How much should i lower my front end?

[He Man]

2006 S2R1000 racetech valves + springs
Background story:

I got a chance to finally bring my bike up to do some cornering, and though the bike feels very stable and well planted, its REALLY hard to get the bike into the corner, im countersteering  and pushing the handle bar hard just to get the bike to stay in a constant turn. If i purposely turn the bars the bike begins to drop into the corner but its still very hard to get it go deep.

Since i bought the bike, ive only brought it up into the twisties once(2007 NOV), so i never had a chance to really get use to the bike  and the bike was handling kinda funny, and that same day, i went down. Fastfoward ot a month ago, i had the forks redone with new springs and valves. The forks were apparently damaged internally, so when i was sitting on the bike, there was only about 2.5inches of fork travel available.  With the new springs, theres about 5.5inches of travel. so i basically rasied the front by 3 inches.

However i dont like how upright the bike is. the only bike i have for real comparsion was my old m900, which was setup as a track bike for someone that was my weight, and probably has the same riding style as i do becasue the bike fit me really well, keeping up with my friend chachadder wasnt too much of a problem , he was always about 8 seconds ahead of me. That bike had the works, SBK front internals, aftermarket rearshock, all setup nicely. now, im about 40-80 seconds behind him.

I'm thinking all i need to do is push the forks up the top triple about an 1 1/4 inch, and the bike will be more twitchy, and ill have enough fork meat to put my clip ons ontop. that would also bring the bars close to stock height (i have 1.5" rise on the clip ons). Is there anything i need to watch out for? It looks like my front wheel might hit my oil cooler if i hit a nasty bump. Is there an adjustment on the forks that i can make to get the bike to turn in easier?

[Howie]

Dropping over an inch?  A bit radical.  Before anything, make sure front and rear sag are correct.  Then work in small increments.

[printman]

wow, 3-4 mm increments will make decent changes.

these are on the non adj forks, correct?

[He Man]

These are S2R1000 adjustable forks.

everything has been set tuned and dialed already by the guys at ECS, I just coulldnt find roads at the time to really dip the bike into a corner so i never realized how hard it was to get the bike to lean over. where is the adjustment for sag on the forks?

can anyone measure the length of the forktube on a m900 or similar bike? Im looking at an old photo of my m944 and the fork sticks up past the triple some amount.

[Howie]

If ECS set the bike up it is correct.  Call Steve and tell him your turn in is slower than you like and see what he suggests.

[Norm]

There is nothing wrong with major changes, but you are testing, take things slowly & test, test, test, before you continue.

[He Man]

I did some reading on motorcycle suspension, and decided to raise the forks 10mm past the top triple, i also adjusted the steering stops and my clip ons to be closer to me, more swept, and angle more parallel to the ground. 10mm makes a HUGE difference in the bike wanting to drop into the corner. its alot more twitchy, but i would really need to go back up to bear mtn and ride it some to decide if its enough.

[LA]

Raise the rear ride height about 1". Makes a huge difference. Falls in easier and "finishes" the turn better.

I dropped my front end 8 mm. clearance at full braking does become an issue at some point beyond that.

LA

[He Man]

Raise the rear ride height about 1". Makes a huge difference. Falls in easier and "finishes" the turn better.

I dropped my front end 8 mm. clearance at full braking does become an issue at some point beyond that.

LA

I cant raise my rear much, after the forks got fixed and back to stock height, im tippy toeing. If i raise the rear 1" i woudlnt be able to touch the ground.

What kind of clearence are you talking about? The rear fender hitting the oil cooler?

[mihama01]

This may be off topic but when I first went to the circuit I couldn't get my monster to turn either.

It was my riding style that needed adjusting!!

Get someone else to ride the bike as it is, if they think it is difficult to turn then go ahead and make the changes, if they tell you there is no problem then it is you!

Some things to look out for, do not grip the bars tightly, relax shoulder and arms completely, look through the turn and try to get your upper body over the inside handlebar .

If I were doing what you are doing then:

1) Return everything to stock and work from there.
2) The fork springs were changed? Are the rated harder or softer than the OEM.

regardless you need to set the sag, the only way to do this is to play with the preload adjusters or change the spring rates again.

Only when you have ball park figures and deduced its still not working right should you start making such dramatic changes.

Some issues if you start moving the forks,

1) Lack of ground clearance
2) Front wheel /mudguard may hit oil cooler.
3) Top of fork may it underside of handlebar if you raise it too much. (Lack of clearance for suspension adjustment also)
4) If you go too far the front may "tuck"

My friend raised his forks about 1.5 cms (half or two thirds of an inch) which was fine.

If you are determined to raise the forks,  try a half inch or so first and see how it works from there. Change only one thing at a time so you can tell what changes do what.

Check the obvious also, tyre pressure and wear, correctly adjusted head and wheel bearings.