2020 V4S Spring Redux and Valving Question

Went with the Ohlins Spring upgrade a few years ago and gained a bit of weight since. Based on the comments in another thread, I have ordered one step firmer (11.0) springs from Kyle Racing and will have Stillwell Suspension in Scottsdale add 1 (one) heavier spring to a fork leg to see if my total travel can be reduced a bit instead of swapping over to the Ohlins Cartridge Kit. Don't have my sag numbers handy, but suffice to say that I would prefer to have a bit more travel left in straight line braking than these upgraded 10.5's have given me. I have to get a new rear shock for my Norden 901, so I don't have the funds to do a Ohlins FGK 30mm NIX Kit at the moment.

I've ordered some Motocorse Fork lowers Ohlins front forks caliper radial mounts Motocorse "SBK style" and figured I would swap the spring out while the forks are off the bike in the coming weeks.



Question for the group: The folks at Kyle mentioned some sort of valve modification in passing on the phone the other day and how it improves the action of the OEM Ohlins forks. He quickly mentioned some guy who did this mod to OEM fork and they work pretty darn good.

I forgot to ask him to clarify before I had to jump to another call. I was wondering if anyone here had heard of this before I ring them back up in the morning?

I vaguely remember mentioning of valve changes or going to a different weight oil in the early bikes but it was changed along the way in production.

Haven't looked into any valving kits for the forks yet but this apparently this is NOT
the kit that Dan Kyle's folks were referring to: 3200-01 / FPK Ohlins 20mm SuperSport Piston/Valve Kit

Spending $1k on fork lowers when you could’ve gone with the cartridge kit befuddles me?

Measure your air gap, the ID for the forks is printed on the inside of the lowers 2 letters followed by 4 numbers. Check the specs

Putting cartridges in a S really befuddles me.

bp_SFV4 said:

Putting cartridges in a S really befuddles me.

Click to expand...

This is true too. Does OP have an S? Going to NIX30 sounds like a Showa to Ohlins conversion.

It would be cool (and overkill and not make sense) to adapt the FKR kit to DES forks. All the benefits of TTX with the ease of use of DES.

I can only presume from the thread title that he’s on a S. I don’t know if it’s possible to do cartridges on a S without modding it.

The DES component of the shock is merely a stepper motor on the rebound or compression adjuster. It’s relatively simple design at least as far as the fork is concerned.

bp_SFV4 said:

I can only presume from the thread title that he’s on a S. I don’t know if it’s possible to do cartridges on a S without modding it.

The DES component of the shock is merely a stepper motor on the rebound or compression adjuster. It’s relatively simple design at least as far as the fork is concerned.

Click to expand...

Ahh yes.

I was confused bc I’m pretty sure the S already has NIX30 cartridges (or some derivation)

I'm trying to figure out a way to update the looks, action and performance without pulling the wires and adding the KT142 - Ducati V4 DES Electronic suspension bypass kit - V4S Superbike, V4S Streetfighter

I have a budget and the fork lowers would have or should be a nice look to an upgraded set of internals. Apparently, this is going to be a real nut-roll and I'll have to just go with the Bitubo Internals: Bitubo EBH Pressurized Fork Cartridge Kit for Ducati Panigale V4 S / V4 Speciale / 1199 S / 1199 R - D0038EBH00WO

Now it appears I need to use the BSD stuff as the Ohlins is a bit more expensive and will blow the budget I had set for updating the forks. For me $950 for fork lowers isn't an issue since I am pulling the forks anyway for fresh oil and springs.

From what I have read here the Bitubo Cartridge Kit is the way to go and at 1K is markedly cheaper than the Ohlins Cartridge Kit.

What problem are you trying to solve?

The lack of feedback, performance and adjustability. I should have just got the Ohlins cartridge kit and the BSD emulators when I had the coin last year.

Honestly, it seems as though the Ohlins shocks have gotten progressively worse in terms of performance and feedback. Just can't believe that a "premium" forkset is this lacking.

How much do you weigh and what kind of riding are you doing?

240 lbs with gear. Getting ready for a track day on the 11th of March and normally I do ride hard on the road. I also plan on doing at least 3 other track days this summer as well since I have a house close to Inde Motorsports Complex IMRridersclub

Did the Yamaha School there 2 years ago, and really like that track. Thankfully its not like HPR. I could never get comfortable at that place.

Just going to get my sag numbers straight and follow some basic and small adjustments to get the bike where hopefully it will perform at 7/10th's and enjoy the afternoon.

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

No, I have S-Ohlins and was looking to initially go one step stiffer in the springs due to the forks blowing through all available travel in hard breaking as well as not being able to dial in more compression dampening either through the forks or in the silly electronic settings.

This is the major issue really. The forks are just not tuneable as many folks have described on this forum over the years. I didn't pay attention like I should have and now 2 years on, I'm dealing with the same crappy OEM electronic Ohlins situation.

Short Term: I think the only option (cost wise) is for me to do some cartridges (non-Ohlins) at this point. However, I am waiting on a shipment from Dan Kyle with the 11.0 springs, and will try that first. Meaning, I'll put one fork spring in and have Stillwell Perfomance put fresh Ohlins for oil in and see if that will help.

Long term goal: Swap Ohlins internals out (OEM S-Line electronic) and replace with the recommended cost effective kit.

You are 240lb with gear and 11.0 springs don’t do for u?

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...

Val213 said:

You are 240lb with gear and 11.0 springs don’t do for u?

Click to expand...

I'm 82kg naked, and I'm at 11.75. And dropped air gap by 5mm.

If you use all the suspension travel, you have to adjust your suspension accordingly.

I don't understand the not being adjustable thing. It's the same fork with a stepper motor on it. You are not going to perceive a difference in whatever adjustment you are making while the bike is parked when in dynamic mode.

If you set it to fixed and run the compression all the way out, bounce the front, then run it all the way in and bounce the front again is there a difference?