Kawasaki 636 '04 suspension setup question

[Heretic]

Hi guys,
picked up a sweet pristine '04 636 during winter and after a few rides in a "sporting" fashion during summer i have decided the stock rear shock in std settings is a complete minger, specially on our WA country roads, it seems to be a recognised thing

back end feels way-way over damped. the bike seems to want me to push back up the seat and get lower all over then feels more balanced, but any corrigations, grit, road camber changes etc the back end turns all doolally. i compared my rear shock settings with another stocker at Mundaring one ride but it seems the same. fine at speed on good tar tho

anybody got any "road settings" over std they can share?, i need to subtle it up a bit.

me 83kg & not a suspension expert

[Viper]

Take it to Marty Moose. All you need.

[smeghead]

I bought a s/h Elka shock to put on my 03 ZX6RR racebike, wow, wot a diff.

Shock came from the US & was pre setup for racing for a bloke similar to me. Biggest changes 'outta the box' was the shock length (adjustable, longer), this changed the chassis setup making it a lot nicer to ride. The bike was more stable on corner entry & didn't push the front on exit like it was doing before. With the rear now far better controlled I could feel how much grip I had a lot more & could get on the gas earlier & harder than with the stock shock.

Upshot is the stock shock was pretty average when new, now its also prob tired. Might pay to scout around for one from an 07/08 (I think they're virtually the same), & get this shock sorted for you (springs usually too hard for ya 70kg Jap test rider but prob close for you); I think I ran 10.5kg spring for racing on my Elka, so you'd prob need a 10kg by comparison.

Marty is the man to see for setup (he did all mine on the 03). Once he goes over it he'll tell ya if the shock needs to be replaced, that said good suspension that's well set up will transform any bike.

[Heretic]

thanks guys, appreciate the suggestions.
i found a factory manual and have now downloaded it so think i'll check settings are to standards for startas, set the sag and go from there, before i invest any actual cash. since its only gonna be sport road riding hopefully i can get close enough.

wot tyre pressures you guys running? i thought about backing them off a poofteenth to subtle it.

yes ur right about suspension. the 636 replaces a 929 Erion, i think the kawasaki will be the faster bike.

my first kawasaki ever, anybody got any key 636 do's and donts?

[ninjaa]

Mate i'd honestly just go spend the $50 or whatever small amount he charges, to have marty set it up for ya. Not only will he get it bang on for ya, but you'll get an education on what the bouncy things do & what twisting them this & that way does

[smeghead]

.. don't use factory settings, Kwakas are almost always too soft in the front & too hard in the rear based on Euro riders. I think sportrider mag has a table of settings they got by riding a whole range of bikes on the track .. yup, I'd start here (Sport bike motorcycle suspension - Sport Rider Magazine) for a baseline.

From their guide:

motorcycle	issue	front preload	front rebound damping	front comp. damping	rear preload	rear rebound damping	rear comp. damping
ZX-6R ('03)	6/03	4 lines showing	6 clicks out	full soft	30mm from top of spring to top of threads	4 turns out	4.5 turns out
note:	set fork tube height to 4mm above top triple clamp with Pirelli Supercorsa tires, 0mm with stock Dunlop D208ZR tires
ZX-6R ('04)	8/04	5 lines showing	9 clicks out	2.25 turns out	13mm thread showing	2 turns out	3.25 turns out
note:	set fork tube height to 5mm above triple clamp with Dunlop D208 GP-A tires
ZX-6RR ('04)	8/04	7 lines showing	11 clicks out	17 clicks out	19mm thread showing	10 clicks out	23 clicks out
note:	set fork tube height to 10mm above triple clamp with Dunlop D208 GP-A tires

Check sags & adjust to suit your weight.

Spend a few shekels & get MM to do this all for you & get educated into the bargain, he'll also tell you if the stock stuff is up to snuff or tired & in need of fettling.

Check the tyres for condition & pressure as these can have a huge impact on how the bike acts & feels on the road.

