This is one of the most comprehensive, informative and explanatory videos about motorcycle suspension and geometry functionality, not just for Gen 1/2 1290 SDR but for motorcycles collectively. It's an INVESTMENT of anyone’s time if you want to learn more about how different aspects of suspension and chassis adjustments affect the bike’s handling and characteristics. It’s a must watch for anyone that owns a Gen 1 or 2 1290 SDR and was left scratching their heads as to why something that’s marketed as ‘ready to race’ barely goes around a corner in stock form and how to unlock its true potential. Thank you for putting this together and sharing with the community. Kudos to you for your attitude of sharing and helping others rather then the usual keeping it to yourself only or monetising it like everybody else. I think the only additional things worth mentioning is that the stock steering damper can be improved significantly by draining and changing the oil to a heavier weight. Stock ones are full of air and low viscosity oil so they’re pretty much useless. I ended up changing it to a 30 weight oil and that improved it significantly, however having the suspension sorted out properly as you’ve explained will reduce reliance on the steer damper. The other thing is to be mindful of the chain adjustment limitations with the rear sprocket fully rotated on the concentric adjuster to maintain the swingarm angle. You have a great way of communicating and it’s a lot of fun listening to you explain things. Looking forward to more videos or perhaps a podcast *hint hint*.

@superduked33

Жыл бұрын

Great points and respect Agro. Thank you for this response. It's funny how the more I learn the more interesting all this becomes to me. And you are 100% correct - the OEM damper sucks. I have run the MUPO damper, and I have simply changed to heavier weight oil in the OEM dampers - both with great success. I raced the oil changed damper multiple seasons. Thanks again for the props. GoGo

@agrov8d430

Жыл бұрын

It's a great feeling when it all comes together and it starts making sense and you can start making changes to get the set up just right for your riding style. I'm nowhere near your level of understanding but videos like yours have helped me out no end along the way and hopefully will encourage others to play around with their settings and get the most out of their bikes.

You are quite amazing at explaining how you set the geometry of your motorcycle. You bring it down to its most simple parameters. Love it!

@superduked33

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Christian. More to come

Not to take anything away from an absolutely 1st class series of video's on the bike, this is more of a heads up for anyone trying to do what I thought the video implied around the 20m mark. Given what I'd noted I thought I could rotate the rear hub eccentric adjuster and operate it in the lower half of the swinging arm and adjust the chain tension from there gaining some very useful ride height. I've done this before on bikes with conventional swinging arms with eccentric adjusters. When I tried, the anchor pin for the rear caliper bracket reached the end of it's adjustment range slot. I then removed the axle (?) assembly to rotate the hub with a view to re-engaging it once in the lower position for reassembly. Unfortunately the abs sensor fouls the swinging arm and prevents any adventures into this region without any further modifications. So a long-winded message that might prevent anyone else following the same path. Thanks again for a very interesting and informative series of videos! 🍻

About damn time.....just rode trackday at brainerd speedway in minnesota....could have used this on friday.... my 18 has 44000 miles...was new in march of 19 ......3 seasons of trackdays...

@superduked33

Жыл бұрын

Sorry it took so long. I had a really hard time gathering the old data. Great bike I hope it helps

@jimjim753

Жыл бұрын

@@superduked33 just giving u a hard time....great video.....put out more content....the channel will do well....

This is fantastic!

Amazing

So clear and understandable information. Goat 🤩

This is some of the best info i have ever come across Thank YOU!!

yaaaay, enjoyed the video. that rake n trail is super easy to understand now. 🤩🤩

Found it! Fukkin brilliant!! 🤠

My bike looks just like the one you're talking about . I sure am learning a lot more about my 16 Gen. 1 thank you Eric . LC8s sure are amazing. Going to watch and rewatch these great teaching videos.

@superduked33

Жыл бұрын

Thank you David. I hope you find them helpful.

Dream bike

Thank you so much for the details, this series has been amazingly helpful! I know it's a long time ago now but do you still have the details on where you ended up with the 990 SDR in terms of racing setup?

@superduked33

Жыл бұрын

I do remember I designed a different upper triple clamp for that bike, to help get it MORE trail. It helped the bike a lot, gave me better feel through turns. Unlike the Gens 1,2,3, that 990 felt too steep up front for me. I lost the front a lot on that bike, until we made those triples. Push the forks down into the triples as far as you can and see how you like it. Helped me a ton

Very cool Eric. Great info. Have you ever thought about making a adjustable triple clamp, where you can change the offset? Gives you the ability to change trail without changing rake. One more tool in your growing tool box. I believe the guys at Attack Racing make them for a fee different bike. Thanks for making the video.

