Ok ok....... I admit it - don’t mention the suspension!

I rather sheepishly admit that since buying my CR 12 months ago, I have not touched the suspension! Am I on my own in the shocking admission?

It handled well with the original settings, it handled even better when I fitted carbon fibre wheels with Michelin Power RS tyres.

Can’t help but think however that it may handle even better again, if I got a local suspension specialist to set up the suspension. I’m 6ft and 100 Kilos.

Would like to hear the experience of others.

Thanks guys

Steve
Sunshine Coast

I don’t think you are alone!

But I don’t think you’re being sheepish either, unless you know what you’re doing it is perhaps wise to leave well alone.

The trouble with modern adjustable suspension is that it is SO adjustable it is very easy to get wrong and over compensate in one area to try and balance out an incorrect setting in another.

A specialist won’t charge much and will most likely make a very noticeable difference.

I remember a mate with an R1 who got it adjusted track side on a track day and he couldn’t believe the difference, it was a few years ago and he still goes on about it!

I’ll be having my CR pro set up when it’s got a few more miles on it and the suspension has settled.

I’m 6 foot and 94kg and I find the stock settings somewhat on the hard side to be honest.

I had my Dominator set correctly by a specialist. I thought it was too hard and needed to be softened Turned out to be the opposite. Rides like its on rails now

When I bought my bike, the dealership asked my inseam and weight. Who knows. I'm happy with the suspension the way it is. Going from a 40 year old bike to the Norton, anything would have felt right.

I've only had my 2015 Sport for 5 months, but I can tell you what my experience with its suspension setup has been. When I bought it, the original owner had left all the settings at or very near the service manual specs, except for having cranked all the preload out of the rear shocks. I rode it that way, and it felt like it wanted to oversteer in corners, and took too much force to turn in. I ended up raising the fork tubes until it felt more neutral to me. When I was happy with that, I set all the preload and damping adjustments to the factory service manual specs, and rode it some more. It seemed a bit harsh in the bumps, and when I checked the sag, front and rear, both were less than the recommended values. When I cranked the front preload down to minimum, the sag was within the recommended limits, but with the rear shock at minimum preload, the sag was still way below the recommended values. I'm planning to try the next softer rear springs, and see how that works. Might even try some softer front springs, just to see if it's an improvement. With the softer springs, I'll probably have to make some changes to the damping settings, but that shouldn't be a big deal. It just takes time and is a good excuse for more riding on challenging roads.

I ought to make it clear that the bike has been ok to ride the whole time. I'm not trying to fix any glaring defects, just fine tuning it to suit me and my riding choices. If I were racing it, the existing spring rates might be just fine, but I'm not.

Ken

Thanks for your feedback guys.

I am going to make time to take the Norton to MPE Suspension up here on the Sunshine Coast. I’ll give you some feedback when it is complete.

Regards.

Steve

Ressurrecting this to ask Ken how much did you raise the fork tubes? Apologies if you have already posted that elsewhere.
Did 160 miles today, first ride on the 961 since late Nov and having been riding my DRZ in the meantime the 961 handling foibles were obvious again. Definitely have to force it around the corner so would be nice to sort that.

Edit - now that i have posted this i have found another thread which looks like 1/2" raise, was that the final answer?

I settled on having the fork tubes 5/16"/8mm above the top of the yoke. And I did end up changing the rear springs for softer ones. I posted about that in some detail in this thread

https://www.accessnorton.com/NortonCommando/suspension-adjustment.28077/page-2#post-431367

I'm still experimenting with small changes to the settings, front and rear. It's a trade off between plush ride in the bumps and stable high speed cornering feel. If I go too far in the cushy ride direction, it starts to feel a bit less nimble in quick turn-ins and a bit vague in higher speed corners. If I get it feeling nice and taught in the tight stuff and stable in the higher speed sweepers, it's a bone shaker on some of the rougher roads we ride. And it also depends a bit on one's riding style. A rider who has more of a point-and-squirt style needs a different setup than a keep-up-the-corner-speed style. I think I'm pretty close to as good as I can get for my style without trying to separately tune high and low speed damping by changing the shim stacks, and that's probably beyond my skill level at this point. And in truth, I think the handling and ride are pretty impressive just as it is. If I wanted to go any further, as in going racing with it, I'd probably enlist the services of a specialist like Racetech. But road racing is now some 15 years in the past for me, so I think I'll just be happy with what I have.

Ken

Perfect, thankyou.

My Street 961 was transformed by MCT in the UK, an Ohlins expert. Well worth the £100. The Ohlins forks for my bike were actually made for a Horex VR6 by Ohlins. Not Norton...

Depending how heavy you are - I’m 16-17 stone - if you’re going to track day the bike a lot, stiffer fork springs if you’re my weight. For road use the std ones are fine..

Thanks Pete, 15 stone here and aiming for 14 .
Road only for me, but not for while now. I need to get into the clutch so i guess that means a full rebuild is on the way...