Help: Bumpy track suspension setup

I have a 2014 1199 S that I use exclusively as a track bike. The bike has stock Ohlins forks and shock, resprung for my weight, and sag set by my local shop for the track. There are zero turns of preload on the forks and three threads are showing on the preload collar for the shock. The shock's eye to eye length has been set to 307.5mm and the forks are in their stock position in the triple clamp. The bike has 5.5k miles on it and the forks and shock have *not* been serviced.
I've been doing most of my riding at a tight 1.8 mile local track where I am 11 seconds off the course record. The track surface is definitely on the bumpy side.

I'm having a few problems:

1) I've experimented with the OEM damping settings in race, sport, and wet mode to find something that feels good. Wet mode is felt the best of the three so I used it as my starting point. Now I'm using 28 compression and 24 rebound on the forks and shock. 31 is full soft. So far going softer on the damping has always felt better and I have not seen performance being impacted negatively.

2) Predictably given the lack of damping support, the forks are bottoming out according to my zip tie. I suspect that this is happening on the brakes and not as a result of a mid corner bump. For reference if I run with race mode's default damping settings the zip tie ends up 10-15mm from the caliper casting.

Is it possible to get more compliance over the rough stuff while also getting additional support for braking from the front end? I'm still hitting areas where I have to lift myself out of the seat to allow the bike to move on its own. I assume this shouldn't be happening to a well sorted bike?

EDIT: Before anyone says it I know the forks and shock are probably due for being serviced and that new oil would probably make some difference. If the bike is going to be down for suspension changes (springs, valving, service, etc) i'd rather do it all at once.

I just sent my stuff to mike at MDM. He is a great guy and super knowledgeable, his prices are very reasonable too.

You can try adding 5ml fork oil to each fork legs, and add 5ml more if it doesn't not solve the problem. That's what i did (my track is ultra bumpy and i found i was bottoming out during hard braking at the end of backstraight) and it gave me 4-5 mm extra reserve.

Usually giving yourself another 5mm rear sag will give you a bit more traction in the bumpy stuff.


Front sounds soft enough as is typical on a Ducati, maybe to soft since you were bottoming out with current settings.

Also what tire/pressure are you running?

GK1199R said:

Also what tire/pressure are you running?

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Superbike slicks. SC1/SC2 F/R. 33f 29r hot off the warmers.

BTrain5489 said:

Superbike slicks. SC1/SC2 F/R. 33f 29r hot off the warmers.

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Where are you located?
What pace/group do you run?
Do your forks bottom out under braking?


I agree with wfoduck.. Metric Devil Moto Mike is the man. He just redid my suspension and it was amazing this weekend on the track.

Where are you located?

Texas

What pace/group do you run?

Comparable to what the novices with the local club are doing.

Do your forks bottom out under braking?

I believe thats when it's happening but I'd need to stick a camera on the side of the bike next time out to confirm it.

Put a zip tie on your fork leg under the dust seal and check how much travel used from how far the zip tie gets pushed down.

wfoduck said:

Put a zip tie on your fork leg under the dust seal and check how much travel used from how far the zip tie gets pushed down.

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I run a zip tie. It's sitting at the very bottom of the tube.

BTrain5489 said:

I run a zip tie. It's sitting at the very bottom of the tube.

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You need to increase spring tension/stiffness if your sag numbers are correct.


Ducati's are soft out of the factory, before replacing springs see if you can adjust then tighter and run less sag in the front.

I'm 200lbs and the stock springs worked perfect but I really had to tighten the front down may turns and play with the back spring and drive it and adjust to get the bike settled down in the bumpy stuff.

Most of the stock settings in sport mode should be perfect for your level at that point.


Sag is the foundation everything else is built from and the easiest to screw up.

Also for warm/hot tires I like 30-28 [your miles may very] but all I ride is bumpy

Mind you ideally your fork should almost bottom out at one spot on the track so it means you are using all the available travel

Marmoot said:

Mind you ideally your fork should almost bottom out at one spot on the track so it means you are using all the available travel

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I was under the impression that you wanted to have 10-15mm of travel left over just in case right?

I'm also still working on using more of the brakes so it's also early to be bottoming out wouldn't you say?

If you have a way to analyse / log the track performance, you can aim at that ideal state of having just one point where it juust bottom out.
If you don't, yes you'd want that 10mm of travel reserve just in case.
But this is the problem with travel indicator zip tie type solution, it tells you the max but does not tell you when and how often.
Check out my YouTube channel (Marmoot) for an example of cheap suspension fork logger i made with just a few bucks.