@ericgulbransen2393

Жыл бұрын

Oh yea. I have KTM adjustable offset triple clamps on the brain all summer. It’s coming…. :-)

@bajamcguide

Жыл бұрын

@@ericgulbransen2393 very cool

Hi Eric, i have gone through a similar path in the attempt to improve the ride of my 2.0. I'd like to share my experience and have your thoughts. I am not riding this bike on tracks, as i used to with my previous bikes. Setup is therefore slightly less extreme than yours. The purpose of my tune was to give the bike the predictibility it has never had, leaning on bumps or irregular pavement, expecially with hard carcass tyres. Quite scaring when compared to other top level bikes. Mid turn Instability AND on-throttle understeering were the main odds of this bike. Being the geometry figures very stable (rake, trail and wheelbase), and the high CG trendy these past years, the suspect for the odd behaviour went to the un-even travel of the two wheels under the same load. Instability may generate from a unbalanced geometry change, such as different wheels travel or dynamic sag due to unmatched spring rates. After measurements, weighting, calculation, trials and fixes i came to these conclusions: 1) the CG of bike+rider is far backward than the wheelbase midway, even with the forward handbar setup. This makes a perfect wheeling and hard braking-motard-style machine, but very potentially unbalanced at mid turn...which brings to: 2) OEM spring rates and suspension travel exhasperating the unbalance. For my weight (90kg with helmet and all gearing): - the shock spring 170N/mm was way to soft and the travel way to long: 156mm (!!) at the wheel and you can still easily use the last third of the travel, cause of very little (7-8%) progressiveness. - the fork spring 10N/mm was quite hard with respect to the rear shock, resulting in a bike tendency to squat at mid turn (dinamic geometry change leaned vs vertical), difficulty to close the lines and nervous behaviour on bumps. - The dinamic mid turn squat together with the suggested OEM rear wheel rider sag generates a very narrow swingarm angle and consequent chain pull...with the result of increasing the squat even more and worsen the understeering when on the throttle. I played with OEM WP suspension to the point i realized I needed more tuning possibility. I put a MUPO k911 fork cartridge with adjustable spring ratings (9 to 11N/mm) and a MUPO AB1 shock with full adjustability. I requested a 180N/mm spring to reduce the real travel to more normal (say max 120mm) parameters, helped with a much better controlled compression flow. Being: - the swingarm ratio 1:2,7 at full stroke with only 7-8% max progressiveness (equals 1:2,9 at 0 stroke) - the CG biased 0.86 backward (w/ my weight) - the 0,9 the vertical travel of the front wheel with respect of the forks stroke The 180N/mm spring rate in the shock matches with a slightly softer than 9N/mm rate in the forks....wich BTW is the tendency of most current maxi naked, streetfigher V4, RS1200...and the SD 3.0 as far as i read. I double checked the math experimentally by adding to the bike+rider a 50kg ballast in the CG (a cast iron plate hung with strips to the trelly) and measuring the additional sag simulating the mid turn centrifugal force. Finally the two wheels sag confirmed to be perfectly balanced. The bike finally feels perfectly balanced. Prior to all measurement i first found and set a perfect (avg road grip) chain pull with + 2mm shock length increase (6mm rise of the rear wheel) and a 37mm rider sag, standard gearing, 3mm forks drop. All springs calculation and measurement were done with this geometry. Final adjustments were: - a slightly increased oil level in the forks to set the stroke to 110-120mm max - a accurate hydraulic tune (adjustments relatively open in the front adjusters range as compared to the back cause the front is fairly unloaded and than subjected to lower accelerations with respect to the back) The bike is now a pleasure to ride expecially with aggressive stop and go style - excellent traction, even in 2nd gear - excellent mid turn line tightening capability - excellent (commanded) oversteering capability - low wheeling tendency If I had to race on track and the front spring+oil level resulted insufficient, i would increase the spring rates by the same % to keep the same dinamic balance This is my 2c and sorry for the poem

@superduked33

Жыл бұрын

Loving the details Rossano. Excellent work on your machine. Its very gratifying to manipulate your bike to your preferences, successfully. It's also very challenging to do this within the limitations of a not so adjustable street bike. I talk to Doug Chandler sometimes about setup and he references the GP bikes you used to race. Holy mother it's impressive to hear how adjustable EVERYTHING is on those machines. I am so jealous

