Mine is the 335 Ohlins and have the same spring with yours.At 230lbs mine works best at 11mm preload and open 3 clicks the rebound.Free length 170mm.Don't drop the forks.

 

I assume you're referring to rider sag?
The front should be 40 - 45mm, if you can't back off the preload anymore, your springs are too stiff.
30mm is a bit stiff for the rear too, it should be 35 - 38mm. You could check what the installed preload on the rear spring is, it should be 5 - 12mm from the springs free length.
In case you don't know. Installed preload is the amount of preload put onto the spring via the retaining collars when assembling the shock, this is with the preload adjustment backed right off.
I only have 7mm static sag on the rear.
Remember to set sag figures with the normal damping settings.

 

rider sag is the one mentioned above as 25mm for the front and 30-35-ish to the rear. Thing is, that with 25 on the front, it still almost bottoms out on the track. The rear however, has almost zero static sag, yeah, 7mm as yours also probably, which is A LOT less than it is recommended for example in Dave Moss-videos. Is it possible that the stock Öhlins doesnt allow any static sag on the rear? The front has great static sag, and its Kayaba-branded. Oh and no matter how much I turn the hydraulic preload adjuster on the back, the rider sag stays the same always. Anything im doing wrong?

 

There is a thread i started with same problem. I replaced spring collar. For 90 kg 95 N/mm shock spring in stock SP is to soft. Stock springs on forks on SP is to soft for track. I can sell you 10 N/mm k tech springs for 50€, im in CRO.

 

Uff I have just returned to this thread, after a nasty crash in September at the track. Bike is ok tho. Hmm, springs still up for sale? Maybe u have some rear springs also by any chance?

 

Your spring rates are too light. To get static in the ball park you need to add some spring rate so you can get some.

Fully adjustable doesnt mean what you think it does. LOL

 

Your spring rates are too light. To get static in the ball park you need to add some spring rate so you can get some.

Fully adjustable doesnt mean what you think it does. LOL

Yeah I was afraid of that also, but even with this light spring and zeeero preload I still didnt have any static sag. But as SLM13 said, Öhlins has made fake claims about the supposed 10mm free sag, which is 0 in real life.

 

Ohlins YA535 is the shock of MT09 SP;
The shock has 14mm of installed preload and Ohlins claim 10mm of static sag, but It's not what you mesure on the bike... The actual static sag is ZERO, period.

You could take down the shock and undo the upper ring to loose all the installed preload possible (about 1,5mm), then you'll have the chance to try out the bike with minimum preload and see IF the rider sag is OK and IF you can manage it by adding only A LITTLE preload in order to have A LITTLE static at least (about 5-7mm is the goal).
If your weight is in the right range to obtain a correct rider sag, you'll be fine.

I have that shock and I'm 84kg full geard up... I had to swap the spring from 95N/mm to 90N/mm because I felt the rear too stiff on bumpy road, but I don't think it will work for you as I don't do track riding and your weight is also a little higher

 

Ohlins YA535 is the shock of MT09 SP;
The shock has 14mm of installed preload and Ohlins claim 10mm of static sag, but It's not what you mesure on the bike... The actual static sag is ZERO, period.

You could take down the shock and undo the upper ring to loose all the installed preload possible (about 1,5mm), then you'll have the chance to try out the bike with minimum preload and see IF the rider sag is OK and IF you can manage it by adding only A LITTLE preload in order to have A LITTLE static at least (about 5-7mm is the goal).
If your weight is in the right range to obtain a correct rider sag, you'll be fine.

I have that shock and I'm 84kg full geard up... I had to swap the spring from 95N/mm to 90N/mm because I felt the rear too stiff on bumpy road, but I don't think it will work for you as I don't do track riding and your weight is also a little higher

Aaha! So its basically "normal". At the track, when coming out of turns and the rear shock releases the energy, it tops out so fast because of the lack of slack that I start drifting eeevery single time. Now knowing that it cant be helped, Im gonna add more rebound damping to compensate the lack of free/static sag lol.

 

Even the OEM Kayaba shock does not have sag at stock setting 4th groove.The Ohlins generally have stiffer harder feel.

 

You could try out longer dogbones (range: +2 mm / + 4 mm): you should find the missing static (no more drifting out of corners and other important benefits); cons: the rear lift up (+6mm / + 12 mm), the link progression will be steeper (maybe a little less shcck preload it will be needed, to compensate), chain slack has to be adjusted because it will increase quite a bit, the wheelbase it will shorten a bit too..

