Monster 1100 evo suspension details needed

[EEL]

did you try various adjuster settings?

crap recommendations from manufacturers is normal.  aprilia say 5 to 20 weight, mix as you see fit.

Yep.. Took a screw driver with me for a 120 mile ride in the mountains. I preset sag for 40mm (a little on the stiff side but seemed fine for my street riding). Compression damping just wasn't there. 3/4" of the way thru the ride, I ended up turning the compression adjuster in almost all the way in and then tuned the rebound accordingly with the help of another local biker.

[brad black]

are these marzocchi?  i missed that bit.  i always run 10wt in marzocchi, unless i have a strong reason not to.

[EEL]

are these marzocchi?  i missed that bit.  i always run 10wt in marzocchi, unless i have a strong reason not to.

Yep. The evo versions run marzocchi. I am starting to think its a downgrade to cut costs for having TC & ABS

What cSt 10wt do you run. That way future tinkerers can reference an apples to apples comparison

[brad black]

the maxima is 36 i think.  most 10 are pretty consistant 32 - 36 from what i've seen.

[EEL]

You would not believe the variation.

Maxima 10wt falls in at 37.4 per their site.

Silkolene runs their pro rsf 7.5 wt semi synthetic at 37. But if you buy their 5 wt fully synthetic, it is 43!

[EEL]

To close on this thread. For my marzocchi's,  I swapped out the redline 5wt that was too soft with redline 10wt.

Spring was .90 in both conditions.

HOLY FREAKING CRAP!! Handling nirvana attained! 30 cSt is the magic number. Look for an oil around that number. I'm anal so I chose redline 10wt but forks aren't that hard on the oil as shocks. I bet even the budget brands would work well as long as you stay around the noted cSt @ 40 deg C.  

Oil level from top,  fully compressed,  no spring or spacer was 103mm.

Preload set to 40mm.

The compression valve on this fork is decent but the stock rebound sucks.  Since rebound and compression kinda mingle together. I will list both values below.

Rebound: only 1 full turn out from fully closed.
Compression : 2 turns out from fully closed.

[Curmudgeon]

We'll, I bit the bullet and went with redline 5 weight and guess what. It works but too soft for my taste. Its not too far off from the Advance Fork 7.5 which is 22 cSt. The redline comes in at 18 cSt and considering that I found the existing fork setup way to harsh, I figured a reduction was in line.

This is really interesting! Like the forks on my 796 but feel they can run smoother with a better oil but the Shell 7.5W which is in there is otherwise in the ballpark. Had planned on trying the Red Line 5W because my dealer/Ohlins tech is a Red line junkie. 10W @ 30.4 looks stiffer than I might like.

FWIW, on many BMW's I've owned which called for 10W, a change to Spectro 10W completely smoothed them out and others who tried this change reported a great improvement.

Spectro make a Cartridge Fork Oil 125/150 which even says 7.5W on the bottle. cST is 26. Now I'm thinking I might try this as the 10W I used to use felt more like an 8W vs other brands.

Will be following the feedback on this thread as my service is coming up in 500 miles.

[EEL]

You and I were thinking the same thing..Ducati is running 7.5W shell. So I tried to back off a tad on 7.5W shell cSt and adjusted accordingly with redline 5w which was 18cSt. The problem is I could tell immediately when I poured out the stock fluid that it was much heavier than what I was putting in. In reality it should have been similar.

I now think Ducati uses Shell Donax Automatic Transmission fluid (also mentioned as a substitute for the forks). The redline 10wt is about 15 percent lighter than the Donax spec and seems to help significantly in absorbing bumps.

Be careful with anything lower than 30 cSt. I got really bad performance. Also you have to take into consideration that I replaced springs at the same time with a stiffer set. Most ducati forks are undersprung so the higher cSt oil helps reduce the pogo effect.

If you're in there replacing oil I suggest you spend a small amount of extra money and get new springs for your bike. Especially if you are reducing the oil weight. I honestly cant vouch for what will happen if you change the oil weight without upgrading the spring. All I can say is that an upgraded spring with 5W redline (18cSt) was crap.

That said, your 796 runs non adjustable forks so there may be a slight variation in results. Also I think yours run separate rebound and compression circuits in different fork legs and that might have some different effect. (Dont quote me on that. I'm not 100% positive.)

[Curmudgeon]

Agreed with all that and I hear you. For me @ 175# plus gear, the stock fork springs are just fine. The cST of the Shell is 22 and as I said, it's in the ballpark. The Spectro is 26 and as I mentioned seems lighter because it's smoother. The issue with the 796 was the Sachs which I ditched before delivery for a DU-737 Ohlins and spring for my weight. It's been set up by my dealer, so that may also figure into the fork-loading.

You might be right about the M796 valving. The legs take 500cc each per my manual, so 1 L handles it.

[EEL]

Interested to find out how it turns out. Keep us apprised.

[Curmudgeon]

Interested to find out how it turns out. Keep us apprised.

Sorry, our posts crossed!  If in fact my forks have red oil in them, I'd presume that's Donax. Then 10W Red Line would be fine and probably an improvement in smoothness. If mine has 7.5W Shell, as it has Shell stickies everywhere, then the 7.5W Spectro cartride oil @ 26 cST might be better. I'll ask my dealer whether he has tuned any 796 forks in the past two years. He's as fussy as I am. I'm looking for what I have now, only smoother. That's for street compliance/comfort/control.

Will keep you posted. Might be a month or two. He's 140 miles from me and I need my service light to illuminate before he does the service and other stuff I need. Sadly Ducati's service light can't be extingushed before it illuminates, otherwise I'd have had this stuff tackled when he was slower during the winter. 

[Curmudgeon]

Interested to find out how it turns out. Keep us apprised.

Finally reached my dealer/tech today to discuss my servicing list.  Without specifically asking, he voluteered that they've been using the 10W Red Line you called "nirvanah" for the past ten years on Marzocchi forks. Seems you have the "hot ticket". Only on a few Ohlins does he use the Ohlins fluid.

Could be a month before I can get up there though! 

[EEL]

Finally reached my dealer/tech today to discuss my servicing list.  Without specifically asking, he voluteered that they've been using the 10W Red Line you called "nirvanah" for the past ten years on Marzocchi forks. Seems you have the "hot ticket". Only on a few Ohlins does he use the Ohlins fluid.

Could be a month before I can get up there though! 

I may have had the "hot ticket" but that ticket cost me 2 saturdays of dissessembling and re-assembling forks, a nasty pinch on my finger when putting the fork cap back on and about an extra 30 bucks 5 weight fork oil that I literally installed and just poured straight into the oil recycle bin.

Only consolation is that I'm done for a long time.

[brad black]

that's the price of experience and expertise.