Track Days on Stock Suspension?

Ah, Motorcycle USA. Miss that magazine/site.

 

Not OP, but I needed to hear this. It's easy to get caught up in the gear war in this activity.

 

Not sure if this will help the OP, but when I raced I first rode a bone stock 01 gsxr 600 (older and slower than the other bikes at that time), never knew enough to even set the sag, using faster guys takeoffs, and eventually got on the podium and even won a race. At the time I was about 5 seconds off the pace of the fast experts at my home track. Then I bought a race-prepped bike from an expert and the thing almost killed me.

What can we learn from this? I don't know, but relish these times where you are "slow" and don't yet face the stress and complexities that will come with going faster. Focus on being smooth, and don't rush it.

 

Good advice. Also spend your money on schools and track time. It's easy to blow $1000.00 on suspension or other farkles that won't do anything to make you a better rider but that money will buy a lot of education or track time.

 

But ultimately, you ended up being faster right?

To the OP,
I feel it's a combination of things. If a change makes you more comfortable on the bike, it will probably make you faster.
If a part allows set up of a bike that requires less effort to ride fast, it will probably make you faster.
Identifying a problem and correcting it with technique/seat time, setup changes AND possibly new parts are all paths to improvement.
But, yeah, just having fancy parts won't do diddly without a reason. A fancy yellow shock set at the exact same ride height won't necessarily fix your problems.

Don't forget the small stuff too like ergo things. Foot peg position, tank grips, throttle free play set up, clip on angle, throttle and clutch angle. Taken to the extreme, look what a tank modification did for Lorenzo at Ducati. (yeah, there were probably a million other changes, too)

 

To anyone willing to look back at this, thank you. At the end of it, I overcomplicated with the geometry changes and aftermarket parts. K7 forks don't need a revalve, stock shock is probably fine. I'll play around with fork position and decide on chain length for wheelbase. Ultimately shock length at 330mm once the penske gets rebuilt, and maybe a penske fork revalve next winter. Track resident will set my adjusters, I'll report any findings just in case anyone is desperate to find the perfect setup for a 15 year old bike haha

 

I know this is an old thread, but if anybody is searching for the info, it's virtually timeless.

As it has to do with stock suspension needing any work, there's only one criteria...has it run out of needed adjustability?
Coincidentally, that same criteria applies to an upgraded system, too.

If ever there was an application for the old axiom “ain't broke, don't fix it” it most certainly applies to modern sportbikes. Such a simplification, however, would not include refresh maintenance or, you're so damn good you have your own suspension guy that's constantly rebuilding your equipment for specific tracks, weather, etc...

Just ride it. When you can no longer dial in the desired comfort and/or control, fix it. Remember that tires are also part of the suspension equation. It's really that simple.

 

Hold on!....what on Earth are you talking about?!













.....pretty sure, that's what we were all unanimously telling you last spring.

 

Yup...."just ride it"....timeless advice

I might offer up 2 caveats and again even these may be dependent to a large degree on how fast you are riding.

1) you are riding and OOOOLLLLDD ass bike, like vintage class and it uses old damper rod forks that don't offer up much adjustability to begin with. I've ridden a couple that were a bit scary because the front would pogo rather noticeably because the forks had such a weak rebound circuit and no clickers to tune anything out. Some OEM bits can have a severe weakness inherent to them, BUT this scenario is not likely ever going to be applicable to most anymore.

2) and this is probably the more important one is if your weight puts you grossly out of the range of the stock spring rate. You don't need to be setting the track on fire to have the benefit of using the proper rate springs for your weight. So whether that means you're a featherweight and need softer ones or a hefty fellow and need stiffer ones simply to properly support your weight before you even get on the track.

 

Yep. The stock k5 gsxr 1000 is plenty to start. I ended up with K7 triple clicker forks as mine were bent and they were locally available. Mild geometry change but generally enjoyed by those who decided to do the swap. The stock springs are suited for my weight, if anything I'll go to linear springs when I do seals. I'll play with lowering the front triples up to 7mm of gold showing, play with the stock shock height with some shims, and probably use a 114 link chain. And then at some point maybe get the penske shock rebuilt and install their fork valving kit. If I could do it over again I would have found k5 forks and get the bike completely stock and well maintained to establish a baseline. Fortunately others have gone down this path repeatedly so I finally have reasonable assurance that my setup is good enough.