Suspension help

[Anonymous]

I though I’d kick this forum off with the first technical query

I have a 2010 KTM 300 and currently weigh 91Kg in my birthday suit. I plan on having my suspension sorted by you guys but need to save up the pennies first so, until then I have to put up with the fact that my suspension is not going to work as well as it could.

My question is, for an average level rider who rides enduro and technical/hilly trail rides and who is tough on suspension is there anything I can do in the meantime to improve performance until I can get a revalve and firmer/progressive spring(s)?

Would adding some extra oil in the forks help? I don’t bottom the forks out on G-outs but I do find they blow through the stroke too easily causing me to go over the bars too often.

Also I get the PDS kick on log hits at speed. Should I play with the high speed compression on the shock or will it wreck the rest of the handling?

The current clicker settings are set to the ‘sport’ settings as provided by my KTM manual and I have found them to be an improvement over the ‘standard’ settings that the bike was set to when purchased.

Thanks for any advice provided

[Nick DoleMember]

Ok, well there is quite a lot you can do.
I don’t know what the recommended “sport” settings are but i can suggest the following, all from full hard.
Comp, fork 10-16 out. really this is personal preference,but any more than 4 clicks from full hard and the fork will get harsher, not firmer.
Rebound, 13-16 is a good place to be
I’d suggest you wind on some fork preload to hold it up until you respring it. I’ll attach a spring graph as soon as i work out how to do a screen shot to a forum (help!) You will see the value in altering preload when the right spring is not available.
Oil height i’d suggest as low as possible. It only has a tasteable effect in the last 1/3 of the stroke so it’s a bottoming control more than anything else, it won’t hold you up like a spring will.

Shock wise, 38-42mm static sag and 113-118mm rider is where we usually run, a bit different to the suggested settings.
Low speed Comp 10-14
Hi speed 2 turns 1-3 turns out as a range
Rebound 18-22.

With rear end kicking, you need to decide if the kick is from bottoming or rebounding too fast after the obstacle or not using enough travel and them moving the bike up with a resulting kick in the arse.

You need to experiment as it helps you develop skills in set-up plus it helps me as you can give better feedback on what did and did not work on the stock settings.

Nick

[Anonymous]

That’s exactly the sort of info. I was after Nick, thanks. I’ll change the set-up for the ride this weekend and see how I go.

As previously suggested by yourselves i may steal the 0.46 springs from my 450 and fit them to the 300 as I think the .46 are the right spring set-up for my weight on the front.

I have an 8.4 on the back of the 450 (supplied by you) so may swap that over as well, at least then I can get close to the required rider sag.

The kick from the rear is a tricky one, i’ll smash some logs if i can saturday and see what I think it’s doing, I haven’t tried to analyse it before.

Cheers for the help!

PS – You can email the graph to me at swyeth@hamworthy-combustion.com if you want and I’ll look at posting it on your behalf

[Anonymous]

Well, using the 72-250 spring on the rear I manged to get 36mm static sag and 116mm race sag so will see how I go. These figures are pretty spot on which I’m surprised at but it’s all good.

Riding down the street the front end did feel bumpy so I assume this will be the same for the firetrails too. I’ll make adjustments whilst riding if needs be to see if I can get it dialled in

[Author]

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