Personally I wouldn't go out of the +2/+4 mm range and I woulndn't go for a stiffer shock spring either if you're 90kg because Ohlins spring seems to be on the stiff side.

Another option could be buying a shorter Ohlins spring spacer for the bottom of the shock: it could bring the knob adjuster in a more proper range, so that it could be used and not being pretty much useless as long as it has to sit turned completely out

 

Im already running 200/65.5 V02 slicks in the rear, that lifted the rear a bit but not enough, went with 20mm jack up dogbone kit, and now im going with the 40mm jack up kit and 180/60 tire and dropped the front 4mm. Im gonna test it out, how it feels, so far so good. The front end was just reaaaally moving about, like before corners with speeds above 140-150kmh at national size circuits, I had to close the throttle rapidly to put more weight on the front so the geometry would allow me to actually take the turn, I hope this now eliminates that problem.

I also dont mind the rear lifting up, as im a 194cm guy, and came from a gixxer 1000 trackbike with suuper tall rear end.

Additionally, with the MT I always find myself dragging the stock exhaust headers and the stator cover (stock pegs completely dissapeared after 2-3 trackdays, I can attach a photo or something). So lifting up the rear should help a bit with that too/more ground clearence.

Also, where could I get that spring spacer you are talking about?

 

Anyone figured out the static sag on MT. Bought month ago '21 mt 09 SP and its a bit stif in the rear. Didn't do the measurements, just checked static sag and it has none. It's from factory all the way out, remote adjuster has still turn or two out but the spring is not going nowhere as it it all the way to installed preload.
Can't statc be gained by removing all installed preload? As it is obviously to much or the spring is to stif for the bike.

 

I've seen the SP MY21 in the shop and the Ohlins shock seemed the same as the previous version (YA535), the stock spring is still K95... the only difference seemed the silver color - instead of gold - of the knob bracket. If so, it means that even the new MT has the same "almost zero" dogbone link design and with K95 sprins and 14mm of installed preload the sag is zero evan with zero manual preload (very smart move from Ohlins ).
If you take away the 1 - 1,5 mm max of the installed preload you can generate a little static sag (about 4 - 5mm). I switched to a K90 and with very little preload I have the (small) static I need.
I can't believe they scew it up even the MY21 !

 

I've seen the SP MY21 in the shop and the Ohlins shock seemed the same as the previous version (YA535), the stock spring is still K95...

My 2021 SP has the 01092-29/90 rear spring as well.

Interesting . . . perhaps the spring was changed during the 2021 model year from 95 K-m to 90 K-m?

 

Will see what can I gain with stock spring unwind first and do some measurements. Im not riding to hard and street only. Maybe with loosening installed preload and a bit more rebound can do the trick.

 

There has to be initial preload to keep the spring secure. The more important figure is rider sag.
FWIW I have a 550in/lb spring, initial preload is 14mm with 1mm added on the preload adjuster. Sag with 87kg's on board is 38mm, static sag is 10mm.

 

Of course the sprig has to be secured with some preload before putting it in. But I dont know is the preload to high or spring to stiff for the bike as without additional preload the bike is topped and has no play. As mentioned, will check sag with me on it (without any added preload) and if its to small or arround good figures that means that its to stiff. Am I thinking in right direction?
Also by loosening installed preload i can gain some sag, of course keeping the spring in place, not meaning loosening that it has a play.

 

Of course the sprig has to be secured with some preload before putting it in. But I dont know is the preload to high or spring to stiff for the bike as without additional preload the bike is topped and has no play. As mentioned, will check sag with me on it (without any added preload) and if its to small or arround good figures that means that its to stiff. Am I thinking in right direction?

The spring rate is stamped on the spring - I think the Ohlins come standard with -31 (95 N/mm) springs? How much do you weigh?
But yeah, if the hydraulics not allowing the spring to extend further to give you any static sag then the installed preload is too high.
Get your rider sag and take it from there. Because if the spring's too stiff for your weight and you fit a lighter spring, you may end up getting some static sag.

 

Got a 21 SP as well and been fiddling around with the suspension. Noticed the lack of static sag in the rear as well with preload adjuster all the way out. I don't find the riding to be that bad on bumpy roads, not like the analogy of the second kid on the trampoline. And we have plenty of bumpy roads where I live in Norway. But I'm sure it would be nice to have some static sag, and not as "planky" as this.. I'm gonna check my rider sag in the near future, weighing 65 kg with out gear so its going to be interesting to see what numbers I get. Played around with rebound and in stock settings I find the rear to fast and front too slow. Did some adjustment with this is mind which made it more in balance - but have yet to ride it with these settings.

