Ducati Monster Forum

How many folks here have adjusted the ride height on their bike? Not spring preload, but the tie-rod. If you did adjust it, why? How much? How did the adjustment change your ride? Thanks.

Cheers,

Dan

I'm looking forward to doing it, but haven't yet.

I take it as good advice that you should put a steering damper on before you raise the ride height due to the geometry change and rider weight re-distribution over the front end.  The front will steer in quicker on turns be more prone to head shake & the dreaded tank slappers.

As soon as I get my damper, ride height will get adjusted, but not before.

J

That advice is 100% backwards. The front end is more likely to shake due to not enough weight. Shakes and even the extreme shakes (tankslappers) are from the front wheel getting off center one way or the other. It comes back off center in the other direction and a nasty cycle repeats itself. Monsters need the weight to be forward biased more than stock if you want to improve handling, period. Raising the rear is crucial to achieve this. It will turn in quicker and you don't want to go too high but to get rid of that shaky, light front end feel that the Monsters have while cornering hard, you need to do it.
There are a variety of reasons for headshake but putting more weight on the front is NOT one of them.

Mine came from the dealer almost all the way at the bottom. I raised it well over an inch and noticed a definite improvement in handling.

I have never had any problems with headshake and do not have a damper.

The bike feels alot more balanced now and I was able to scrub off the last 1/4 inch on my front tyre.

It is if you don't know how to ride out a headshake that's already started. If you have more weight on the bars/front, the shake will get transmitted to the chassis potentially breaking the rear wheel loose, due to the fact that there's less weight on it. Throttle to transfer the weight back to the rear wheel and staying loose on the bars is how you ride out headshake, so actually you're not 100% right...

**EDIT - Sorry, I reread that & it kinda sounded asshole-ish which was not my intent. I'm not trying to argue, Just throwing in my .02  ;)  That's just how I've always thought of it **

I lowered the front and back, and installed a side mount dampener at the same time. The bike was a lil too high for me, I didn't like having to be on tippy toes at lights, especially a light on a hill. I know that a bike with the front stock and raising the back a lil will handle better than mine, but I fell much more comfortable now. I did lower the back way too much, and recently raised it back up slightly. The bike did get a bit twitchy at high speed. I would raise the back even more, but I have a shortened link and I don't know how much more bolt length I still have in the link.

Where can one get a shortened link? also I have read that the s2r's come adjusted as low as they go when new. is this correct?

Got mine here. You got to call and have them custom machine one of there links.
Madduc (http://www.madduc.com/showproduct.aspx?productid=39&categoryid=12)

Don't know about s2r being low from factory.

 ???  This discussion is about raising the rear end and the consequences. Someone thought that it could cause headshake which I was explaining that it won't. I never mentioned how to recover from one after it has started which is what you have described. Two different things....and I'm still right ;)

 [laugh]  Fair enough.. Guess I drifted off without even realizing it..  [roll]

In theory, as long as you're loose on the bars it shouldn't magnify headshake even if the bike "is percieved to be" more twitchy with the rear raised.. THERE, I think I said it right this time!!  [cheeky]

 ;D

Most of the time one can just ride it out. The bike wants to correct itself and if given zero inputs from the rider, it will. You're right, throttle up, sit back more or do nothing and ride it out. I get it occasionally while racing and I just stay commited and ride through it. If you watch pros race, you see it all the time. Notice that they do nothing noticeably different and just ride on. They are just relaxing their grip but staying commited. It's so common that it's no big deal.
One of the things a damper does is minimize the riders input which is actually what can lead to a worse shake or tank slapper.
I can't remember the stunters name maybe Pfeifer? Anyway, one of his stunts is to sit up in the seat and smack the bars real hard. This sets the bike into a violent headshake and he does nothing at all. He just rides it out. It's because he doesn't give his own input that the bike stays upright and recovers just fine.

I hate it when the misconception of bolting on a damper is the fix for the Monster geometry. It's not. it's trying to put a bandaid on the problem and it's not addressing why the front end feels shaky. I don't fault the people that hear that that is the fix so they go do it. I fault the people that give out false advice on something that they don't understand.
The Monster is quite simply NOT set up to corner hard out of the crate. Park it next to any sportbike. Compare how the two bikes sit. Compare the riding position. Compare the swingarm angle. They look completely different don't they? Which one do you think corners hard without the front end shaking...why do you think that is? Well, it's because one of them IS set up to corner hard and the other is not. Bolting on a damper does not change any of the geometry settings that is so obviously different about the Monster when compared to any sportbike. So, do you really think that this magic damper "fixes" the problem?......think about it.

That being said  :)....It is possible to "fix" the issue. Actually it's not really fixing it, it's changing the bike to make it do something that it was not designed to do, but it's possible.

Knowledge is power [moto]

Your hands are the best steering dampers on the market. Pending you're smart enough to use them right...

Regarding the rear ride height, if you have a recent monster then the ride height is listed in the user manual. They measure it from the tip of the rear mud guard.