@rossanodimonte2520

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Eric, i appreciate your words. I see you too use MUPO's shock, maybe cartridge too ?! May i ask you, on gen. 2: - springs you end up using in the forks and oil level - spring of the shock, shock lenght and hi speed compression setting? I ended up with 9N/mm but really needed 8.5 in the forks to sync with the 180N/mm in the shock. Front is still compressing about 5% less than the back under stresses (i.e. g force and bumps). 388 shock length, hi speed compression 0 clicks out. It's a little harsh on big bumps but so is the forks with the std MUPO valving. I'd rather prefer a homogeneous behaviour front and rear with what I have now, but I might be modifying the forks valving (reducing the top/small washer) and open the shock hi speed comp. Later on. Thanks

@superduked33

Жыл бұрын

@@rossanodimonte2520 I get into shock length in Part II of this series. Spring rate up front I do not remember but typically I am 10.5 (6'2" 205lbs). GP Suspension cartridges up front. Very happy with them. Oil level is 180 but that's with the GP carts, yours is likely different. I agree with you, balance is everything.

@rossanodimonte2520

Жыл бұрын

Interesting...I'm not so far from your height and weight and found better balance with 9N/mm spring and 150mm air gap to strengthen the last third of the travel. I do agree cartridge may be different in volume and i do not race with the bike, i still use carbon ceramic ZCOO pads though. Everybody his own tuning preference... Thanks I appreciate the job you are doing

nice explainatory video. I spent so much time with ducati 999 and daytona 675r in the past to handle them better. I wonder how difficult for factories to do that instead us! also most of the bikes are coming without any adjustability at all so we need to spend too much time and money to correct things. ok it is easy to shim some shocks on some bikes but on most of them not. I think it is a shame for the industry. some of them did a little (999 had eccentric adjustable offset for rake/trail (but didnt include the tool in the tool box) rear height/sa adjustability) aprilia did the best about it ( becide the triple offset, they included engine mounts and sa pivot height adjustabilty ) unfortunately they cost too much for simple small aluminum blocks with a hole. shame on them!

@superduked33

Жыл бұрын

100% agree

One thing you never listed GOGO was your front and rear bike/rider total sag. I myself run 12 to 15mm for the track, curious to know what you were running.

So good, brilliantly informative, never given any of this a second thought, always enjoyed my gen 2 stock! That said, sounds like there is a whole lot more fun to be had! Where to start? Gearing, 15-40 sprockets, would that be too much for road use? I don't do track days, yet but low speed riding on the Duke, in traffic 😒 Adjusting trail, is it just a matter of raising or lowering the forks in the clamps? How do you measure the distance so accurately? Raising the rear, does the concentric adjustment turn through 360°? Referring to your clock, would the chain adjustment at say 2 o'clock be the about the same at say 5 o'clock? Sorry Eric if these questions are so basic, common sense answers but I'm just trying to get my head around it! Love your vids, thanks for sharing and doing it so well! Any chance of some practical, tutorial videos? 👍

@superduked33

Жыл бұрын

Simon I think 15 is too short for the street. I set my buddy up with a 16 up front and he loves it. Same rear, same chain, just change from a 17 to a 16. It raises the revs a little but not too much. Keeps 6th gear from rattling your teeth out with the super low revs. ...I measure trail using special software called MotoSpec. Their software is used all over in racing, including World Superbike. But they have to have your bike in their database in order to be able to use it - which they never had before because nobody ever asked for this type of data on 1290 Superdukes. Until me.. :-) ...The eccentric does not rotate very far around the face of the clock. I measured the Gen3 extensively and it's only about 15 minutes of adjustment. I haven't measured the Gen1-2 but it may be the same, 10:40 to about 2:15. ...You can effect trail by raising and lowering the forks. Yes. But doing it that way only addresses trail. Raising the rear effects trail, swingarm angle, anti-squat. ...Please give me an example of "practical tutorial" videos and I'll see what I can do. 🙂

@Wearetherats

Жыл бұрын

@@superduked33 thanks for taking the time to explain this for me. Your passion for the Duke really comes out in your videos, it's very infectious! I've gone from being satisfied with the gen2 how it is, to wanting to see how much better it can be with a little work and know how. Just lacking the know how! Maybe some practical videos on what I can do in a limited work shop to, for example change the trail etc? Keep up the good work, love your videos!

@superduked33

Жыл бұрын

@@Wearetherats Lost of answers here in Part I that you can do to affect trail Simon. Get a height adjustable aftermarket shock, and wind some length into it. Slide the forks up in the triple clamps a bit, that'll give you less trail. Wind the eccentric back and down with different sprockets or longer chain, that will give you less trail as well

Hey Gogo, Can yoy about how you got to these numbers beyond the gearing change. Did you need to lower the bike in the forks or make internal adjustments to the forks. Would shims be ok for aOEM shock to get some height?

