[dfly9891]

Trying to get my 999S to turn in sharper.

Has anyone experimented with the race setting of the rake/trail adjustment in the steering head? What were the results? Special tool cost?

GMD computrak said that the race setting was too agressive even for track use. Their solution is to leave stock setting and use their adjustable triple clamp to increase the rake/trail.

Sport rider suggests to use the stock setting and to lower the front. 4 lines showing through triple clamp.

Comments, Experience, Thoughts?


Thanks in advance,
~Dan

 

[Doug]

steering change

Hi it supprises me that more people don't change the steering angle. It is very easy to change and change back again. All you need is an allen key anad a c spanner (one from a ST2 or similar toolkit does the job).
Here is what I did on my bike and it was fantastic - steered like a 250:
First of all, I have moved the seat/tank unit fully forward to get more weight over the front and to make it more comfy. then I LOWERED the rear 5mm using the tie rod. I then pulled the fork legs up 5mm further through the yokes to lower the front. These changes alone make a difference by lowering the bike overall and sharpening the steering a little. Next make the steering head change to the race settings. The steering is more precise and you can hold a tighter line through a corner. A secondary benifit of changing the steering angle is that the bars are moved slightly forward and upwards puting more weight over the front and makeing the riding position more relaxed.
My suggestion would be to try this, it is as easy to do as adjusting the chain and is a major imoorovement. I think that the race setting should be the standard. I didi a bit of research before I didi this and in general the only downside is that if you are travelling at maximium speed then it might be a bit twitchy but as far as I can see most of us drive at a lesser speed. If you like this setting and want more then you can change the yokes to chaneg the trail but I recon you would only need this on a race track with slicks. Another thing to consider is to gear down the bike: it will drive a load better.
Hope this helps.
P.S. changing this also changes the suspension so if you have set the sag etc then it will need to be done again but a good stratergy is to try the steering first and if you like it do the suspension.

 

[dfly9891]

Thanks Doug,

I took the first ride of the season with the Duc with the steering tube rotated to the more aggresive rake. It was a big improvment!! Note, I put Helibars on the bike and moved the seat fwd. Very comfortable, very nimble. But not nimble like my '07 Honda 600rr.

Now, I believe the front and rear suspension height is still at stock setting. I.E. second line showing through the triple clamp and however many mm of thread showing on the tierod. This raises a question about the tierod setting. The Factory manual says that OEM setting is a certain length of thread showing. My question is: do they mean on one of the two ends of the tierod-body-to-eyelet-distance or the sum of both ends of tierod-body-to-eyelet-distances???

I will try lowering the front and rear by 5mm. I'll keep the stock steering head (yoke).

My last concern is this: The front free sag is large even though I'm maxed out on the preload. This leads me to believe that I need a stiffer spring. But we're talking free-sag here so I'm thinking that maybe I need to change out the fluid. The bike is, afterall, an 03 (8000 mi on the odometer). The factory manual says to change the shock fluid every so many miles or every three years, whichever comes first.

Thoughts, comments, admonishments?