[Ike]

Hi,

I am super confused by the manual for this bike when it comes to front spring preload! The manual states that fully CLOCKWISE is the full OPEN position. for street it wants 2 turns out from fully open (so two turns counter clockwise), and for track 6 turns counter clockwise.

Is this a typo? Is turned fully CLOCKWISE on the fork preload adjuster actually the setting for MAXIUMUM PRELOAD? or fully CLOCKWISE on the fork preload adjuster the MINIMUM PRELOAD setting?

The area where it's confusing is the terminology "FULL OPEN". I'm a heavy dude 220lbs and i had my sag setup at a dealership and my front fork preload adjusters were set to fully clockwise and just want to make sure that fully open means maximum preload.

Summary: Just looking for a difinitive answer on what FULLY CLOCKWISE means for the fork preload adjuster.

Thanks,

 

[DJ Shrug]

Full open means you hit the stop when you turn the adjuster counter-clockwise.

So yes, I believe that's a typo or perhaps a translation or process explanation error. You are correct in stating that full clockwise is maximum preload.

 

[dougo1199]

At max preload the adjusters will be turned all the way in (clockwise) And vise versa for all the way out. (counter clockwise) Ultimately you want to check the sag (free and rider) and make your preload adjustments accordingly.

 

[Pard]

At max preload the adjusters will be turned all the way in (clockwise) And vise versa for all the way out. (counter clockwise) Ultimately you want to check the sag (free and rider) and make your preload adjustments accordingly.

Experimenting with front fork preload is absolutely worth doing using the manual as a starting point.

I started with reducing front fork preload to below the "comfort" setting. Basically 1.5 turns in from full out or 6 clicks in whatever metric you use. The manual comfort settings are 2 full turns in from full out, 8 clicks.

Using the zip tie on the fork method I have found getting very close to but not actually bottoming out make the panigale perform to my liking on the twistys. Too much preload made the bike harder to get turned, for me.

I need to play around with damping then some compression adjustments. I set the damping as per the manual and I cannot detect any 2nd stroke rebound, and front to back balance seems good.

This is a good article on some do it yourself suspension tuning:

Motorcycle Suspension Set-up