 

Update:
Had the suspension check by a suspension tuner. Turns out the front springs are quite soft and rear shock spring stiff, probably not in the same category weightclass. With my 64 kg w/o gear we managed 40 f/sag and 32 r/sag. To get the desired 35 even I need to re-spring with stiffer springs front and softer rear. The shop owner was a bit surprised as he assumed the springs would be too stiff for my weight. For me it's not really an issue, I was told I could notice more understeer with harder riding on track for example. For now I'm not doing any track riding but occasionally spirited rides on the rode - but it's fine for now. Was quoted around €600 to re-spring.

 

Who recommended 35 front? That's track setting, even then it will slow turn in unless you run 25mm sag at the back. 40mm front is better all round.

 

Nice to know. I'm 90kg without gear but still didnt catch some time to do the measuring and adjustment

 

Fiddling with suspension to get it just right for you is half the fun, and very satisfying.
No bike is one size fits all.

 

 

There's an interesting point in there that I found out by trial and error. The damping should be set close to the final settings when checking sag. I had backed all damping off and my sag figures were much greater than they should have been.

 

Anyone has maybe whole video??

 

I’m registered for his site but the full versions aren’t shareable without recording it. Long story short. He found the suspension inadequate and needed to use the majority of the damping to get the bike close to proper after only ~1000 miles on the clock. Discussed a shock spring swap as the stock spring is too soft and heavier or more fork oil for the fronts.

 

If you watch a few Moss vids you get to know his procedure, and the bounce test is hard to duplicate without a front wheel chock. But I perservered and got it very similar, then fine tuned on the road. It didn't need much.
And the point of the whole process is to get it right for you, sometimes that means re-springing. It's also why I paid no attention to the bike journalists who mentioned damping/preload adjustments on a test bike without mentioning their weight.

 

Interesting; thank you for that info. So US bikes are sprung harder or softer than EU ones? It wasn't clear. Hopefully US bikes are harder sprung. It'd be nice to get actual spring-rate figures; is it possible? And what is the consensus on the (US) SPs front forks? Are they okay, or also softish? Oh, and do they have just one function on each side, like 890Rs, or both on each fork? And which method is considered better? Thank you.

 

I can check on mine EU if there is a stamp on rear spring. Regarding forks, all functions on both forks

 

Interesting topic.
One of these days I want to properly adjust my suspensions.
I had a guy who does track bikes adjust them a bit,ride improved but I want to adjust sag properly and fiddle a bit with front compression and rear rebound.
After reading some guides ,what is strange is that everyone has his way of doing things.
Moss looks like he knows what he talks about ,but at his free videos you have to collect things from multiple vids to short out how to do it yourself (if you don't want to pay the premium fee that is).

 

Sag setting is easy, just a matter of measuring the extended height of each end and then measuring static sag the same way, and then rider sag, and adjusting to get 33 - 38mm rider sag rear, 45- 45mm front. If you have 2 people you can lift each end off the floor by leaning over on the side stand. The extended measurement only needs to be done once.
Damping is a bit more of an art. I tend to use Moss's bounce test method.

 

I've done the sag measurement and adjustment at my previous bike.Thing is ,I understand the use of static sag ,but I don't understand what you can do,other than changing the shock of course.
Also I guess you adjust sag with your current compression and rebound and then change these.
By saying bounce test method , you mean that you push and load the suspension and see how much it bounces and if it makes a second bump?That's for rebound.How do you check the compression?
Surely you do a bit of riding too and check how it behaves.With my current settings I've noticed that I need a bit of slow comp in front as it dives way too easy while braking,and a bit less rebound as I can feel it bounce around a bit when passing through pot holes.

PS.Some guides mention that you should first check and adjust rider sag and then check static sag.

 

Dante, remember compression settings are only for INITIAL suspension reaction. If you brake hard from high speeds before a curve, for example, after about half a second, the springs would be doing all the work. Only the initial reaction after stabbing the brake lever, or a tire hitting a pot hole/bump/etc, the compression damping plays a role. Therefore, if the front suspension dives too much, you'd need stiffer springs. However, make sure it's actually diving too much, or you'd end up with a very stiff suspension. You can attach a ziptie to your lower forks to measure how much you're actually compressing it. If you're not very close to the end of travel, it might be fine for your weight. I'm not an expert in suspension, so you'd have to get specific numbers (% of suspension travel) to know when it's recommended to bump up your spring rate, and by how much. Good luck.