Does anyone have ride height numbers for the 04 gix 6 yet? I'm looking for shock length, and fork tube height. I will be running dunlop's. Also can someone tell me where to get Vesrah JBl's , are they out for this bike yet? I read something about them gumming up rotors, is this true, I've never run them before. Also did anyone have any problems that I will run into, setting up the bike. Thanks in advance
I raced mine at Talladega last weekend with mixed results largely due to setup problems/issues. I had Thermosmans numbers before hand but in his defense (he was not at the track) I could not make those setup numbers work for me. Granted I know very little in the suspension setup routine, enough to be dangerous so you can read between the lines on this. My bike pushed the front, washed the front & lit up the rear for 3 solid days, ate 5 tires in the process. I've talked with Mike since then & he assured me Barber would be different, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Anyway my numbers are listed below: Fork tube placement 5mm above top triple to cap line. Rear ride height at 336mm eye to eye. I run Michelins so your setup will definetly be different. Mike told me fork tubes flush with top tree on Pirellis, I reminded him then I was on Michelins Front sag at 40mm, I set mine at 35mm, I was bottoming out under braking at 40mm. I had my compression on the front at 1 turn out. Mike did the front forks on my bike with Penske kit internals. Rear sag at 30mm, I have since discovered I had almost 38mm sag on the rear so that could have been some of my problem. My rear shock is a Penske. No rear chatter problems during the weekend on the pushing front & spinning rear. Like I said earlier I was 2 seconds off my usual comfortable pace that I used to run on my '01 with the same suspension components. The '04 just did not seem to like Mike's settings with me on board. That will change at Barber, I hope to be flying there instead of riding a bucking bronco! Brake pads: I used the RJL's on the front of my '01 & loved them. I had the JBL's on the rear, never used them much but I needed a set & they were cheaper than stock. The front OEM pads on the '04 are pretty good once bedded in. Nice strong feel once you grab onto the lever. One finger braking at race pace is good with no fade. They don't bite as hard initially as the Vesrah RJL's but once on the binders they are very strong all the way in. The Vesrah RJL's never caused any problems with my front rotors, never had any gummy issues on the rear with the JBL's either. I usually roughed up the front rotors with some 600 grit sand paper in between pad changes. It really wasn't necessary but I can be anal at times.
I'm also Running Dunlop's on my 04' 600. this past weekend was the first weekend riding it with the penske shock and traxxion forks valved. You definitely need around 6 or 7 mm on the shock clevis from fully turned in. and on the forksi'm running around 5mm. seems to be great but curiou to see what other's come up with.
Thanks guys, you both have about the same set-up, so I will start there. I have my forks at 8mm, from top of tripple clamp, and I am pretty sure that the rear shock was arounk 330mm, so 6-7 mm sounds like your both pretty close to each other. I haven't ridden the bike as of yet. I will post when I get back from Beaver this weekend. If I get good weather on Friday I should be able to find something that will work. Might rain on us out there, if so I won't be able to get a great baseline, but am going to try. If I find anything that works better I will post my numbers.
what about your 03 set-up? hey bill, I'm settin up an 03 r6 for beaver. can you tell me what numbers you ran with last year as a starting point? see ya tomorrow....
Just a follow-up on this post. I finally got my bike working well at Barber thanks to Thermosman! We ended up at 336mm on the rear with 5mm fork tube showing above top triple on Michelins. That is with a #425 spring on the rear, I'm a light weight & we are thinking mybe going with a #400 spring later. The rear still does not feel planted enough for my liking. Front is sticking like glue with the .90 kg springs & Penske compression rebound work, Thermosman did that also. I dropped 5 seconds in only 3 practice sessions from the time Mike 1st touched my bike. More tuning time & I could have gone faster. Only downside to this setup was I did have some instability over the rises at Barber but Mike told me to re-position my body more forward to counter this. I did & it somewhat helped. A radical setup change for two spots on the track was not in the equation at the time. Better steering damper may be in the works.
what are the ride height numbers for the 01-03 gsxr 600 i just got a penske and mike fiz will be at a different track thanks
Hey Mitch, sorry to hear about your crash Sat. I don't have the numbers from last year. I sold the bike to MR516 on the board, you could PM him and see if he has changed it at all. He was very cool and would probably give you the numbers. I had no idea what I was doing last year, and this season I have to make a huge improvement in my riding, so I'm going to be paying attention to every detail. I wish I could have made it this past weekend, just ran out of time and $$, that'll be a normal thing this year after spending 5 months off work. I'll be there at Grattan so that'll be my set-up track i guess.
thanks Bill. yeah, crashing sucks. I'm going to start ordering parts in about 10 minutes to see if I can get her back together for grattan. lost some skin on my left hand (can't recommend the Teknik Violator II glove). I'll be riding in pain regardless. hope to see you out there.
