Front suspension question

I'm 145# and don't think my fork is too soft.. still a new bike to me but the fork seems a little stiff for my weight.

It's a vanilla do-all front suspension. Most agree not great. You can start with changing the fork oil but an insert kit changes things dramatically. My biggest complaint was the dive under breaking and high-speed handling. Also, no adjustment is insulting on a Ducati.

There seem to be 2 inquiries in your post:

- A suspension upgrade is, I think by unanimous decision, very much worth it for this bike. However, to ease your concern about stiffer springs, you might want to go for fully-adjustable cartridges.
- It's hard to say if the front suspension is too soft or just not good enough. I agree with you that it seems strange that a fixed suspension would be set from the factory for someone lighter than 120 lbs, but the fact that the bike dives quite a bit under braking does suggest that that is the case.

Might also be worth talking to the shop about what they are predisposed to setup suspension for. Setting the bike of for touring as opposed to sport or track riding will be very different. Given what it'll likely cost to have springs or a revalve, probably makes sense to get some drop in cartridges which allow adjustments down the road so you aren't stuck with a specific setting.

I'd suggest also getting in touch with Traxxion as they seem very familiar with this suspension. One thing to note - it is an odd set up. One fork is a standard inverted, while the other seems some sort of hybrid. On the hybrid side you cannot access the internals easily from the bottom to remove them - If you want to put in new internals (beyond a spring replacement). it will require specialized machining and a lot of shops won't take this on.

IF you decide to upgrade the forks, please beware, one fork tube has the damping and the other does not, they do offer a cartridge for the fork that does and IF you REALLY want both forks the lower on the non-cartridge side needs to be machined to accept a cartridge and that means taking the fork tubes off the lower axle/brake caliper bracket first, heads up...

BadToTheBown said:

IF you decide to upgrade the forks, please beware, one fork tube has the damping and the other does not, they do offer a cartridge for the fork that does and IF you REALLY want both forks the lower on the non-cartridge side needs to be machined to accept a cartridge and that means taking the fork tubes off the lower axle/brake caliper bracket first, heads up...

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Mupo makes a 1 fork cartridge, but I couldn't actually get them to sell me one. There was a discussion of what brand forks I have, whether there was anything in the other cartridge etc.. After getting them and the shop all the info I could, and all the info they requested, they just stopped communicating.

If you've had a different experience, I'd like to hear it.

Here is an excellent write up on how you can set your sag, or at least find out if the advice you received is on point:

Suspension and Springs

Unless your bike was purchased used and the previous owner's weight was way below 120 and the springs were replaced, it does not make sense for you to go to stiffer springs if they're stock, so most likely your intuition is serving you well. I weigh 175 with gear, in all honesty, my 2016 hyperstrada's front still felt a bit stiff at times, the rear felt soft, but a bit too soft with the correct sag set for me, and it did not have much travel, cetnerstand rashes anyone??

Ultimately, you're looking for compliance, your bike's suspension should track most uneven surfaces well, and not bottom out, or send your front or rear flying off the pavement, with a few exceptions. I would recommend measuring your sag with the above link so you have an idea of where your current springs are at. And then, if you are unable to achieve the 25-30mm sag (roughly 1/3 of travel with you on the bike with gear), then you'd start looking for softer or stiffer springs.

Once you have the proper sag for your riding weight, you can start to adjust for rebound and compression. Oh wait, our starada's don't have those adjusters. Shame really. As it has been suggested above, you'd want to look for cartridge inserts to have the ability to adjust rebound and compression. But it's not a must as the stock settings may work perfectly for you. If not, some of the kits that have been suggested come with springs, and for around $600 (Andreani), you'd have springs for your weight and tuning capabilities. But the $600 is just for parts, you'd either have to do your own work, or have a reputable shop order you the right package, install it and then tune it for your riding style.

Once you experience a custom suspension setup for your weight and riding style, it's very unlikely that you would ever consider selling your bike, in my own experience, it makes that much of a difference.

