Rear Ride Height Adjustment
 

Has anyone adjusted thier rear ride height ? Ive got a 12 month old 749S and I was wondering if adjusting the rear ride height would speed up its turning. I tried to adjust it yesterday and got the top nut loose but the bottom one was seized up (yeah I know its a left hand thread) Both nuts are soft alloy and have corroded to the threads (the bike is not used in the rain so this must be from washing it !!)
Should I persevere with the ride height adjustment or is it not worth bothering with ?

Yeah, I'd recommend altering the ride height. I've followed the section8superbike setup guide which is pretty good. The 749 now turns in much quicker and holds a tighter line. Try this

Section8Superbike

[Edited on 21-3-2005 by sbwells]

Yeah those nuts are made out of Swiss cheese or summat!:mad:You may have to take the adjusting rod out of the bike to get the nuts moving,then coat the threads in copper grease.
Well worth doing tho,I experimented by turning the adjuster half a turn at a time.(I dot punched a referance mark on the rod)Ideal set-up for me seems to be two full turns from standard.The bike turns in with a lot less effort.:D

Rear ride height
 

thanks for the replies gents. I have lowered the forks down to the fourth mark as described in the link but the ride height adjuster appears to be at 285mm ( and the swiss cheese nuts wont come loose either) which is what is recommended. I checked the sag and its at 27 mm front and 22mm rear which is a bit off what is recommended. I'll give it a go and see what its like. did you do all of these changes or just some ?
I did notice the fork stanchion bolts werent that tight either !!!

[Edited on 22-3-2005 by posidenuk]

I know what that sec8 site says.but you speak to pro twins, who raced a 999, and or jhp, and both are adamant that you dont drop the forks like that!

andyb

Would you care to elaborate please?

Just been out for a blast and I have to admit it feels like a new bike. the steering at slow speed is especially good now as it is much lighter and you dont feel like its going to tip over on you when you do a slow right hand junction. It feels a lot like my R6 did when i had sorted that. The front tyre certainly feels like its gripping now, before it felt like it was sliding sideways. I'll continue to run it as it is and let you know how I get / find an improvement. I use my bike on the road and dont want a track set up. This certainly seems to work and its not a hard mod to do (and you can revert back if you dont like it. - and its free)

So, all you've done is dropped the forks? Did you manage to increase the rear height, or was it already at 285mm?

Yep all i did was raise the forks through the yokes so that 4 grooves are showing on the fork top. All you need is a 6mm allen key. Before you start I would mark a line vertically from the top yoke to the side of the clip on - this is so you can realign the clip ons to the same position after you have set the height.
I lowered the clip ons by 10mm first so that they would act as a stop and prevent the fork sliding up further than I want it to. Then just slacken off the lower yoke bolts and the top yoke bolts and the fork comes up to where you set the clip on. tighten everything back up and make sure the bars are where you want them and thats it.
Top Tip - you can cut the end of the 6mm allen key so it doesnt stick out of the bolts so far it makes it easier to use as there isnt much space inside the fairing.
I havent bothered the rear ride height yet as the nuts are seized up and need a soak in release oil - I will do this when I can though.
If you do this mod can you let me know what you think ?

Posidenuk – I’ve altered my geometry as per the section8superbike site and find the difference between the standard setup and the altered setup noticeable.

I ride my favourite rode at around 100-130mph (no cops or traffic only the odd farm vehicle) and at this speed the turn in is definitely faster with no reduction in stability. On the standard setup the bike would run slightly wide on the exit of higher speed corners and this had been eliminated with the geometry change.

Please check your torque settings on the triple clamp pinch bolts as the factory torque settings are quite low so as not to crush the fork tubes. I guess fork length from the under side of the triple clamp to the base of the fork should also be measured to ensure fork lengths match (important for correct front axle alignment)

Some feedback from andyb on his statement would also be appreciated

thanks for the info - do you know the correct torque is for the yoke bolts? I was more concerned with the forks punching me in the face when braking hard if they werent tight enough ! Do you think the fork tubes would crush ? did you alter your rear ride height as well and did you check the static sag as mine seems less that recommended.
all the other suspension adjustment is set at the factory settings and although it can be a bit harsh you do get a lot of feed back through the bike.
I weigh 11 1/2 stone so I don know how this would relate to your weight vs set up.

Sorry mate Im at work.

I'm about 15 stone and loaded sag is set to 35mm front and 30mm rear as per section8 advice, this seems in keeping with other sites etc. I had to back off the front preload and increase the rear.

