Dave Moss Suspension Clinic

Ksm1000

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Apr 23, 2020
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Los Angeles
He set up your stock suspension? I am guessing you have a non-ES bike? What settings did he use? Or is that a secret? ;)
2014 non-ES stock. New to me as of about 2 months. I weigh about 180 pounds in gear. I had vaguely set my sag with the limited assistance of my 12 year old son. I had also set compression and rebound initially to the standard settings based on the manual and adjusted a little from there. Dave sets sag less by measuring and more by feel. When he was done the rear preload was set near maximum hard and front was backed way out. It was the inverse of what I had arrived with. He then set rear rebound to (I think) about 12 clicks out and front to maybe 10 out. Then I went for a ride. Back end felt perfect and the ride in general was greatly improved - smooth, balanced, comfortable. Then he opened up the front rebound a couple more clicks. He would adjusts then I would ride. We did this 3-4 times till it seemed the best. The ride now feels great. The recommendation is to ride this way for a while, switch to a 15wt fork oil, ride some more, raise the forks 8mm, and ride some more. It was just a really helpful and informative experience. Took a little over an hour.
 
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Boris

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Dec 21, 2013
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midlands. UK
I raised my forks about 8mm not too long after I got my Gen1 bike, about 4 years and 31k miles ago. Made such a positive improvement.
 

Cantab

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Mar 15, 2020
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482
Location
Christchurch NZ
2014 non-ES stock. New to me as of about 2 months. I weigh about 180 pounds in gear. I had vaguely set my sag with the limited assistance of my 12 year old son. I had also set compression and rebound initially to the standard settings based on the manual and adjusted a little from there. Dave sets sag less by measuring and more by feel. When he was done the rear preload was set near maximum hard and front was backed way out. It was the inverse of what I had arrived with. He then set rear rebound to (I think) about 12 clicks out and front to maybe 10 out. Then I went for a ride. Back end felt perfect and the ride in general was greatly improved - smooth, balanced, comfortable. Then he opened up the front rebound a couple more clicks. He would adjusts then I would ride. We did this 3-4 times till it seemed the best. The ride now feels great. The recommendation is to ride this way for a while, switch to a 15wt fork oil, ride some more, raise the forks 8mm, and ride some more. It was just a really helpful and informative experience. Took a little over an hour.
Dave comes down to New Zealand in our summer and does his stuff, ive had him set up previous bikes to great success , apart from much better improved handling a bonus is your braking distances are less, the front end compresses more of the tyre and you gain more footprint.
One of Daves set up days included spending a whole day riding with us and fine tuning adjustments as the oils got hot , and it also helps him understand the type of roads and terrain that we ride to refine again.
He goes to bike shops, rallies and race meetings giving advice and set ups - top bloke indeed.
 

fac191

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Jun 22, 2016
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London
I have watched a few videos of his. Mostly its sport bike riders who wind the rear spring on too much. I think it takes away the static sag or whatever it is.
 

Longdog Cymru

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Jul 21, 2018
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1,665
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Swansea, Wales, UK
I had a Yamaha FZ600 which I set up according to one of the monthly magazines “experts”. The UK members on here may remember the mag, it was called “Fast Bikes”. Anyhow, I set my FZ exactly as they said for my weight, etc. I rode it like that for several months thinking it was the dogs bollox. Then, one day, I was thinking of selling it so I returned the suspension settings to stock and took it for a ride. Jeez! What a difference! It had much better ride quality and it also handled and turned better too! That was the very last time I trusted a journalist! You live and learn!

I have watched a few of Dave Moss videos and while some may not be relevant, they are always well presented and informative.
 

LJM

Active Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2015
Messages
171
Location
Sonoma County CA
Suspension settings are very subjective and different for each rider.
Not really the way to approach or think about motorcycle suspension there are certain parameters that need to be set correctly as a baseline for all riders to make the suspension work properly and from that point you can start talking about "subjective". For a moto such as the ST and it's use the set up will be fairly simple and well worth checking out on standard suspension.
Dave Moss used to set my race bikes at the track He is really good and fixes problems you don't even know you had He's very straight forward guy making the bike safer, faster & even improving tire wear. Sometimes you can end up chasing a problem creating more problems with suspension but that never happened with Dave.
 
B

ballisticexchris

Guest
I am in agreement that getting suspension set up by a pro is very helpful. The parameters are so broad that the baselines are very subjective depending on riding condition or personal preference. I have yet to see a "baseline" suspension setting that will work for all riders.

An example is my sag setting on my Super Tenere. By all rights my bike is way under sprung and should be very ill handling. It's simply not the case. With a quick swap of the dog-bone linkage in the back to raise my bike and some various damping preload adjustments my bike is transformed into a very comfortable machine.
 

fac191

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Jun 22, 2016
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London
I put my ES on rider plus luggage and rode ir solo. First impression is it turns in quicker feels firmer etc. However you feel like you are riding on top of the spring as you are robbing it of its stroke. Changing it back it feels right.
 

Sierra1

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Nov 7, 2016
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Joshua TX
Not really the way to approach or think about motorcycle suspension there are certain parameters that need to be set correctly as a baseline. . . .
Yes, and no? Yes: The settings must have a baseline to operate safely. No: There are too many variables for a "proper" setting, for you, me, or Chris. I've been riding for a little while. . . . all street, but no loooong distance. I feel I can tell the difference between a "good" handling bike, and a "bad" handling bike. With the ES, if the bike is not doing what I/you want. . . . adjust 'till it does. When I first got this bike, I made large suspension adjustments; soft to hard, -3 to +3. Once you understand the effect o each, pick the one that works. My opinion: once you understand how/what the adjustments cause handling wise, you can get the "right" set up for the "conditions of the day". I don't think that I'm the only one that has large variations in road surfaces. So, one setting will never work for everything.

I have no doubt that Mr. Moss knows his business. And, I have no doubt that I could learn something from him. I also hope that he teaches each person how to evaluate their suspension, and make the proper adjustment(s). The whole "teach a man to fish" thing. :)
 
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