Lowering of front forks
 

This might sound stupid, but how do you lower the front forks. I was looking to lower them on the weekend but for the life of me could not find how to lower them. I am not mechanically minded so excuse my rubbishness.

What model bike ?

I'm assuming a sports bike with clip on bars that clamp around the fork leg just below the top yoke.

Should be a straight forward job. Not an expert, but, my advice would be -

loosen the clip on clamps and slide these down the fork leg by the amount that you want to lower the fork legs. Tighten these back up.

Loosen the yoke clamp bolts, top and bottom, and the forks should slide up through the yokes until the top yoke rests against the clip on clamps.

Check everything is even and straight and then tighten it all back up.

Check that you have the same length of fork leg showing above the top yoke on both sides.

With respect, if you are not sure how to lower the fork's and by your own admission you are not mechanically minded, should you be changing suspension set ups ? No offence meant.

Its a 2003 999S with the Ohlins forks.

I have to say I agree with Carbon's concern about why you want to change this. If you set suspension wrong it can mess the whole bike up seriously to the point where it is barely ridable.

If your not mechanically minded but do want your suspension setup then please ask at your local Ducati dealer for someone who can do it for you.

Also I'm not sure what you mean by lower. What outcome do you want? Do you want your riding position to be lower at teh front (ie. lowering the clip-ons) or do you want the ride height lower at the front (ie lowering the forks as described above). If we knew what effect you wanted we might be able to help you better.

Guys I am not sure what I am looking for to be honest. I have heard other 999 owners saying that they had lowered the front and raised the rear and that this had improved the steering speed. I was just wondering what people had been changing as I have found my bike to be a bit lazy in the bends. I have recently had the back raised and this has improved things, however I was just wondering what else could be done as a minor adjustment to make it turn quicker without loosing stability. If it is a bit of a dodgy issue then I will leave alone until the next maintenance visit.
Cheers anyway

Have a word with Marko, he's investigated raising the forks through the yokes (thus lowering the front end) and by how many rings (on the forks) to do it by. You can't go to low, otherwise the wheel will hit the rad on heavy braking.

If you know how much to shift the forks it's an easy enough job, but I would add a bit to what carbon said....For gawds sake, dont loosen the front forks in the yokes until the weight of the bike is taken off them. You could do this a number of ways...A front paddock stand that supports the bike up under the front of the lower yoke, or...use secure webbing straps capable of taking the weight of the bike and suspend it from a strong enough rafter in your garage...or, get an Abba stand that will support the weight of the bike in the middle and use a jack under the horizontal exhaust pipe to jack the front end up. Doing it any other way and you'll stand a chance of the weight of the bike just crashing down on top of the wheel (I wouldn't rely on the clip ons to hold it). You might want to take the front wheel out as well so that you can slide each fork leg individually.

Finally, make sure you've got the right torque settings for the triple clamp bolts. They need to be tight enough, but if you do them too tight you can oval the fork tubes.

I'd be inclined to leave the bike as is. It's not as if a 999S has poor geometery to start with. While not a very hard thing to do in terms of technical skill it can be a complete git in terms of time and effort required.

If you do want to do it then as Jools says find out how far to lower it first and make sur ethe bike is supported properly. Thought I might clarify that he did not mean support it with a jack actually on the exhaust pipe, but rather in that region.

There is nothing wrong with doing this, but i suggest as everyone else, you consult a specialist.

FWIW, my 999r was set up by rick at jhp. As a good guidline you can measure 186mm from the bottom of the lower yolk down to the bottom edge of the fork just above the seal.

this in conjunction with adjusting the rear ride height accordingly ie as near to 285 on the datum tool is the way to go!

if you haven't set the sag and springs front and rear don't move the forks until you get this done. Once you know that is correct then look at the geometry ( alter forks/ rear ride height). Forks need to be balanced against rear ride height you can't do one without knowing where the other is.

But its kind of a do everything sort of science. If you set the sag at one geometry, then you need to set it again when youve altered the geometry!

Just my 2p would be leave it and ride the bloody thing!!

yup, it takes time and effort Andy, I don't think anyone said it was easy :) the best way is using a digital angle gauge as that just gives you the head angle set with you on the bike. TBH once sag is set the difference 5 or 10mm ride height at either end isn't great and could be taken up on preload adjustors, not exactly a big job.


Or you could just ride it, mate of mine was out on RTL, bog standard 999R no shock mods, forks set as they left factory and I doubt if anyone was anywhere near him for corner speed, talent usually compensates for set-up, the bikes aren't that far off as they leave the factory.

I dont think its fair to say just get out and ride it as per your mates 999r. i know if he used the 999s on a trackday the road suspension set up would be too soft for track at even the mildest of pace.

I guess we have to just take the question as the question, and not diversify to the bigger picture of the dark world of suspension setting!

I really do believe part of the ducati experience is about the tinkering, and not just get on it and ride!

i had mine set up at k-tec,they said the 749-999 were to soft on the rear out the factory,mine used to squat at the rear,after they took the sag out of the rear then set up the forks the bike feels very sharp & doent feel like i boat! worked for me,ive had k-tec do my forks & im happy with 3 rings showing at top yoke.

that depends upon how heavy you are and whether your bike is mono or bip mine was a bip with a 75 spring i now run a softer 70 so as it came from factory it was too hard... it just goes to show that setings are individual.

Its very easy to get confused with it all and using the likes of k tech is the best way, personally my bike has 3 rings showing and 285mm on tie bar but thats what i'm happy with, maybe its not perfect but what is important is that I'm confident in it , so happier , so ride better . if i was always questioning whether its right I'd never enjoy it.

Have a play, you can always put it back as it was but dont do it if you think it's too much for you and your tools,
I have a S and find it's much more important to get the suspension right than with a jap bike, this one bottoms out if it's too soft and you lose grip if it's too hard and that, not to mention how fast it drops in to a corner or the stability,etc
We all weigh different weights and ride differently,that's the whole point in having a bike thats so adjustable, otherwise you might as well have fixed susspention.
And as for it comes out the factery perfect if thats the case why do we spend so much of our time and money on them after we have bought them,
today I made a list of what I've done to mine since I bought it a year ago and it's a large list for a new bike.

How to lower ride height?
 

Hi guys. I was wondering if the original poster ever figured out how to do this? I just bought a 04 999s from a 6'1" guy. I'm 5'6" @ 240lbs. I can't safely flat foot the bike at stops (even on 1 leg). Can you guys link me to a video on how to lower the ride height front and rear? Looking at it it looks like rotating the ride height adjustment bar in the rear. The front look like loosen / lower / tighten. But I'm sure there is a detailed description on how to do this somewhere. Please advise.

I've done it using a front stand that goes under the yokes (triple clamps) so it holds the bike rather than the forks, allowing you to adjust.

When I've stripped bikes before and removed forks I have used ratchet straps on the frame and rafters in the garage to again suspend the bike and take the weight off the forks. Not ideal, but it works!