[Leventor]

Hi there

I was hoping BMW would have come with auto ride height adjustment electronics But it seems now they made it even harder to set the correct preload for the forks and rear shock. It requires engine lift for full off the ground measurements.

I wonder if anyone has dialed-in the preload for their satisfaction and can share the number of turns for the forks and the rear shock. I am 220 with gear dialed in 5 turns for forks and 11 for the rear shock. Still not fully satisfied

 

[jhockey18aa]

I have the 2021RR M-sport too. I waited to adjust mine after about 3K miles on the bike. My Front end felt super soft to my liking. The manual explains the process (pp 99-111). It will help to have a buddy for measurements. The bike HAS to be on for the Rear shock adjustment and DDC re-calibration. All measurements were recorded in millimeters (MM).

I tuned mine for 40MM SAG at the Front, and 30MM SAG at the Rear. The Front had ZERO turns from the factory. I dialed in 10 turns of preload (Clockwise - CW) to achieve 40MM SAG at the Front.
For the Rear, I dialed in 6 turns of preload (CW) for 30MM of SAG. You will have to re-calibrate the DDC from the dash after your adjustments. The changes were spot on for my weight at 180lbs for street riding.

Note:
The SAG target of 40MM at the Front and 30MM at the Rear are general baseline numbers for the BMW. These numbers can vary depending on track vs. street riding, circuit, and what numbers you like on Your bike.

Racetech SAG

Suspension and Springs

Dave Moss has a ton of info on this process as well.

Setting sag - Dave Moss Tuning

One of the most basic tasks that needs to be done when you acquire a new to you motorcycle is to measure how much the bike collapses under your weight – a process known as setting sag. There are ranges of numbers generally accepted for street, track and race and for sport touring, long travel

davemosstuning.com

 

[Leventor]

Thank you I will try F9/R12 turns and measure. I don’t have a second person. Will go by the left to bottom measurement. Ideally since the shock

 

[Leventor]

Thank you I will try F9/R12 turns and measure. I don’t have a second person. Will go by the left to bottom measurement. Ideally since the shock

This was very helpful. After a 10 mile ride - measured that 9 turns is almost 40mm SAG @215lbs. 10 Turns is about 38mm SAG.. Rode with both, and liked the 40mm sag for street spirited riding. At the rear shock , I am not able to measure, but going with how it feels. @ 12 turns felt unsettling. @ 10 turns was OK but will try 11 decide.

 

[bennymx]

I'm about 230lbs. Front preload was at max. Still bottomed out. Put a stiffer spring in. Now I'm at around 12 turns on the front to get about 32-34mm preload. Rear preload is at 23 turns max and sag seems to be at 27. Going to put stiffer spring in the rear as well.

 

[jhockey18aa]

Nice feedback gents

 

[Leventor]

Actually I think the suspension is just settling down after couple hundred miles I have front at two turns and back at 11 turns right now front measures 40 mm sag . rear somewhere between 11-12 - 13 it feels comfortable

Does anybody know where is the bottom of the front shocks? Is it all the way down or is it couple centimeters above

 

[Piper]

Bottom out of the front is about 10mm from the actual bottom of the stancion.

 

[Lanie]

Hi guys,

2022 BMW S1000RR M sport DDC Marzocchi (blue M brake callipers)​

I weigh 160 pounds (73kg), and 187 pounds (85kg) with full rider gear (boots, leathers, helmet).

Pulling out my extended fork measured 130mm (lifted). On the kick stand 120mm (static). With me (187 pounds) onboard compressing the forks as much I can I measured only 95mm = 35mm sag, with preload at zero (factory default?), all the way out counter-clockwise. Just to check the fork preload in 5 turns gave me 32mm sag, confirming the preload adjustment. I'm wondering if my stock fork springs are too hard?

Same thing at the rear:
The rear preload settings from the shopfloor is also at zero, all the way out counter-clockwise. This is correct? I measured only 11mm of sag on the rear shock.

The process was a two person measurements with ignition switched on. I measured in Rain mode, Road mode, Race Mode, also the Race Pro Mode with the custom minimum (1) and maximum (14) dampening, comp&reb settings - it made no difference.. What am I doing wrong here? (or must the engine be running when taking measurements?) - Any advise would be appreciated

 

[bennymx]

You aren't doing anything wrong. The bike is set up for 80kg. This is with preload at 0 from stock. You are right on the edge of being too light for the bike. You could do with lighter springs to achieve more sag. For me I am about 105kg with gear. I went to a heavier spring on the front fork and I am still at about 13 turns preload out of 15 with maybe 30mm sag front or less. I seem to bottom forks quite easily and I only ride on the street. I will be going stiffer again in the front and for the rear I am at max preload on the stock shock. Its too soft so I am going for a stiffer rear spring as well. I'm almost tossing up whether to ditch DDC and go for a aftermarket shock and front carts.

