Riding position
 

Im looking for feedback from all you racers and experienced riders, Ive only been riding for about years now and when cornering at reasonable speeds im ok, But when cranking the speed up im feeling very uneasy unless im leaning forewards right over the tank, Could this mean that the bike is not set up right or is this a normal thing to do??

What tyres are you running and at what pressure ?

Well to a certain extent, getting your weight in the right place is going to help, but it depends on how extreme you have to be in getting your weight forward.

My advice would be to make sure that your tyres are in good nick and correctly inflated, then check that the pre-load, the front and rear ride heights and the compression and rebound damping are set back to standard, then follow through the various suspension set up threads to get the suspension sag adjusted to your weight.

It could be that somebody has dicked around with your bike such that it doesn't want to turn easily, setting everything back to standard will give you a good basis to work from.

If it still feels odd and you really are shifting right forward, I hope I'm not being unkind, but I would suggest that it's probably you rather than the bike and I would invest in a couple of sessions at a school like the CSS

tyres are bridgestone battlax 020 f 32psi and r 36psi, about 2mm left on tread

as for how far forewards I would say the same as tucking down under the screen at high speeds to get out of the wind force

Sounds more like the tyres are making the bike feel nervous. I've fast-road-ridden, tracked and raced a number of essesses, and they feel more like a comfortable armchair than anything else :)

From personal experience:
an oversize rear tyre on an ss that is half worn makes the front feel like it is going to go away from you
an overpressure 60 profile front also feel similar
a side-worn 70 profile front also feels similar
a past-its-sell-by front also feels similar (old hard rubber)

OR !
Front springing - how heavy are you compared to how soft do the springs feel ?

I was told that one of the best things you could do with the SS/SL bikes is to adjust the handbars so that they are as far forward and low as possible. You can do this by slackening the bolts and pushing them away from you until they are at the maximum distance.

This has the effect of making you lean over the tank more to reach the bars. You do loose the more upright comfort and some of the turning circle but not too much.

Lots of SS/SL bikes I saw at the recent meet had the bars so far forward it was like pushing a wheel barrow.

Well worth a try. I do concure that i also feel much better leaning right over the tank when going quick in the corners and roundabouts.

Sitting upright is fine at normal speeds but it does restrict your body movement mid corner and also makes it harder to get feedback on what the bike is doing as most of the weight is going through the bottom of your spine which could be why it feels uncomfortable when you up the pace (IMHO!).

If you lean forward over the tank it takes some of the weight off your bum and makes it easier to shift your body around on the bike with your weight now evenly distributed between your arms and legs and you can pick up what the bike is doing more easily and adjust your position/line if necessary.

Try dropping your inside shoulder when you turn into a corner, it'll help relax your upper body and give you a better eye-line through the turn. It might feel strange because your countersteering and putting pressure through the same side but with practice i think it improves your ability to turn the bike. :ninja:

Regards
Ant

My early SS race bikes have :-
Bars pushed forward and set low
Rearsets set back a bit and also set higher
Shock is slightly longer
The race seat is built up to about the same height as standard although I wouldn't mind trying going a bit higher.

All this transfers more weight to the front and makes the bike feel like I want it to

thanks for the feedback I feel alot happier now, from the sound of it I think I should start with altering the bars.

As for tyres which would you recomend, I was going to try the Pirelli diablo or possibly diablo corsa

Given a choice in tyres I'd go for the Diablo Corsa 3s

If you're very, very, very brave (or want people to think that you are ;) ) you'll need corsas. If your honest, you'll probably never ride fast enough on the road, or the track come to that, to give the standard diablos any serious trouble.

I'm not the quickest rider out there but I do ride enthusiastically on the road and usually manage to lurk around in mid-pack of the fast group on trackdays. Standard Diablos have taken all the pasting I can give them and sneered "Pah, is that all you've got" back at me, with only the gentlest of predictable slides.

Remember that people racing SS bikes in DesmoDue also use standard Diablos.

(Ooops, did I just break the voluntary DD posting amnesty ;) )

Red Duc, just noticed your location is also Oxford, is yours the bike I have seen over Fox's lately, if so we will have to meet up for a chat.

but first choose whether to have a 170 or 180 section rear tyre. 170 is the standard but some choose a 180. Search the board to see what people say and I think the general concensus was 170 was better for turn in.

The reason I mention that is the 170 section tyre limits your tyre choice. Most of the top sporty rubber does not come in 170. I have Pirelli Diablo (normal road) and they seem to be very good. If you have a squared off 180 section tyre then swopping to any new 170 section tyre will be an big improvement for turn in.

Skidlids
Not sure if it was my bike you saw, have been there a couple of times but not stopped for long, be good to have a meet up some time though

Riding Position
 

I have just brought a Ducati 620 Sport (03 model). I think that this is very similar to the SS but may be put right on that! I find the riding position very agressive and after an hour of riding my lower back aches. I am in my mid thirties so i dont need any comments about being too old for this sort of bike! :rolleyes:

My question is about bar adjustment. I have seen that the bars can be adjusted by loosening the clamp bolts and rotating but this thread mentions height adjustment, how do you do that? :confused:

Thanks in advance!

The older bikes have can have an extended clip-on type affair which offers some adjustment for moving them down the forks...

There are afew options now for raising bar height mainly either a raised clip-on or fittings to allow a complete single bar to be fitted above the top yoke.

Cheers - Frank

On your 620 the clip on bars are mounted above the top yoke as on my 900ssie.
Red-duc is talking about the earlier ss carb bikes like my 583 race bike which have the clip ons below the top yoke so these can be slid up and down the fork legs to some degree.
The 620 bars have a higher down angle than the carb bike bars. The whole riding posistion of the injected bikes is more aggressive. The carb bars are very tame and did not feel at all sporty.
For my race bike i ended up with a very low seat height in direct opposite to everyone else in the paddock,but with higher footpegs and standard carb bars cut and shut to the same angle as injected bars. This throws me along way forward and i run them fairly wide for leverage. It is however pretty bleeding uncomfortable for any length of time over your average race/track session. It does appear to work though, and you have less distance to fall when you fall off!
The 900 road bike feels like a limo afterwards. Wrist ache sets in after about a hour but you soon get use to it.I have ridden 1500 mile in 4 days on it without much problem so give it a bit of time before altering anything.
Some of the 620 race boys have tried moving the standard bars below the top yoke but i am not sure how that would feel but would certainly not help your back.

Thanks for advice. I take on board that i need to give it more time to adjust to the riding position (previous bike was a ZX6R, very different beast).

If anything i would like to raise the bars slightly, can you advise on any links to kits available for this or more info on how i would be able to do it if i cannot get on with the standard set up?