tires now, but the next set will probably be Pilot Powers or Diablos.

I am looking for a setup that is for aggressive street riding, and the rare track day. I am not looking to win races, I just want the bike set up as good as it can be, with the current componants.

So, what do you guys suggest, for both the front and rear?

 

its actually pretty difficult to describe the settings without having the bike and you present right in front of you. By this i mean, the best way to set up your bike is to go to that sport rider website and have a friend help you out with this. All you need is to devote a good day, and basically just keep tweeking the stock components untill you believe you have it right. Sinse there are so many different sized people on this forum, each person is going to have different settings. Suspension can be a tricky thing, and it takes alot of time to have it right, but the time is well worth it. It ensures safety, and better control, so follow the steps on that website and you will get it right.

But with my suggestions i would have to say that your gonna want to make the front pretty stiff. As long as your not doing stunts or popping the front end up this isnt going to hurt much. If you sit on the bike your not going to want alot of sag, the reason being is that when your making a turn this can make it so the bike is unstable throughout the turn. It basically sounds like you want to ride aggresively, not comfortably, so in that case i would allow for the suspesion to be pretty stiff. Just becareful because too stiff on public roads might actually make it more unstable.
Good luck mang

 

Although I agree with Brancart1 about personal tuning, right now I don't have the time to do it. Most of my friends live almost an hour away and the place where I live doesn't let anybody work on their vehicles so I can't do it at home. I've been looking for some semblance of recommended settings for a little bitch (me!) that weighs 160lbs but haven't found anything regardless of weight.

What I did just to start was I tightened everything 1/4 turn (except preloads, front is 3 rings, rear is 4) and started from there. Each weekend I tighten a bit or leave or whatever, but would still like to know what settings you guys use. Anybody around 160lbs.

 

I would also be interested in hearing some setting for 160lbs...more to get an idea but of course I will fine tune for myself

 

Yes, it is an outrageously dumb idea to set teh front forks as hard as possible for street driving, you want JUST enough movement to keep your front end from transporting every single little bump on the road.

I set my front forks pretty hard one time (I weigh 190), and I thought I'd test it out, so I went onto a freeway ramp and took it to about 90-100... I hit a patch where the concrete was raised about 1/2" (from what I could tell doing 100mph) and it literally sent me into a mini-wheelie. I promptly softened it, now I'm somewhere in the middle leaning towards hard.

 

I have the front preload set to a tad over 1 ring showing. Is that about right for my weight?

 

i weight 215 and my setting on the rear is preload all the way and on the front preload showing about 2.5 lines. i try to leave the rebound about stock and the compression on the front and rear 1/2 turn toward pasted stock (H)

 

Hi there SquireSCA !

Any photo to see how your preload shows the rings or lines ?

My new 2006 seems to have anything or I just have to see an eyes Doctor !

Thanks in advance

 

The rings are the little notches in the blue area in this pic.

 

there is this company that makes clips for the front fork preloads, this way you can alter them while your riding i guess. Ive never used them or actually seen them on a bike but i guess it could be a good idea. not sure exactly where i saw these, if someone got really bored one day, they should make a graph showing all of the riders weights and recommended suspension settings for different types of riding. man that would be dope.