I raised mine 1 cm measusring from tip of the rear mudguard downwards and will probably do another 1cm. If you raise it more than a few cms consider lowering the front instead otherwise the bike sits too high and it can adversly affect steering, the bike feels too tall and flops into corners. Regarding stability, it seems to have improved stability, more weight on the front(?)

Don't go too  far because too much weight on the front makes it want to tuck. So make small changes (a cm at a time) and find out where it feels best.

Do the measure ment without the rider to keep it consistent and keep everything else fixed while you make the changes.

Hope that helps [thumbsup]

Thanks for all the input folks. I am a fairly mellow rider and haven't done a track day yet. I am asking about raising the ride height in part because I want to improve the bikes handling but at 200lbs, changing the oil/springs in the front and spring in the rear will probably help most. I am also 6'3" so I am interested in creating more "space".

What do you all think about raising the rear with a handle bar riser up front? Thanks.

I have raised the rear of my S4RS 3/4in in the rear and have not moved the front. That coupled with many hours fine tuning the suspension has yielded awesome handling and stability. Though I still choose to run a damper for those OH SHIT moments...

I think you are after something different here tho. You state you want to create more "space". I interpret that as more room for your legs to the foot pegs, yes? If so, raising the rear will not accomplisg this. The aspect ratio between your butt and the pegs won't change one iota. You would need some rearsets or adj pegs mounts for that.

Hi Guys!

How can I change the rear ride height on a '94 M900? Should I use one of these?
http://cgi.ebay.de/Heckhoeherlegung-DUCATI-Monster-Heckanhebung-hoeherlegen_W0QQitemZ160255185604QQihZ006QQcategoryZ78471QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem (http://cgi.ebay.de/Heckhoeherlegung-DUCATI-Monster-Heckanhebung-hoeherlegen_W0QQitemZ160255185604QQihZ006QQcategoryZ78471QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
Or can I just change the preload on the spring?

Cheers!

Well worth doing I just added 10mm to the S4 ..result awesome improvement in handling,stability and turn in.but its a 4 hour job on the S4.On my M750 it only takes 20minutes.

Thats what I have with mine, I raised the front handlebars before raising the rear.

Doesn't one negate the other ? What's the difference in handling in this case?

Reason I ask is that I want to raise the rear to shift a bit weight to the front but also use handlebar riser to bring the handlebar closer to me (I'm a bit short for my height). But I think that if you do this the net result is no change at all.

raising the rear height will affect the bike's geometry.

bar risers will affect the bike's ergonomics for you, the rider.

Actually raising the bars shifts the weight of the rider backward somewhat so it emphasizes the rear weight bias of the monster. I raised my rear ride height to shift some of that weight back forward. This is my experience not theory.

So changing the handlebars does also affect handling, somewhat.

The net result will be...the center of mass is likely to be higher, your body will be more upright and the rear will be higher.

Also the forks will be more vertical, less Harley and more sportsbike.

So there are changes one does not cancel the other

Raised my rear ride height 1" and dropped the front 3/8". It's an absolute must do mod. Handles MUCH better. Finishes the turn better and turns in better. Gives a little better clearance for the exhaust under the bottom of the bike. Doesn't take much of a speed bump to drag at stock height.

You can't drop the front much because of clearance issues at full braking.

It is a pain in the ass to do the rear, however.

LA

I see where you're coming from, but the primary function is ergonomics, which is what I meant to say. it can affect some of the weight bias (from the rider), but there is no change to the bike's geometry.  you will influence handling simply by where you sit in the saddle, like hanging off on the inside of the bike while cornering, for example.

changing from stock to my SM bars got me over the front more, but I didn't notice any sort of increase in turn-in, vs. a monster w/a slightly raised rear height

The thing is, I notice a difference in reach and handling (improvement) when I shift my body more forwards (as close to the tank as possible and going closer to the handlebars with my head & torso).

What I'd like to achieve is this same improvement without having to lay so low on the tank. risers would shorten the reach so I don't need to go so close to the tank/handlebars, but it wouldn't really improve the handling, would it? (maybe even make it worse because you won't lean as much forwards as before) The question is; would raising the rear bring you back to situation where you still need to lean _just_ as much as before but with a shorter reach or would it also improve the weight distribution. To put it this way: if you use 1" risers, how much would you have to raise the rear to compensate the weight shift caused by the risers and is that amount (or even a bit more) feasible and advised?

Also: does anyone know the difference in the geometry of a 695 vs S2R as far as weight distribution/reach? I've sat on an S2R (not ridden unfortunately) and it seems to have a better ergonomy although this doesn't really make any sense as the 695 bars are more swept back as those of the S*R. I remember someone saying that the 695's weight distribution is more rear biased than the S*R. Is this correct?

IIRC, the 695 has the same lower seat like the 620.

S2R 800 def. felt higher up... I'm too tired to go look up the spec on the two bikes, so if someone chimes in sooner, then awesome  :) I'm pretty sure that the rake/trail are identical...