I find the feed back pretty good, but not as ghood as a 998 say when really pushing hard

To khu996
- Ive just rechecked my ride height this morning and found measuring the distance a bit of a pain. i found the best way way to do it was to get a piece of welding wire and cut it to 267mm long exactly. This length of wire needs to fit between the aluminium bushes that fit into the eyebolts either end of the ride height adjuster assembly. the bushes are 18mm in diameter so half of one bush (9mm) plus half the other bush(9mm) plus the 267mm gives you the centre to centre ride height of 285mm which is the correct ride height.
because my assembly was a bit seized up I had to put the bike on the abba stand, chock up the back wheel with some wooden wedges (to hold the weight of the wheel) and then removed the top bolt from the ride height assembly.I then took the whole thing to bits but left the bottom bolt attached to the swing arm as its a pain to get out. Clean and grease it all and run the locking nuts (made of crap soft alloy)right to the bottom of thier threads.
reassemble the ride height adjusted and screw it together until its as short as possible. refit the top bolt - you may have to move the wheel chocks up or down to realign the bolt. Once you have it all screwed together then take the chocks out and adjust the ride height by turning the middle of the bar with a spanner. adjust until the welding wire just fits between the aluminium buses and then nip up the lock nuts (try to get the eye bolt ends in line.)
give it a try and see how you get on.

Ive now backed off the preload on the forks as well and it feels like a different bike - the suspension actually soaks up some bumps! I think Ducati set them up way to harsh. I very pleased with the tinkering Ive done and would recommend anyone gives it a go !

Well done mate. It certainly makes a difference. Now all we need is for AndyB to tell us we shouldn't raise the forks thru the triple clamp. Again..

Without any futher explanation.....

Raising the rear and lowering the front changes the geometry of the bike. Perhaps I could have just raised the rear, but by doing both I can't think of anything that would be detrimental to the handling of the bike. Perhaps we should ask Andrea Forni what he thinks?

The only thing I need to sort now is the rear dampened as I think the standard Showa shock needs slightly more rebound dampening

[Edited on 27-3-2005 by sbwells]

Pop to your local mountain bike shop, ask for a 266mm length spoke ( its a standard size) and use that instead of welding rod, the spoke has a rounded head which sits on top or bottom alloy spacer and slide other threaded end up to spacer. Needs to be 1mm shorter to alow for bend on spoke head. (2mm thick spoke).

Cost should be about 30p.

SECTION 8 SUPERBIKE HERE
 

Hi Guys,

New to the board here...my name is Bill, and I'm the co-owner of Section8superbike. I must say, I'm flattered that you guys are discussing our chassis / suspension set ups for your bikes. We've got a lot of time in development with these settings...from Daytona to Road America to Grattan...and have found they work really well. sbwells - glad to hear that you've had good results with our geometry settings! I just wanted to check in and say hi, and thanks for checking out our site. :burn:

talk to you fellas soon,

Bill Keros
section8superbike
Exclusive Ducati Dealer
Detroit, MI USA

Good to hear from you Bill.

I heard about the Section8 site on the Speedzilla board. It certainly seems like you guys have a sound dealership over there in the States. We are a bit hamstrung over here in New Zealand with the number of dealerships and their experience. The setup for the 749/999 works really well on the road, but I need to get back on the track and really try it out. I now find most things with four cylinders struggle to keep up on my favorite twisty road

Guys...as some of you (andyB, Khu) may be aware, I have been attempting to produce my own Ride height tools for the 748/9** series and have had some positive feedback from members whom have bought them so far.

I have since considered making them for the 749/999 series, and after trying one on a 749 the other day for size...what do you know, the dimensions for where the tool locates are exactly the same!

So, have a look at the frame of your bike, where there are two tubular holes in the frame by the footrest. If the bottom hole (the larger of the two) is round, then the RHT for the 748/9** fits straight in, no midifications required!

If you have the elongated bottom hole (slight oval look to it (s and R models I think)), then this tool still fits, but I will be making some slightly different shaped bobbins for the tool, that will fit this slightly different shape better.

I'll post some piccies of it for those that have missed the thread in the 748/9** section relating to this...but basically...its a goer.

I have been selling them for £35 + 5 P&P to members...compares well with the silly £100+ price tag I have seen them for elsewhere.

Drop me a U2U if you may be interested...no obligation at all, just to get an idea of numbers.

Harv you know I want one....

Sorry JPM...haven't forgotten you, just been quite busy getting them out to the 748/9** owners at the mo!

Now most of them are done...I'm moving onto the 749/999 series.

What frame type do you have? I assume it is the oval hole type?

I WILL be knocking some different bobbins up for these over the next day or two...

Yup, bottom hole is oval (R frame if it makes any odds)

I'd be interested in one as well, oval holed for an S.

Made my own for checking tie bar length from a block of wood and punching holes at 0 and 285 mm then drilling for 2 M10 bolts, adjust tie bar so it slides onto the bolts and that gives you a known length of 285mm, as its an M10 x 1.5 bolt each full turn of the eye bush adjusts tie bar 1.5mm ( I prefer removing either the top or bottom tie rod bolt to adjust so you can record the setting. Not sure of the exact leverage ratio but i think its just less than 2:1 so for a full turn of eyebolt its a 3mm increase.

A tool would make it a lot easier though :)

Which bit of speak to JHP/pro twins dont you understand?
They both have gathered a lot of 749/999 suspension information from their respective race series, and speak contrary to what that web site says.

Failing that you go with the sec 8 thing! Suspension is both an individual and complex thing, wherever you are happy.

Harv, I'm up for one too. Mine is a humble bip, so has the round frame hole.

[Edited on 17-6-2005 by khu996]

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