Best suspension book?

[jviss]

I just bought what looks like a great book; it was an Amazon recommendation.

 

It's Race Tech's Motorcycle Suspension Bible, by Paul Thede and Lee Parks.

 

book link on Amazon

 

I would like to know others' view on the best suspension book.

 

Thanks,

 

jv

 

[Firefight911]

That one is certainly one of the best out there! Highly recommend it.

 

I also have Wilber's Suspension Book. Very good info in here as well!!

 

These are great for theory and understanding but there will be no better learning than going out, with a log book, and actually playing for a day with all the settings you have available to you on the bike. Find a good "test road" and start playing. Run every adjustment you have through it full range so you can feel the change. This will lay a great foundation for suspension tuning.

 

Most important tip I can give here is to ALWAYS use a log book and note every change you make. That way, as you play, you will always have a reference to your baseline, know what your baseline setting is, and be able to return to it when (not if) you get lost on your adjustments.

 

Suspension is not a black art but it is something that most won't take the time to learn. Other than your personal training (classes, track day, etc.) there is no better way to improve your ride than this!

[FlyingFinn]

+1 on what Phil said.

 

I have the same two books too, haven't really found many other dedicated motorcycle suspension books.

The Wilbers book is nice introduction to the topic, the Race Tech one has similar intro but then continues to read like a shop manual on fork and shock service.

 

Between the two I guess I like the Race Tech book better for its very practical information.

 

Another good resource is the "Sportbike Performance Handbook" by Kevin Cameron. It has couple chapters about suspension and frame geometry.

 

What makes this suspension stuff so interesting is that it's such a "soft science". You can accurately measure only few basic parameters and the wrest is more based on feel.

Lot or area between settings that would be obviously wrong.

 

The bad thing is that there's lot of confusing and even incorrect information out there.

Take spring preload as an example. Even many "experts" seem to be bit confused about what it does and what it does not do.

 

--

Mikko

[Selden]

Most important tip I can give here is to ALWAYS use a log book and note every change you make. That way, as you play, you will always have a reference to your baseline, know what your baseline setting is, and be able to return to it when (not if) you get lost on your adjustments.

+1 on keeping records. After arriving at what seems like my preferred settings, I place paint marks on the adjustable bits; makes it a lot easier to remember changes, especially on a road trip, and after travelling two-up.

[jviss]

Thanks all. The Wilber's book looks good, but isn't available on Amazon, unfortunately (I'm addicted to Amazon, and I have the 'Prime' subscription). I'll wait.

 

I'm in complete agreement on keeping records. I still have all of my engineering notebooks (except the ones that were classified). It has paid dividends to have good records.

 

One thing that brought this up is that after I installed the Ohlins last month, and without setting them up, just riding the bike in the driveway I noticed it wanted to dive during sharp, slow-speed turns. I'm guessing the tail is too high, and it's messing up the steering geometry; we'll see.