revtothelimit - motorbike forum

In my quest for the perfect bike, i have turned my steely gaze toward the suspension of my baby.
It is well known that the XSR is too firm at the back and too soft at the front.
I had a zx6r shock (£23 ebay special) lurking around that the mt boys use, but i could not get it to fit on the xsr.
However a quick check found it to be the same length spring and pretty close in diameter, so out came the compressors and in a flurry of spanners the spring was swapped over and slapped back in the bike.
The front end has pretty unique springs so a compromise was required.
This was found in the way of some 9n/mm ohlins springs for a gsxr6 (£25 ebay haggle) and 2 x 40mm spacer from an R1 fork.
Still messing about with ride heights but most importantly the front no longer dives like jacques cousteau and the rear doesnt try and kick you about over the rough stuff.

I'm struggling with this as the front and overall bike feels great to me.

I'd love to try a fettled front end bike to see, but I'm not noticing an issue honestly.

I know it's common though that people swap springs etc on the front, hence I've looked at Ktech ssk kit and springs, but up to now I've not jumped on it.

It depends on how heavy you are to start with.
The oe springs are for @175lbs max.
If you are heavier than that then you need different springs.
As for damping, it's a budget bike, so has budget adjustment. You were impressed by the difference a semi decent shock made, you'll wet your pants with a decent front end set up.

IOU0 wrote: Wed Sep 09, 2020 7:58 pm It depends on how heavy you are to start with.
The oe springs are for @175lbs max.
If you are heavier than that then you need different springs.
As for damping, it's a budget bike, so has budget adjustment. You were impressed by the difference a semi decent shock made, you'll wet your pants with a decent front end set up.

I'm up around 200-210 so yeah in that ball park of being heavier.

I can see mine getting tweaked before Portimao