Sport Settings

Hmmm.

I'd set my SD to 'sport' settings too. But when I took it to a suspension specialist in the UK, he laid claim that those settings were 5hite (he does a lot of work on KTM bikes...)
To be fair to the chap, after he'd tweaked the 'KTM Sport' setup, my bike started handling like a dream. So don't always rely upon the settings in the book and go and so a pro. Obvious really as everyone is different and wants something different...and you don't get that from a printed handbook.

Good luck!

Cheers guys.

thewall67 when you say "Fork: Compression 8 out Rebound 2 out from max" do you mean 12? Sport and Maximum Payload are 10, standard is 15.

Do i take it he left the preloads alone?

Hey Guys,

Colonel - by "2 out from max" I mean if you dialed the clickers all the way in (clockwise) and then backed it out (counterclockwise) 2. Same for compression. It was dialed all the way clockwise and then backed out counterclockwise 8. So using rebound as the comparison example where KTM Sport is 10 I'm at 2.

Yes, he left preload alone. I was an unscheduled appointment at the track that day so he just worked on balancing it out front to back with the clickers (explained to me as getting the front and back to rebound and compress at the same rate of speed).

cjc - no worries, questions and trading info are what forums are about.

Fork
Compression: 8 clicks from max (I'll try 3-5 from max on a smoother track)
Rebound: 2-3 clicks from max
Preload: KTM recs

Shock
Compression: 5 clicks from max
Rebound: Maxed
High Speed: KTM sport recs (will try a half turn closer to max next time out)
Preload: KTM recs

Sag - I just have the shock and fork at recommended preload settings. Amature I know not getting sag set first but I don't have any guidelines specifically for the SD. Typcially, my bodyweight has agreed well with KTM springs. So I just relied on that for now. That is mostly what I was referring to when I said I have more setup to go on this bike. Proper springs (if a change is needed) and sag settings.

What I do shoot for on sag is, in full gear, when I sit on the bike it puts me as close to dead in the middle of the suspension travel as I can get it. My dirt bike is setup this way. I've seen some sag threads get as opininated as oil threads. So bike, rider, riding style, equipment, etc. all factor in. I have the Leo Ti's. That stock exhaust is just ridiculous heavy. I'm sure I'm incomparably faster withou it

Geometry - No changes here. I just try with extra effot to keep my body over the tank to get some more weight on the front of this style bike. I'm getting more and more confidence in the front end as I adapt to the bike from an R6.

Without a doubt go see a suspension pro your next track day. I have never regretted in the least spending money on this with my bikes. Also, I really feel anything less than KTM sport settings is not good. I accidentally ran my first two sessions at my first track day on the SD at standard settings. I seriously thought I made a bad choice in bikes. It was all over the place and was constantly having to back off the throttle. Then my brain woke up and I set it to sport settings. Big improvement. The next two track days as I adapted to the bike and got my speeds up to what they were on the R6 the bike started feeling a bit unstable again and the dive under braking was unsettling. So off to the suspension pro and I already stated my impression with that, awesome. I have no doubt I'll be happily surprised again once I get the springs and sag sorted (which will probably involve altered rebound and compression settings). I am a full believer when I hear the fast guys say forget power performance mods and invest in suspension and tyres first.

As far as bottoming the shock that is pretty odd. I would think your sag/preload is pretty far off for that to happen unless you are riding at a pretty advanced pace. I would guess to much preload. Not to be to assumptive but I remember a thread of yours about locking the knee on the tank. I think you said you felt you were getting bumped off the pegs a bit. That sounds like keeping to much of your bodyweight on your butt and not enough on the balls of your feet. I feel like I never have my full weight on my butt when at the track. I couldn't put a percentage on it but I'd say never more than 50% even on the straights. Going into corners and out the pegs I would think are supporting nearly all my body weight and my thigh on the tank is holding me on the bike. My butt is only gently kissing the seat . However, the clickers greatly affect that harsh ride feeling too. And by no means does alleviating a harsh ride automatically mean dialing the clickers out. It could mean the opposite. For example, if, say rebound, is to slow for a track you can lose suspension travel in aggressive cornering and/or bumpy sections due to a ractcheting effect. Suspension compresses but the rebound is to slow to move the wheel back to the track. The bike stays in a compressed state, next bump it compresses more, it doesn't rebound fast enough, you lose more suspension travel = harsh ride. Same could happen to the shock on corner exits and you'd get squat = harsh ride and the bike pushes making it hard to hold the line. Again, I wouldn't go near anything below KTM sport settings at a minimum.

Wow, I must really not want to do maintenance today running off at the mouth like this. Anyway, this is what I think I know and what I've done with the SD and I feel it's been a big improvement so far.

I have not touched the settings on mine at all

I don't even know what they are set to

It does buck and jump on bumpy roads but it always sorts itself out fairly quickly

So think I'll leave as is for now