BTW: Supercorsas (or CorsaIII's) are awesome on these bikes with well setup suspension.

[Heretic]

thanks Smeghead,
below the factory settings cut n paste from the good book of Kawasaki for a 636 B2, for compare. gonna have a look later today, thanks Ninjaaa you answered my next question, i wasn't sure how much it'd cost to get it look'd at, thats quite reasonable,

however even $50.00 better in my pocket at this point...........................................

your target tyre pressures anyone please?

Front
Air Pressure Atmospheric pressure (Non-adjustable)
Rebound damper setting 8th click from the first click of the fully clockwise position
(Usable Range: 0 ←→ 11 clicks)

Compression damper setting 8th click from the first click of the fully clockwise position
(Usable Range: 0 ←→ 13 clicks)

Fork spring preload setting Adjuster protrusion is 14 mm (0.55 in.)
(Usable Range: 4 ∼ 19 mm) (0.16 ∼ 0.75 in.)

Rear Shock Absorber:
Rebound damper set 4 1/4 turns out from the fully clockwise position
ZX636–B2 ∼ : 2 turns out from the fully clockwise position
(Usable Range: 0 ←→ 4 1/2 turns out)

Compression damper set 3 1/2 turns out from the fully clockwise position
ZX636–B2 ∼ : 2 1/2 turns out from the fully clockwise position
(Usable Range: 0 ←→ 4 turns out)

Spring preload setting position
Standard Spring length: 180 mm (7.1 in.)
Usable range Spring length: 171.5 ∼ 191.5 mm (6.8 ∼ 7.5 in.)

anything jump out at anyone

[Thirsty]

anything jump out at anyone

Yep, your still wasting time and havent pm'd Marty Moose.

$50 is best $50 you'll ever throw at your bike. Ride to his house, and within 90 minutes you'll be amazed.

[g0zer]

imho replace all 8 year old oil, regas rear shock and then spend time dialing in

[Heretic]

thanks guys appreciate the info,
under your advisement i'm definitely keeping marty m in mind, however one mans waste of time is another mans voyage to discovery.

theres so little spanner work required on modern bikes, compared with the ol 2 bangers, i don't mind a bit of time here and there, i cant believe Kawasaki could get it so wrong that a twiddle here and there cant fix.

gonna try Smegheads table after checking i'm at book and set sag

[IvanM]

PM Marty Moose
I setup my 05 636 with the factory setting (and i'm 69kg - close to the 68kg "factory rider") and it was still shit.
I took it to Marty Moose and the difference is day and night....

Edit: Forgot to add that Marty also explains everything to you while he's doing your suspension work, so you don't have to waste your time learning everything yourself.

[Thirsty]

thanks guys appreciate the info,
under your advisement i'm definitely keeping marty m in mind, however one mans waste of time is another mans voyage to discovery.

theres so little spanner work required on modern bikes, compared with the ol 2 bangers, i don't mind a bit of time here and there, i cant believe Kawasaki could get it so wrong that a twiddle here and there cant fix.
gonna try Smegheads table after checking i'm at book and set sag

Not just Kawasaki, every bike on the market, even those fitted with high end suspension like ohlins etc on top sec models, that come straight out of the shop, benefits from suspension tuning. What you're forgetting is 'factory settings/sag' is different to static sag and rider sag, the 2 more important parts of setting up the suspension. It requires measurement of available length of travel, by lifting the wheel off the ground with no weight on the suspension, and then where it sits when rested back down, before any weight is pushed thru it, as it wont rebound to the same place after weight is applied.

Its here marty knows his shit, how much to adjust to figure out where to get the tru baseline settings, then fine tuned to accomodate the rider.

And as pointed out above, sometimes another good start is a refresh of fork oil and shock gas. Id suggest atleast a pm to marty, listing bike age and km, and he will suggest your best start point, as without suspension in 'good' order, tuning is a bit of a waste.

[out_in_front]

It is great to start on that great 'voyage of discovery' but as the others said - get Marty to give you the best starting point. Then you can change things as you like, figure out what changes what, and if it doesnt work - get back to what will be a decent setting and start again.

