Suspension and geometry gurus

Bike takes a bit of effort to turn in and has to be forceably held in to the corner once at the desired lean angle.

Discuss.....

 

Tires flat?

 

AzZn driver?

 

What bike?

 

... Thermosman...

 

Does it stand up when brakes are applied?

 

Who uses brakes mid corner

Seriously though not that I've noticed

 

My wheelbarrow does this also. Please advise.

 

asking as extra info on forces input

 

Your bike is a wheelbarrow...... Lol

 

Not that I've noticed. The bike just feels much heavier than it is

 

Call Kent at GMDATL...stop guessing and actually get it set up. Suspension is one thing...getting the bike measured and having the geometry set up is an entirely different deal.

 

A Harley, so yes you are correct

 

I was pretty fast on a 600, not the best rider, but could push past the limits of the tires/etc....felt 100% on it. 1-second behind the front pack/winning experts on 600's, but having to ride bike over my head to do it.
Then bought a new 06gsxr1K, bought Tman ohlins/etc + rec fork/shock height......FOUGHT that bike for 5 years. Could never go fast on it, could never push it, never pushed the tires on it. Retired in defeat in 2010, w/ permanent arm-pump, lol.

Finally had the bike put on local geometry machine in 2016, front end 25mm too low. Rear 10mm too high. Bike steered correctly after that, but I was already retired. Too late. Did couple slow TD's and street rode it for a minute, then sold it.
Cheaping out on geometry in my racing prime, one of the biggest f-ups of my life.

When I was racing my gsxr600 in 02, my friend/teammate was kind enough to let me ride his GMD'd gsxr600 bike in morning practice......it was INSANE! It did anything you asked it to do, it did things you didnt think you could do. Amazing! You could steer w/ the rear at will, rotate the bike at will. Couldnt do that on mine, not even once. THe GMD turned it from a streetbike into a real racebike.

If I could go back in time, GEOMETRY would have been my #1 important thing for bike prep. I didnt want to spend the time/money, and it ruined my riding/memories/results.

 

One of the things I miss about racing is working through suspension stuff. It was always fun to me to make changes to see what the effect was. It has been a few too many years for me to come up with a solid answer to your question. Just a couple thoughts/questions...
What bike?
Has this always been a problem with this bike?
Have you changed tire brands lately or tire size/profile?
Does the bike run wide or will it hold the line if you force it?
My initial thoughts are tire profile or the bike is too low. Take that with a grain of salt though.

Edit:If Ken Hill sees this post, I'm sure he can give you the right answer

 

I would drop the front end 5mm and raise the rear 5mm. Since we don't know what bike it is, what suspension is on it and what the current setup is I am just throwing out some numbers for fun. They have no actual utility for anybody, but they are some numbers and a quantifiable change. I would bet they would have a negative effect on your problem and will only illustrate that you should be getting advice from your suspension guy at the track so you can change some settings and make note of the results. If my suggestions don't help, try going 10mm in the other direction. You might want to change some preload, one way or the other and do you have some knobs you could fiddle with on the shock? That might help.

 

if the bike doesnt enter well on the brakes and its at a reasonable range on the fork stroke, I add shock length. if its not where I want in the fork stroke, I adjust preload to get it there before adjusting shock length. if the bike doesnt enter well off the brakes, I remove remove fork preload or adjust ride-height depending on where its at in the stroke.

"forcible held in the corner" suggests to me that u are way out of range and should pay for some better numbers.

 

Lower the front 5mm.
Are you satisfied with corner exit??
How it leaves the corner would determing if I lowered the front with fork height, preload or spring rate.

 

Bike is an 05 gsxr600. Was unrideable till Thermosman raised the rear end 5mm at the shock. Huge huge difference. Would love to go more but the rear starts lifting under braking

 

Well you are already working with an expert, what did he say to do? On this comment above, I would probably put a bit more spring in the front.