Help choosing the right suspension tuner

[WayneMember]

Hi guys,
I have a 09 FE45o, i’m 6ft and 90kg and about 100kg (220lb) in bike gear and want to get my bike revalved and resprung for my weight, riding style and conditions i ride at. I have spoken to 2 reputable suspension tuners in Sydney (i’m in Newcastle) and both have conflicting ideas on what will work best.

Tuner 1: 0.46 front spring, progressive rear spring, gold valves, adjust shim stack, fit KX450 fork seals. also fit spacer in rear to lower it a bit (apparently it helps) he has a track that you can ride at and he watches you before making any adjustments. Then fits the new gear, sets it up for you and watches you ride again and fine tunes it some more. only rear internet reviews of his work. he tells me he has done a lot of KTM’s and also a heap of the newer Bergs WP’s.

Tuner 2: 0.46 front spring, linear rear spring (claims not suited to this bike WP work best with linear rear spring), no gold valves (they are not suited to this bike according to him), std fork seals, no test track or watching you ride. Guy who races at work highly recommends this tuner. tells me he has a lot of experience with KTM’s and also the newer bergs WP’s.

both are around $900, my riding is basically in the bush, fire trails, rocky hill climbs, table drain jumps etc. My riding style is about mid class (not pro or a amateur). Have good tires fitted and also a scotts dampner. I found i can’t get the right sag and bike suffers head shake and bad deflection.

which tuner sounds the best?
which rear spring, progressive or linear?

thanks guys

[GregMember]

Bowser hi and welcome to the site

As far as suspension setup goes there are many a good tuner out there. We here at OBT are only days away from hopefully announcing a sponsor package with one of the biggest suspension people in the business (and in my opinion the best and a fair few of the punters here on the site) that will include a discount for all site members and technical support online

If you can wait a couple of days maybe a week I can say more and maybe save you a quid

TB

[WayneMember]

Thanks, can you pm me who you the possible tuner is?

[AussieEMember]

Ian Wightman Pro-suspenion at Singleton is ya man just google his name at pro-moto suspenion and read the right ups he’s done quite a lot of bikes from around Newcastle he has a good name he done 2 bikes for me and I have been happy with both he does have teste tracks and will watch you ride trail riders ride enduro style loop not just MX track so he gets a good idea what you want just make sure you tell him your right weight with gear on and that you just trail ride and you’ll be amaized at the difference he came make to a bike
“E”
Happy customer

[Glenn ShawMember]

AussieE wrote:

Quote:

Ian Wightman Pro-suspenion at Singleton is ya man just google his name at pro-moto suspenion and read the right ups he’s done quite a lot of bikes from around Newcastle he has a good name he done 2 bikes for me and I have been happy with both he does have teste tracks and will watch you ride trail riders ride enduro style loop not just MX track so he gets a good idea what you want just make sure you tell him your right weight with gear on and that you just trail ride and you’ll be amaized at the difference he came make to a bike
“E”
Happy customer

Have to agree with Aussie, had my 450 done there and made a huge inprovement, think to 300 will be head up thee soon.

[Anonymous]

From the blurb at the top I’d be considering going tuner no.1. If someone doesn’t watch you ride your bike I don’t know how they can fine tune the suspension to suit.

You might not need to be watched to adjust valving for your weight but to have the clicker settings adjusted for best performance in conjunction with valving and shims being done is an advantage for sure in my opinion.

I think most reputable suspension tuners will improve your suspension, but for the same money you could get really good suspension as opposed to just good suspension.

As TB said, we are very close to getting one of the biggest suspension tuners in the game on board so if you can wait a week or so you might save some cash and sweeten the deal.

[GregMember]

Moto wrote:

Quote:

From the blurb at the top I’d be considering going tuner no.1. If someone doesn’t watch you ride your bike I don’t know how they can fine tune the suspension to suit.

You might not need to be watched to adjust valving for your weight but to have the clicker settings adjusted for best performance in conjunction with valving and shims being done is an advantage for sure in my opinion.

I think most reputable suspension tuners will improve your suspension, but for the same money you could get really good suspension as opposed to just good suspension.

As TB said, we are very close to getting one of the biggest suspension tuners in the game on board so if you can wait a week or so you might save some cash and sweeten the deal.

Having dealt with both ways of having my suspension setup if the tuner does the job right test riding I don’t think is a must and that’s from experience. Yes we all like to feel important etc but the testing and development has been done long before we front with our bikes, I am sure there are the odd case where testing maybe necessary. Because the setup and valving is completed its down to the adjustments and the adjustments on a test track wont suit everywhere or all conditions you ride. That said a good tuner will provide you the information of where your adjustments are and how to fine tune it yourself over a period of time as you get used to the bike and suspension and your riding ability changes and your demands on the suspension

TB

[Bruce CurtisMember]

The best suspension bloke i’ve dealt with for PDS and WP is Terry Haye at shock treatment, every KTM I have ridden that he has worked on is 100% improvement over stock.

The watching someone ride I am in two minds about, it could be just a “customer reassurance” thing, but then again I’ve got two mates on identical bikes same weights (give or take 5 kg) both very quick on the trails, completely different styles and suspesnion setups, both get the job done, but go different ways about it…….

And trail suspension setup is way way different to MX, and in my experience extremely hard to find a decent compromise for both.

BC

[GregMember]

How did you go with that contact today bowser?

TB

[WayneMember]

Yeah gave him a ring just before, he sounds like the man for the job for sure, much more confident the final product is what i want and not marketing to get more cash out of me.
Will wait a few days to find out about the pending sponsorship and discount offers.

[Author]

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