section 8 superbike setup
 

they say

Showa equipped bikes:
Rear ride height rod eye to eye length 285mm. (fig 1)

Forks should be set at 4 lines showing or 20mm of fork above the triple clamp (fig 2)

how do you set the forks to be 4 lines showing, is it simply undo the allen keys on the triple clamps and set. Is there anyting to be aware of?


Mark

Yes! Make sure the front of the bike is supported! A paddock stand under the bottom yoke, or hang it from the roof by the top yoke will do the trick.

Undo the bolts on both legs and gently lower the bike or chuck stuff under the fron tyre. This is also a good time to check the total amount of travel on the forks to let you calculate appropriate static sag.

[Edited on 10-10-2005 by ali]

And also loosen your bar clamps.

Loosen your bar clamps first, move the bars down by the same amount you want to raise the forks through, retighten the bars, then if you have forgotten to support the bike or it slips the bars just might stop your front wheel hitting the fork lower crown :)

I always put it on an Abba stand which fixes to the swingarm mounts and tie top yoke to the rafters of my garage. Make sure you torque everything back down correctly

ah yes well remembered Ian, Showa fork needs front fairing off and air tubes just to get at lower crown bolts which are to the side of the crown, Ohlins is a bit easier :(

took the advice and roped the top triple clamp to the garage rafter, everything was going well till the top criple clamp came off! yep the front end dropped. The centre clamp ovbiosly wasn't the tightest, we managed to get it all back and i set it at 4 lines showing, i have just measured it and it is 16mm not 20mm so it should have been 5 lines showing in my language.
As best i can make out the back is set at 285mm as standard
anyway I will try it like it is and see how I go

any advice?

Ya know, I noticed that on my bike as well (non-Ohlins) I have three lines showing now and was going to move to four when I get brave enough but I also noticed that four lines will NOT equal 20mm. I think the web site says four lines OR 20mm. I take that to mean if you get to four lines and don't have 20mm you still stop there.

This may be a dumb assed question, but assuming that you have the front end supported, wouldn't taking the front wheel out make the job of wriggling each fork leg through the yokes a bit easier?

I'm going to drop my T8 forks by 10-12 mm when I get around to it (seems to be the consensus on quicker turn in) so is dropping the front wheel out more bother than it's worth?

have been out on the bike today, the handling is completely different, you would not think it was the same bike. That is with 4 lines showing i.e. 16mm poking thro'
I had already set the sag to 35/30 front and back
am very pleased with it now.
my only regret is that i did not use a chain block to suport the front end and that i did not check the tightness uf the centre clam on the triple clamp
you live and learn

thanks for the help

Mark

it makes a lot of difference, the front end turns a lot easier and feels better. rear ride height is equally as important, I made a tool for this, theres a thread somewhere on site with a picture dseered took, it weren't the most complicated of things and cost nothing to make.

never sen a loose centre clmap bolt, wil check mine. I usually only do one leg at a time anyway, oops should have said that in my previous post , doh