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Setting Suspensions Sag on a Stelvio NTX

C

canuck1969

GT Reference
GT Contributor
Joined
May 31, 2012
Messages
1,240
Location
Burlington, Ontario
Anyone set up the suspension on a ntx yet. What is the typical sag that people are using. I am seeing 30 to 35MM for race sag (with rider on). Does that sound right for the amount of travel on the NTX suspension. On my KLR I used 33% of full suspension travel.

With the travel on the NTX that comes to be a rather large number (rear travel is 155mm, front is 170mm, therefore at 33% travel that becomes 52mm Rear and 56 on Front).

Also, is a 50/50 balance ideal for the ntx or more bias to the rear. Willing to experiment and document but need some good starting values. I know it is sometimes personal preference and feel but would like to hear some feedback if anyone has tried it. My current setup is fine and feels good. Just thought I would try to put some numbers to it.
 
I did some experimentation with it. The sag numbers out of the crate I do not have written down but they are somewhat irrelevant in my case, as the front preload was found to be 6 turns in from full soft on the right fork, and 8 turns on the left one :shock: That was reset to 9 turns in, and the shock preload was set to half-way on the remote adjuster. At this point, with the tank 3/4 full and me on the bike in full riding gear at around 234lbs (at 56F ambient temperature, if anyone cares :), the sags were as follows:

Front -- 42 and 57mm free/rider (25 and 34% of full suspension travel, respectively)
Rear -- 17.5 and 51mm free/rider (11 and 33% of full travel)

This setup was rather forgiving and plush for leisurely riding solo. Freeways for days would have felt cozy. Twisties were ok -- again, at a leisurely pace -- but pushing the bike did not feel great. Putting a passenger on the back resulted in very wallowy front end. Makes me think there definitely was extreme rearward bias and the front was flying high and proud. And that's how it felt.

I then experimented more and right now ride with 4 turns out preload in the front (or 11.5 turns in from soft, there's 15.5 turns total) and the rear preload set to 12 turns out from full clockwise). I would have to re-measure the sag numbers with this as I only seem to have records for the previous couple of setups but it is closer to 31/29% of full travel F/R for rider sag. I also dropped the front end by raising the forks 4mm in the triple clamp.

This setup is much more controllable and can be pushed quite a bit, even two-up, but the simple fact remains that for my weight (again. 230-240 lbs in full riding gear) and riding preferences, the springs and valving are way too soft. Jacking up preload a LOT produces very small changes in sag numbers and is merely a bandaid that only achieves a reasonable compromise.
 
quick test for balance front and rear,(it gets you in the ball park) ride along in a straight line about 30-50mph stand on the pegs or lift your butt off the seat and bounce the suspension, With a steady throttle you should feel no pitching front and rear, the suspension should compress even and the front and rear should rebound at the same rate, and use just enough rebound damping to not over shoot back to the start of the bounce.

I have just torn down all a '12NTX, suspension, forks rear shock, and the front carts.( that was interesting)

there is a post I made about what I found on the first page.

look down and you will see it.

the stance of this bike is about most favorable at 30% of travel as sag both ends(for a aggressive road rider. make sure you have 8mm bike sag in the rear, and 15-20 in the front, then 30% when you are on the bike. at those cond. you have good spring rates
 
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