 

[Piper]

Hi guys,

2022 BMW S1000RR M sport DDC Marzocchi (blue M brake callipers)​

I weigh 160 pounds (73kg), and 187 pounds (85kg) with full rider gear (boots, leathers, helmet).

Pulling out my extended fork measured 130mm (lifted). On the kick stand 120mm (static). With me (187 pounds) onboard compressing the forks as much I can I measured only 95mm = 35mm sag, with preload at zero (factory default?), all the way out counter-clockwise. Just to check the fork preload in 5 turns gave me 32mm sag, confirming the preload adjustment. I'm wondering if my stock fork springs are too hard?

Same thing at the rear:
The rear preload settings from the shopfloor is also at zero, all the way out counter-clockwise. This is correct? I measured only 11mm of sag on the rear shock.

The process was a two person measurements with ignition switched on. I measured in Rain mode, Road mode, Race Mode, also the Race Pro Mode with the custom minimum (1) and maximum (14) dampening, comp&reb settings - it made no difference.. What am I doing wrong here? (or must the engine be running when taking measurements?) - Any advise would be appreciated

There is probably quite a lot of variation in the OEM springs, but I weigh the same as you and here is what I get on my '20 for rider sag, for example:
Front with 4 turns out from max: 35.5mm sag
Rear with 13 turns out from max: 24mm sag

Are you seeing a lot of stiction in the suspension?

 

[Lanie]

Thank you for the replies and info! I am not noticing any suspension stiction, or problems... Just couldn't figure out the zero pre-load from the showroom-floor. At the racetrack I went 5 turns in on the fork preload, which seemed to help keep the rear wheel from lifting under braking.

 

[Leventor]

Hi guys,

2022 BMW S1000RR M sport DDC Marzocchi (blue M brake callipers)​

I weigh 160 pounds (73kg), and 187 pounds (85kg) with full rider gear (boots, leathers, helmet).

Pulling out my extended fork measured 130mm (lifted). On the kick stand 120mm (static). With me (187 pounds) onboard compressing the forks as much I can I measured only 95mm = 35mm sag, with preload at zero (factory default?), all the way out counter-clockwise. Just to check the fork preload in 5 turns gave me 32mm sag, confirming the preload adjustment. I'm wondering if my stock fork springs are too hard?

Same thing at the rear:
The rear preload settings from the shopfloor is also at zero, all the way out counter-clockwise. This is correct? I measured only 11mm of sag on the rear shock.

The process was a two person measurements with ignition switched on. I measured in Rain mode, Road mode, Race Mode, also the Race Pro Mode with the custom minimum (1) and maximum (14) dampening, comp&reb settings - it made no difference.. What am I doing wrong here? (or must the engine be running when taking measurements?) - Any advise would be appreciated

Front is 120mm with 10mm space from the bottom of a stanchion. For street you should see 90 mm which is 40mm sag loaded. You should not increase preload.On YouTube dealer was suggesting 40mm street and 38mm track

Anything above 7 on my bike feels very stiff on the front.
Rear I am still playing but what you want to make sure that on the road it does not spring you off the seat on rebound or directly and quickly bump you up off the seat when going over the bump. You need to find the happy medium.

I ended up settling the front first as it impacts the rear preload much more. You don’t want then bike rocking between front and back after a bump and unstablize the bike

Also I think after 3-4k miles I will need to recalibrate as the springs will be broken in.

 

[bennymx]

My issue is im using all of the travel with a stiffer spring and max preload. Need to go stiffer again.

 

[Lanie]

My issue is im using all of the travel with a stiffer spring and max preload. Need to go stiffer again.

Benny, thanks for the help!

for a trackday, would you recommend the normal RACE mode (ddc) or RacePro (static) mode?

 

[bennymx]

Benny, thanks for the help!

for a trackday, would you recommend the normal RACE mode (ddc) or RacePro (static) mode?

Race Pro.

