Got my forks back today and will install them over the weekend. I won't be riding for a while yet as the snow is still melting and sand and salt are all over the roads.
After speaking with my suspension guru, he feels that the Marzzochi internals are quality components and that a Race Tech piston probably wasn't necessary - just revalve the MZ piston. Anyway, the RTs are in and we will see how it goes.
Sorry for not giving a review sooner - I've been busy riding and enjoying life.
I am about 195lbs with gear. Front sag is 38 mm with 6-7 turns in with the factory spring. Comp and reb are 3 clicks out. Forks are at the factory height in the triples. I also installed a Bitubo XXF61 shock and kept the factory settings. Rear sag is 25mm. Note this shock is about 6mm shorter than the Sachs.
My susp guru set the fork comp and rebound adjusters to about 3 clicks out in order to balance the suspension front and rear. Even with the adjusters turned in considerably, the fork still bottomed out at the track and to lesser degree on the street.
The guru said this might happen due to a "comfort shim" in the stack. The way I understand it, the comfort shim is the first shim against the piston, followed by a clamping shim. It allows for a plusher ride by allowing comfort shim deflections without deflecting the whole shim stack. The down side is for EG. On a long relatively easy braking where only the comfort shim deflects the fork could be through considerable travel, then you hit a large bump and it bottoms out.
I had the Pani at the track yesterday and the fork bottomed out on almost every session. I experimented with more compression damping but it didn't fix the problem. My last session I lost the front end and crashed while trail braking into a slow hairpin. I'm not saying that was the cause of my crash but the zip tie on my fork showed that it had bottomed out again.
Except for the bottoming issue, I thought the bike handled well, and it went where I pointed it. I was about 4 seconds off the pace of my usual track bike, an 08 gixxer 1000 - not bad for first time on the track with the Pani.
The damage on the Pani is mostly cosmetic and is amazingly minimal. I need a clutch cover, brake lever, rear brake pedal and bar end. The lower fairing got a tiny bit of rash on the lower ridge where it surrounds the clutch cover but I'm already getting a new one under warranty because it was melting on the exhaust.
My plan is to have my forks revalved this winter using the stock Marzzochi pistons and NO comfort shim.
Just a quick note on the Bitubo shock. You'd think with 25mm sag that the shock would be unbearably stiff but I found it to be suprisingly plush. I'm using almost all the available travel with no bottom out. Hope this helps.