Different riding styles will need different settings - for example if you go to barbs and run a 68sec lap you will want one set of settings, but if you drop down to 63 sec you will need a different set to cope with the extra load and different behavior of the tyres. For the road you will probably want it noticeably softer than the track. Marty has given plenty of people advice on all situations.

[Heretic]

so then, no one knows where their rear shocks compression and rebound damp is actually set

[Bigmandazz]

I certainly do.

Have it all written down on a piece of paper,

Pitty it will not help you at all being that I am much larger than the average sports bike rider.

I also know what the settings are by seeing Marty and learning how it is done. Very informative, you come away with some knowledge to be able to tweek it if required.

[out_in_front]

Nope... (can check later if I get the time) - It was set up by MM by the previous owner and it feels fine for both every day riding and the two times I have taken it to the track. The forks however could definitely do with harder springs at the track - compression is set at about 1/4 turn out from full and the preload is at max (85kg rider - extremely heavy braker), cant remember where the rebound is at on the forks - relatively light from memory.

Have a track bike now, so I will probably change the bias to being a bit softer now.

Also - my forks are poking out of the top triple clamp around 10-12mm - so that I have a quicker turn in - Also remember that you can get a longer chain - or shorten yours to change the back end feel (usually only 2 links worth of adjustment there - but it will make a difference) MM can also advise on those issues too.

[Heretic]

just a quick follow up as i know you all are on the edge of your chairs waiting for an update, and the words "pm'd marty m"

last night whilst the wife was insisting on watching Bridezilla on Foxtel i read the 636 workshop manual suspension chapter and had a beer, ok there may have been more than one. pretty straight forward. checked the bike this morning, all std settings for a B-2 with 68kg rider, so now after adjusting, me at sportbike rider settings below (10 minutes, 1 stumpy screw driver, a tape and 1 panel allen bolt to be removed to get to the rebound adjuster)

also i have gone back to the original heavy pipe and muffler from the carbon Micron, there is quite a difference in weight, so that will get more static sprung weight back on the rear. (front - rear weight distribution) front end remains untouched as i dont need any more turn in / stiffness, response and it feels ok to me as is. backend at sportbike settings more subtle, same preload.

Street Pilot 2 tyres: 36 psi upfront, 38 rear

motorcycle	issue	front preload	front rebound damping	front comp. damping	rear preload	rear rebound damping	rear comp. damping
ZX-6R ('04)	8/04	5 lines showing	9 clicks out	2.25 turns out	13mm thread showing	2 turns out	3.25 turns out

hopefully will get a ride Sunday arvo and see how it feels in the "seat of the pants"- ometer.

[out_in_front]

Not sure what you are like on the brakes - but that front compression / preload combo could easily result in bottoming out the forks from my experience (I.e I do it with 1/4 turn of full comp and no lines showing on the preload)

Get a cable tie on the front fork - put it at half way up around the chrome bit and go for that ride - if it is at the bottom of the chrome when you stop - you will need more preload and comp. damping.

Remember - those specs are based on a new bike with new fork oil and tight seals on the inside - 8 years on, the clearances have probably opened a bit, the oil would have deteriorated alot - so they may not be such a good setup now.

[Heretic]

done, done and done.

Street Pilot 2 tyres: happy now with 34 psi upfront, 34 rear, ( was actually running 34 / 38 )

motorcycle	issue	front preload	front rebound damping	front comp. damping	rear preload	rear rebound damping	rear comp. damping
ZX-6R ('04)	8/04	5 lines showing	9 clicks out	2.25 turns out	13mm thread showing	2 turns out	3.25 turns out

to be fair i think the muffler and tyre pressures did far more than the rear end tweek, i also re-lubed all the shock linkages

the whole balance of the bike has changed rearward, feels balanced and sticky mid corner and transfers back on exit now wheres before it pushed. it will do fine for my on the road riding, i definitely feel more confident in it now.

thanks all for your input.