 

[thules985]

I have the 2021RR M-sport too. I waited to adjust mine after about 3K miles on the bike. My Front end felt super soft to my liking. The manual explains the process (pp 99-111). It will help to have a buddy for measurements. The bike HAS to be on for the Rear shock adjustment and DDC re-calibration. All measurements were recorded in millimeters (MM).

I tuned mine for 40MM SAG at the Front, and 30MM SAG at the Rear. The Front had ZERO turns from the factory. I dialed in 10 turns of preload (Clockwise - CW) to achieve 40MM SAG at the Front.
For the Rear, I dialed in 6 turns of preload (CW) for 30MM of SAG. You will have to re-calibrate the DDC from the dash after your adjustments. The changes were spot on for my weight at 180lbs for street riding.

Note:
The SAG target of 40MM at the Front and 30MM at the Rear are general baseline numbers for the BMW. These numbers can vary depending on track vs. street riding, circuit, and what numbers you like on Your bike.

Racetech SAG

Suspension and Springs

Dave Moss has a ton of info on this process as well.

Setting sag - Dave Moss Tuning

One of the most basic tasks that needs to be done when you acquire a new to you motorcycle is to measure how much the bike collapses under your weight – a process known as setting sag. There are ranges of numbers generally accepted for street, track and race and for sport touring, long travel

davemosstuning.com

180 lb (81kg) with helmet, leather suite , glove, boots ecce ecc? Or naked

I weight 85kg (187lb) naked 95kg (210lb) suit. I can't do the preload by myself, what preload do you recommend me to put?

 

[CR_2021]

My issue is im using all of the travel with a stiffer spring and max preload. Need to go stiffer again.

What did you end up doing here? I am going for a stiffer spring soon but I am told changing the spring rate is not ideal for the ddc system? Closed system so no changes to valving. Did it seem to work better? I'm 240 lbs and the font is too soft for fast street riding with max preload. Did you change one spring to 1.1 to start?

I hate to change the ddc system. I hear the front forks are integrated into DTC. I would consider drop in kits but I wonder if you have to change the rear shock as well?

Very interested in your experience. It does not seem many have gone this route and it's been tough to find knowledgeable people on this bike.

 

[bennymx]

What did you end up doing here? I am going for a stiffer spring soon but I am told changing the spring rate is not ideal for the ddc system? Closed system so no changes to valving. Did it seem to work better? I'm 240 lbs and the font is too soft for fast street riding with max preload. Did you change one spring to 1.1 to start?

I hate to change the ddc system. I hear the front forks are integrated into DTC. I would consider drop in kits but I wonder if you have to change the rear shock as well?

Very interested in your experience. It does not seem many have gone this route and it's been tough to find knowledgeable people on this bike.

Yeah I am about 240 lbs as well. I put the stiffer 11.0 NM spring in from San Jose BMW. Put it in the right fork. I am at max preload with the stiffer spring. I use Race Pro mode for DDC and have put front compression / rebound at 10. Seems to make a difference but I need to test some more. I don't want to go down the cartridges path. I would need to spend more money for front carts plus a rear shock and when riding on the road, I don't really wanna drop that sort of money. I'd been riding around in Race with the preset damping, bottoms easy as. Running high numbers for front comp in DDC settings does make a difference in Race Pro but I think they only go to 13 or 14 so I don't have much left. I would be going for a stiffer front spring again before dropping carts in.

 

[CR_2021]

Yeah I am about 240 lbs as well. I put the stiffer 11.0 NM spring in from San Jose BMW. Put it in the right fork. I am at max preload with the stiffer spring. I use Race Pro mode for DDC and have put front compression / rebound at 10. Seems to make a difference but I need to test some more. I don't want to go down the cartridges path. I would need to spend more money for front carts plus a rear shock and when riding on the road, I don't really wanna drop that sort of money. I'd been riding around in Race with the preset damping, bottoms easy as. Running high numbers for front comp in DDC settings does make a difference in Race Pro but I think they only go to 13 or 14 so I don't have much left. I would be going for a stiffer front spring again before dropping carts in.

Well I think that does it for me. I have talked to the tractive suspension rep in the USA, beemershop I think. Ted has been fantastic, replying to several messages on a Sunday and even lowering the price listed on the site to abt 2k for ddc fork inserts. I am going to call and cancel my spring and fork service that I just scheduled and try tractive inserts. No coding, no changing the rear shock. Know anyone that has tried them?

eX-CELLENT – TracTive Suspension

tractivesuspension.com

Speaking of- how is your rear shock holding up? I have little preload and mid dampening numbers and seems to handle the weight pretty well.