Lighter wheels - suspension changes?

[Howie]

Could it be the lighter wheels simply uncovered less than optimal settings?

[Speeddog]

On the average, the front or rear suspension is holding up ~300 lbs.

A change of even 3 pounds on a wheel is going to make a *very* small change on how much the tire squashes on a bump.

Until the tire comes off the ground, no detectable change IMO.

[moto]

On the average, the front or rear suspension is holding up ~300 lbs.

A change of even 3 pounds on a wheel is going to make a *very* small change on how much the tire squashes on a bump.

Until the tire comes off the ground, no detectable change IMO.

+1
Most people including racers don't need to make any extraordinary changes to suspension with lighter wheels.
BST does not recomend any. Nor does OZ.

-M

[ducpainter]

From Sportbike Suspension Tuning by Andrew Trevitt on pages 71-72

"... On a magazine project GSX-R 1000, we installed carbon fiber wheels that were several pounds lighter than stock.  To account for the huge drop in unsprung weight we had to increase compression damping. The lighter wheels were deflecting more over bumps and more damping was necessary to better control the lighter wheels."

His premise is the 5 lb wheel moves up as opposed to the 450 lb bike moving down it seems.  That doesn't work physically.

The wheel stays on the road...no?

While they may have needed changes on that particular bike I'm gonna stick with my original thinking.

[stopintime]

On a bump, the wheel goes up and it does so with slightly less mass to accelerate.

However, the suspension is set to dampen the bike + rider upon braking, so the need for additional compression because of a lighter wheel must be very minor.

I think the difference would be easiest to detect coming out of a corner. Then one might 'need' a tad more compression. The theory is clear enough, but I'm not sure we're even talking about one click and at those kinds of adjustments it's almost impossible to know what's what with ambient/hydraulic oil/tire temperature and track surface conditions. 

[Slide Panda]

Hey Moto if you want to donate a set of BSTs (Fitment for an 08 Duke please) I'd be HAPPY to test this all out.