I'm actually in the process of sending my hypermotard forks and shock to fast bike indurstries for exactly that treatment. Good luck and feel free to ask any followup questions. It's a very difficult subject to fully understand, hence the confusion and interesting advice...

appliance821 said:

Mupo...If you've had a different experience, I'd like to hear it.

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I've seen the singles for sale and there is an issue in knowing just which fork you have...seems Ducati sourced several and the parts care...I never corresponded with Mupo, Roger Albert at OnRoad/OffRoad did all of that, including the part of figuring out which forks I had, machining the lower so I could have both forks with cartridges, anodizing the fork tubes (still looks good) and DLC'ing the lowers before reassembly...kickin job he did and they work great...I went a little crazy here, don't be insane like me, I suspect a single cartridge will satisfy what ails your front end and you will notice the difference if you do it...

i doubt that Hyperstradas ever had other forks than Kayaba.
My ex 2013 had a Kayaba fork and my actual 2016 Hyperstrada (normal height) has the same one. As i owned the bikes for some months side by side, I compared forks and switched them, so that i sold my 2013 HS with the brand new 2016 fork and kept the 2013 fork with Andreani cartridges in my new 2016 HS.
Imho, the difference in HS forks only is the heigth normal/low .

I love my Mupo suspension. It really transformed the handling. Its like night and day now. Much more stable in the corners. Mupo is middle of the range price wise. At the very least I suggest getting the Andreani fork cartridge kit. On the hyper adjustable dampening in the front is a must. I really like having it in the rear as well. The front was harder to setup as it was difficult for me to use 3/4 of the travel. The spring rate I got in the front might be too stiff. But even so it became much more stable and reassuring while cornering.

BadToTheBown said:

I've seen the singles for sale and there is an issue in knowing just which fork you have...seems Ducati sourced several and the parts care...I never corresponded with Mupo, Roger Albert at OnRoad/OffRoad did all of that, including the part of figuring out which forks I had, machining the lower so I could have both forks with cartridges, anodizing the fork tubes (still looks good) and DLC'ing the lowers before reassembly...kickin job he did and they work great...I went a little crazy here, don't be insane like me, I suspect a single cartridge will satisfy what ails your front end and you will notice the difference if you do it...

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He and Mupo were the people I was talking to. A dead end. In the end, if the internals are being removed, what do they care what's in the fork. IE - I'm 95% sure they're kayaba - but if everything is being pulled - who cares. I sent photos etc.. as requested - and then dead space.

It was a comedy of errors - I'd talk to Mupo - they'd mis-translate to the dealer - I'd send the dealer the exact email thread to clarify - blah blah. I'm sure they do a good job if you can get to that last mile, but despite my patience and attempts to get them all the info they desired, it turned into radio silence.

I think I'll be going with traxxion this winter. Seems straight forward - decent price - good reputation.

I went with mupo because the price from Europe is around $850 delivered for the 2 fork solution. Had it installed for about $350 and I needed a front fork service anyway after 5 years of hard riding. Haven't had a chance to test it thoroughly as I just had my first real ride after getting it back from the shop (winter in New England) - it feels firm but reasonably compliant. I'm playing with compression to smooth out the hard hits some more. The forks, for all the noise, were kayaba. There are some early reviews that indicate otherwise but they are mistaken.

Cymba1 said:

appliance821 thanks for your reply. In fact I measured the front sag myself in October and found it was 45 mm, so indeed too soft. My biggest and stupidest challenge now is to support and balance i so I can remove the forks to bring them to Stadium Suspension here in Quebec. He knows this bike and will do the work. Can't wait. I really, really love this bike and I want it to handle as best as I can afford.

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If you have a center stand, load up the rear with weights and it will lift the front. Not sure if there's enough space to remove the suspension, but it would be straight forward to assess. I have to say that the forks are much better now - not cushy, but precise and compliant. Next will be a rear shock rebuild - probably at traxxion.