Bitubo XXF61 Help

Mescuzy · Mar 30, 2014

Put my Bitubo XXF61 on today. The Sachs shock is 311mm long and the XXF61 is 305mm. Even if I wanted to lengthen it, the max I could go is 308mm. What did other folks do? Lengthen the shock to 308mm, install it with 305mm and adjust the ride height or just leave the ride height alone? Thanks in adavance.

Ljuice26 · Mar 30, 2014

I lengthened mine to get it on the bike.

JeffD · Mar 30, 2014

My understanding is that Bitubo determined that the OEM rear ride height is a bit too tall for ideal track handing and stability. Their shock was intentionally designed shorter so the rear ride height would be less.

My tech measured the front and rear ride height with OEM suspension and after installing the Bitubo cartridges and shock kept the geometry the same by raising the forks in the triple clamps to compensate for the lower rear ride height.

Mescuzy · Mar 30, 2014

Thanks JeffD, thats good info! What is your new fork height?

JeffD · Mar 30, 2014

Mescuzy said:
Thanks JeffD, thats good info! What is your new fork height?

Of course you would ask that, as I don't have the info!

I can measure the height of the fork tubes out of the triples tomorrow.

Mescuzy · Mar 30, 2014

Thanks Jeff.
So you didn't want to run your bike with the change in rear ride height that Bitubo was trying to acheive? Race Tech recommended running my forks flush but they didn't know I was putting in the Bitubo shock. Perhaps RT was trying to acheive a similar bias as Bitubo is with the shorter XXF61.

JeffD · Mar 30, 2014

Mescuzy said:
Thanks Jeff.
So you didn't want to run your bike with the change in rear ride height that Bitubo was trying to acheive? Race Tech recommended running my forks flush but they didn't know I was putting in the Bitubo shock. Perhaps RT was trying to acheive a similar bias as Bitubo is with the shorter XXF61.

Yes, it does sound similar doesn't it? I ride mostly on the street and haven't even been to the track with the 1199 yet. I knew eventually I would start going back to the track a lot more which is why I went whole-hog on Bitubo in the first place, but I wanted to keep that uber-flickability for the street. I'm going to be working with the same suspension guy I always used when I was tracking a lot, so I might might raise the forks back up a few mm to start when I go back to the track.

I can see where the flickability I like on the street right now might translate into instability at track speeds. Plus, I always liked running my track bikes on the tall side, it made them steer very well.

Phl · Mar 30, 2014

I set mine to stock length.

Mescuzy · Mar 31, 2014

Phl
The instructions say the max length for the shock is 308mm and the stock length is 311mm.

Phl · Mar 31, 2014

I don't read instructions

Thanks for the info, I will go check!

jarelj · Mar 31, 2014

FYI - We start at 306mm eye-to-eye length on the rear shock on 1199's when setting a baseline for the track. That was based upon information from Ohlins in setting up the World Superstock teams in 2012. I think 311 is too long, depending on what tires and what gearing you're running it produces too much tire spin on hard exits.

JeffD · Mar 31, 2014

Mescuzy, perhaps it's best to take Jarel's information and start with that. You can always raise the forks a couple mm at a time if you want to speed up the steering once your sags have been set.

jarelj · Mar 31, 2014

Just watch your front tire wear, the Panigale already has more weight on the front than past Superbikes so there's a point of diminishing returns on dropping the front.

Mescuzy · Mar 31, 2014

Thanks jarelj.
As mentioned earlier in this thread, I set my forks flush as per Race Tech's recommendation before I realized the shock length issue. I'm thinking the shorter shock length combined with the raised front end is now too much rear bias. Would you recommend returning my fork height to stock as a baseline?
Except for the Bitubo shock and RT gold valves, everything is stock.
Regards.

jarelj · Mar 31, 2014

Mescuzy said:
Thanks jarelj.
As mentioned earlier in this thread, I set my forks flush as per Race Tech's recommendation before I realized the shock length issue. I'm thinking the shorter shock length combined with the raised front end is now too much rear bias. Would you recommend returning my fork height to stock as a baseline?
Except for the Bitubo shock and RT gold valves, everything is stock.
Regards.

I moved mine around a lot trying different settings and eventually preferred it at around 7mm of fork tube above the triple. That was with a 125 profile Bridgestone front slick and 306mm shock length.

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