2020 V4S Spring Redux and Valving Question

KarlKani said:

ok, and just to clarify the initial subject here is that just put in ohlins springs in oem Showa forks? not carts right?

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KarlKani said:

Ok gotcha, we ll not to harp on the Moto corse bottoms thing again but that is a waste. return those things, do ohlins nix 30 carts and call it a day, disable the the E factor call it a day...

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If he has the S-model then he already has NIX30 carts. I was just as confused as you.

How many miles are on the bike? Has the suspension ever been refreshed?

I'd try what @bp_SFV4 recommended to see if the damping is actually working

Drink latte, ride the damn bike mate!!!

I'd start with reducing the airgap, new oil of the right grade and quantity plus about 40mls per leg

Well,

Took the advice of the crew here and used Brad@motionSBK and what a great dude! Fantastic service!



I have some Ohlins FGRT forks on order, BSD emulators in hand and apparently the forks are on back order till mid-late summer.

bp_SFV4 said:

Putting cartridges in a S really befuddles me.

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I did

FKR 108’s, rather good upgrade actually.

JHTmcrider said:

Well,

Took the advice of the crew here and used Brad@motionSBK and what a great dude! Fantastic service!

I have some Ohlins FGRT forks on order, BSD emulators in hand and apparently the forks are on back order till mid-late summer.

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Make sure you read the instructions on the bsd stuff, it isn’t complicated but you can’t simply plug them in and done. Abd make sure you mount them someplace away from the engine heat, they are heat sensitive so put the in the tail in the back and away from heat in the front

Other than getting out of the rather nebulas DES semi-auto adjustments for track use, is it that much of a difference?

Confusing thread lol

The V4 S comes with the Nix 30 already, literally he just needed to upgrade the springs to a heavier weight if he doesn’t want to upgrade the carts to Ohlins FKR 108 or similar.

OP I’m about the same weight, went through the same thing, you need 11.0 springs both sides if you want to keep the electronic adjustability and have an effective budget minded solution.

I eventually upgraded to the FKR 108 carts up front and the the Ohlins GP shock in the rear with the BSD plug-ins.

I’m running an 11.0 spring on one side and a 12.0 on the other to blend out to 11.5. Works well…

bp_SFV4 said:

Other than getting out of the rather nebulas DES semi-auto adjustments for track use, is it that much of a difference?

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My 1st instinct is to say yes, but truth be told I changed several things at once on my suspension so it’s hard to say it was solely the FKR carts over the NIX 30 that made such a dramatic improvement on my bike. I also adjusted the geometry just a bit, and upgraded the rear shock to the Ohlins GP with a 130 spring up from a 115 spring, had the front carts and rear shock valved and shimmed specifically for my setup.

In sum total those adjustment were a night and day improvement to how the bike handles and improved my confidence on it dramatically.

Also for sure FEEL was greatly improved, and I’m appreciating that more and more as my pace improves.

Over last season I went from being the slowest guy in the slowest group to being in the top half of the middle group or one of but not the slowest in the fast group, a significant part of that was the confidence that having the suspension set up right gives you, and feel is everything on these bikes, being able to feel what’s going on with the tire contact patches is even more important on a bike than a car at track.

Changing multiple things at the same time is a bad idea

SuperDomestique said:

Changing multiple things at the same time is a bad idea

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Depends on how you do that…if you have a suspension tuner that knows what they’re doing and the back is out of whack it’s a good idea if they say it is, sometimes you gotta trust people who know more than you…worked out well in this instance.

^ Inputs and ideas have been noted. I am going to continue to adjust and become familiar with the new DU468 rear shock. Since the front forks are on Back Order for another 4-5 months. Regarding the question about whether the aftermarket manual shock is "better" than the DU468, I would argue yes. It feels better in every way after flogging the bike this morning. Whether it's "worth" the money? Again, it's worth it to me.

I took your advice and placed those BSD emulators are far up in the seats as possible! I figured the heat can destroy a BBB unit or whatever my 1199S killed on a ride a few years ago, I know the heat soak just hurts so many little electrical items including the gear position sensors.

Got busy last night and was able to get the old shock out of the bike pretty quickly:



Got the new shock positioned and installed pretty quickly as well. Ensured I followed the procedures of removal and actually read the guide/ owners manual that came with the shock.



I've been around a few years and now I have a great rear shock based on advice and inputs from folks here and other forums. It has a lot more adjust ability and having the pre-load adjuster like my old GSX-R1000 is a real plus!

Back to the 2020 forks. My understanding is they are ok for the street. And they have performed good on the street. However, I already did 10.5's and after discussing with Stillwell performance in Scottsdale and many others, the aftermarket forks are a definite step up. I'll get my sag numbers and begin working on dialing in the suspension to best work for me.

Also a big thanks to whomever recommended these stands for doing suspension work. They are pretty darn good and way cheaper than the Pierobon Stands! Haha! 1199/V4 SBK middle stands : Pierobon Frames - frames and accessories for motorcycle

I have a shock spring compressor made by that same company, unit, which works amazing. It uses nylon straps wrapped on the spring so it doesn't mar the paint and is very easy to use.

I never used fixed peg stands like that. Is it easy to get the bike on and up? When I changed my 1199 shock, I used a tie down ratchet strap attached to my old garage's ceiling joists to support the bike. With the V4, I used a floor jack and a block of wood to lift the bike by a horizontal rear suspension component between the cans. That's not a very helpful or useful description, but it's been a long day...

^ Yes, you put the rear Pitbull Stand in the right side axle like normal. Eyeball the appropriate height for the posts and set the pegs through the holes. Slowly lower the rear Pitbull Stand and viola!

Be sure to read the BSD plug instructions too, if I remember right you have to have the old shocks and forks plugged in while the bike is on, turn bike off, then plug BSD in while off, then turn back on, if you unplug the old shocks with the bike on you get errors in the system that will make the rest of the electronic Nannie’s operate in what’s called degraded function mode. Everything from Wheelie Control to skid control is afffected.

Brad@motionSBK came through and I have the FGRT forks in and BSD emulators working. Had to mess around with some shim material to allow the steering dampener bracket to work on the skinny tubes. Not my preferred method of addressing this but it will work for now. These forks are a bit different for sure with the scalloped tubes and better internals.

Woodcraft for the win!