[Allan Gibbs]

I had a demo ride on a S model a few weeks ago and picked up my 1098 on Tuesday. I noticed the clip on high was relatively high. Are the 1098 coming from the factory with a higher than normal preload or is that the normal position for the 1098. Sorry, I'm still a suspension newbie.

 

[Old-Skule]

Impossible to say from what you've posted. In general most 1098s at factory settings seem setup for 180-200 pound riders. The best thing to do is to put 1000 miles to breakin the suspension seals on the bike and then set up an appointment with your dealer for having the bike setup for your weight. They can set sag and get baseline damping setup done for you.

 

[Allan Gibbs]

Thanks. I was afraid my first post wasn't very clear. I've have the suspension set up during my first service.

 

[wwahl]

I'm going to replace the rear spring on my 1098s as it is too stiff. My weight is 165 pounds before gear. What is your weight?

 

[Allan Gibbs]

Actually, I'm 210 pounds w/o the gear and full stomach.

 

[von1098]

I'm 275 and one my first service they made adjustment for my height and weight and now I can really lean into the corners without feeling like it's loose. I almost have all the chicken strips off the sidewalls.. just about a "nickle size" to go... Troy Bayliss, i need some help

 

[lekcom]

well i`m 130 pounds and will have to see what the dealer can do for me

 

[Dan Kyle]

Impossible to say from what you've posted. In general most 1098s at factory settings seem setup for 180-200 pound riders. QUOTE]


How did you determind this info????

The two bikes 1098 base and 1098S are not even set up the same on the rear.

 

[Dan Kyle]

So misc info I posted on another site:

The 1098 S uses Ohlins suspension the rear shock uses a 80.0 Nmm spring (1091-24-80) 160MM free lenght.
With 23 MM of preload on the spring.

The 1098 Base uses a Showa rear shock, the spring has a free lenght of 168MM, the one I checked had a preloaded lenght of 142MM, this is 26MM of preload. Way too much preload.
The Showa spring is a very progressive spring starting at 77 Nmm @10MM and rising to 89 Nmm @ 55MM. That is Bad. See graphs below.
I believe this is to much preload it should be more like 10 to 15 MM of preload.
I believe most people over 180 lbs will benefit from a stiffer spring with less preload, lighter people can simply remove some of the pre-existing preload.
I like to use 30MM of sag as a starting point for the rear.
The sag is measured from the bikes wheel up in the air or with NO weight on it, this means fully extented. They the rider sits on it and a second measurement is made.
So this 30MM is the differenct between fully extented to with the rider on it.

Front fork springs, the 1098S uses standard Ohlins R and T fork springs. The stock spring is a 10.0 Nmm spring (4744-10).
The 1098 standard showa fork spring is exactly the same rating 10.0 Nmm.
Both are linear springs.

These weight springs should be OK for, rider without gear, weights of 200 to 240 lbs.

I like to start with a sag setting of 40MM on the front, again measured the same way as the shock, see above.

According to the Ducati owners handbook the 1098S fork has 8MM of spring preload and the 1098 18MM. I have no idea why this would be different from bike to bike since the spring rates are the same.

The Ohlins R and T forks use a 25MM cartridge and the Showa a 20MM cartridge.

 

[Dan Kyle]

Suspension 101

Let me go over some basics on suspension. As if the basic stuff is not right no matter how much adjustment you do it will never work, Example it you front tire is at 10 PSI and the Rear 50 PSI do you think you can make the bike ever work right??
But everyone knows about tire pressure, the problem is everyone does not know about suspension, and must "gurus" do not bother to explain anything, a lot of times it is because the "gurus" do NOT KNOW.
My experiance is if they cannot explain it to you, run away.

First always adjust your spring, do not tinker with the damping adjustments until the springs are right.
Front sag with rider 40 MM range 35 to 50MM
Rear sag with rider 30 MM range 25 to 40 MM.
Do not do anything until the springs and sag are right.

Now if, like in this case you are bottoming the bike, do not rely on a zip tie to determind this, if it is bottoming you will feel it.
The way NOT to stop bottoming, is more preload and or more compression damping, while this will slow down the dive it will make the bike ride harsh and not absorb bumps.

The way to stop it is by raising the fork oil level.
What does this do, the oil level does not have anything to do with the damping, as long as the fork valves are covered in oil they will work.
What changing the oil level does is REDUCE the amount of AIR in the forks.
Remenber as you are compressing this air the PSI is building, just like more air in your tires, the morfe the forks are compressed the higher the PSI, the stronger the air spring.

This AIR is a powerful progressive spring, the less air the more powerful this air spring becomes. The great thing about the air spring is that is does very little in the first 75% of the fork travel, but when you approach bottoming out, this air spring acts as a second spring, holding the bike up. Without having to have a too stiiff steel spring.

When adding oil to do this it MUST be done in very small amounts, usually 10CC per fork leg at a time. A very small amount of oil will make a big difference.