full throttle front wheel doesnt want to go in a straight line.

WAfatboy said:

Is that a higher or a lower number for the rebound on the DES on the S?

Cheers

Click to expand...

Higher number = higher compression or rebound.

Quinten said:

not that i know of.. when on full throttle what do you do ? do you pull or push on the handlebars? i tried both but i don't seem to get the right way of keeping the pani straight..

1st i tried pulling both sides towards me to keep it straight but for me i would expect it to go up quicker.

2d i tried to push the handlebars away from me a little downwards... this seemed to help a bit..

but other than that i have no idea.

any suspension possibilities?

Click to expand...

Suspension - make sure your rear sag is set right to prevent the dreaded rocking (where the rear end squat excessively while accelerating causing the front end lift). not sure on the DES but the Ohlins FGRT 203 has the option of 120mm or 130mm of travel. The 130 setting is recommended for track and will give your front wheel more contact patch at high speeds.

zvez said:

no chance it could be rider input, unknowingly, on the handlebars?

Click to expand...

I played around with this idea last year and think this is likely involved in at least some, if not most people's experience of this phenomenon. The high, wide, flat bars on the Pani give you more leverage than any stock sportbike handlebar setup I've ever run across, and it is uber-easy to induce a bit of wobble/weave at the front end with uneven bar pressure. Factor in an unloaded front end under WOT and it's even more the case. I can run mine straight through the gears with no problem at all, but you're always aware that the bike is on call for a change of direction; no waiting involved. Great in the twisty bits, but definitely a bit on the lively side at high speeds.

EDIT: forgot to mention; at 70kg on an unadjusted base model, Quinten's not likely to be getting excessive squat. Coming in at a kg or two under that, I'd say it's more like the opposite. The bike's probably jacking in the rear (anti-squat), and without being able to absorb the weight transfer gradually via suspension movement and pivoting at its center of mass, it's pivoting closer to the rear contact patch and unloading the front end too easily. That's compounded by a higher CG from the suspension sitting too high in its travel. As an extreme example, imagine riding the thing with locked, fully-extended suspension; all the chassis forces go straight to the tires immediately. The more you load one end, the more you unload the other, and the higher your CG the longer the lever you have to do it. Even on a glass-smooth surface, the suspension serves to soften and slow down the force transitions, and a bike properly sprung and damped for it's rider should sit down in its travel range and remain stable with moderated, but not eliminated dive and squat. Settings that work for taller, heavier rider will have no relevance for a shorter, lighter rider.

Seems to me there's probably good reason why most of the R's range of adjustment on the new swingarm pivot serves to reduce the bike's inherent anti-squat geometry, and La Marra's on record as liking the bike more that way. Most of the online vids are of last year's bike before it had that feature, so it'll be interesting to see how it looks this year with it.

This thread is good insight to the suspension set ups. Thanks fellas! Enjoyed the read.