Suspension fine tuning

Hi all,
I have a 2004 Supersport 1000DS and want to fine tune the suspension. I weigh about 200 w/riding gear and find the front fork springs a tad soft. I'm thinking about firmer springs (8 to 9 kg) and installing some Gold Valves also and replacing the rear dual rate Ohlins spring with a single rate version for my weight range.

Has anyone else gone down this road and have any suggestions, comments?
Thanks

Not to be condescending, but have you already set the ride height, preload (sag) and damping settings appropriately for your weight on the stock boingers? Personally, I'd do a lot of fiddling like that before I started changing hardware. I'll bet that at your weight you could get things set up pretty nicely.

Yes I have adjusted the settings from stock but the problem is that springs are really made for lighter riders (160-170 lbs) and the roads here are very potholed. Even dramatically increasing preload, etc does not prevent significant bottoming out, especially over frost heaves. I installed Ohlins front and back on my BMW a few years ago and ensured that the springs matched my weight and riding style and the improvement was dramatic compared to stock, even after constant fiddling with the stock set-up

Taken from Brad Black, and moto one. 200lbs.

Just setting the sag for my weight (90kg) and a twiddle of the damping knobs. Where I ended up is shown below. These settings seemed to settle the bike down a bit, and take a touch off the harshness.

Front: Rebound 10 clicks out
Compression 11 clicks out
Preload wound full in

Rear: Rebound 15 clicks out
Compression 10 clicks out
Preload unchanged

I went with 3 lines showing on the fork tube vs the standard 4 lines, and took a bit of rebond and compression out of the front..1 click out from standard, and fiddled with rear rebound, and compression (made them both a bit softer), leaving the spring preload standard and the ride height. Worked better than stock, but you have 25 pound on me.

Lou

I'd call the folks at BCM and ask what they think. While they were helping me set up my 1000DS race bike, they suggested a linear rate rear spring for my weight. Oddly enough, it was quite a bit softer than the stock rear spring.

Any idea what the front comes with? 0.95-1.0 kg/mm would probably be about right for you for the front. I had .9s in my old forks and am trying .85s in my new SBK conversion (1997 900 SS) but I weigh about 165-170 ready to ride and my bike's been on a serious diet (400 lbs. full of gas). Racetech has recommendations on their website but I hear they are on the light side unless you use their gold valves.
Joe

I understand that stock is .62kg and I should go with .85 to .90. I have a wrist injury so a little soft isn't all that bad compared to stock, which is too soft I will be installing gold valves. I talked to a really helpful tech at BCM about this and he said that the Supersports come too hard in the rear and too soft in the front and he recommended the single rate spring in the rear and .85 to .90kg for the front with gold valves.

.95 Spring with a C-35 or C-36 stack (C-36 if you like a little firmer feel.) If your not a track guy and want a softer set-up (assuming 200 w/o gear) you can go with .90 and C-35)