@superduked33

Жыл бұрын

You are barking up the right tree asking about the shock. I'm not sure how shims could extend the length of an OEM shock on a Gen2, but extending a shock on a Gen2 is pretty critical. Also gearing and chain length, those play huge roles too. Get that axle back and down as far as possible.

Great video Eric, congrats! Wondering how you adjust the chain to make it go higher as you say on the videos, a demonstration video about that would be very cool. Thanks for sharing this!!

@ericgulbransen2393

Жыл бұрын

I will do that soon promise

I have been working out gear ratios and the stock 38/17 is 2.23:1, so 2 teeth down on the front would be about 4.5 teeth not 6.

@superduked33

Жыл бұрын

Interesting Bryan. I've always used the 1 tooth up front = 3 in the back rule. Maybe it's true then rules are meant to be broken!

@bryansuperduke1290r

Жыл бұрын

@@superduked33 Yes that goes back b4 I stated riding in 80s, but you have to divide the rear teeth by front teeth to get the actual ratio, it was just rounded up to 3 teeth but it’s closer to 2.

Great video, So when i bought my gen 2 in 2017 the dealer lowered the bike forks and altered rear spring for me by quarter inch due to me being only 5ft 7. So i am not sure how that changes the bike for me for better or worse on road. I never do track.

@superduked33

Жыл бұрын

John, the most important part of your Gen 2 is that its your Gen 2, not anyone else's. The best any of us can do is tailor our bikes to our needs or preference. Doesn't matter what they are. It was wise that the dealer not only lowered the rear, but also the front too - so they effectively maintained the bikes natural composure. Lowering the rear alone would have made your bike harder to turn, lazier to steer. But they didn't do that which is great. So now the only questions left are not what you should be asking me but what I should be asking you. Like, how do you like your bike? How does it feel out on the roads? Any issues you want to improve? Doesn't sound like it so far.. :)

@John-hf1ig

Жыл бұрын

@@superduked33 Many thanks for your reply its great to hear what you have said, I really like the bike and it feels great on the roads, easy bike to ride i find. I have always wondered though how the lowering might have changed it for better or worse as i read that a bike should never be lowered as it affects the geometry. I read somewhere that it could make turn in sharper or easier and so was bit worried that that was a negative. Thing is Eric i do live in Guernsey in the Channel islands ( below u.k and just off France ) so the bike will never reach fast speeds over here as max permitted speed limit is 35mph and only naughty people would ever get to even 70 on it!!! : ) when i bought it i had the full Akra put on so that made it roughly 183 bhp. So there is nothing i would like to change to be honest. Its all black with lots of carbon here and there. So after 5 years i still like it a lot.Thanks again Eric.

Do you need to loosen swing arm to remove stock (17) front sprocket? I have removed the nut and washer but the sprocket wont come off.

@superduked33

8 ай бұрын

No, swingarm does not interfere at all. Might be minor rust from rain or washing. The tolerance on that fit is super tight. They're even hard to get back on sometimes. Sorry for the late response

Hey, Eric. Besides KZread, is there any way I can get in touch with you to answer a few questions?

@superduked33

Жыл бұрын

Sure thing. Email me - eric@byeric.com

Where is Jerry's shop located? I need some straightening done on my frame. Previous owner highsided it.

@superduked33

Жыл бұрын

Gerry's shop is in Sacramento. GP Frame and Wheel. Good guy, tell him GoGo sent you and he will surely give you a .005% discount. 🙂

@RubberChickenMan007

Жыл бұрын

@@superduked33 hahaha right on. Appreciate these videos you've put together. They're great. I was looking at aftermarket suspension from Rottweiler Performance. Do you have any feedback on their setups? Maybe a better recommendation?

@superduked33

Жыл бұрын

@@RubberChickenMan007 Looks like they sell Hyperpro shocks and springs. I know absolutely zero about Hyperpro. Never tried one, don't know anyone who uses them. If I were you I would buy an Ohlins for that bike. That's the beauty of the Gen1-2, Ohlins made shocks for them. They don't for the Gen3

@RubberChickenMan007

Жыл бұрын

@@superduked33 appreciate that. I just bought the rubber jack stand pucks you talked about in the 3rd video. One thing I found shocking was the air box comment. I thought rottweiler was supposed to be immensely better. I even bought the velocity stacks. Now I feel like an asshat 😂. I'll run em for a bit and see how I like it. But I'm damn confident you're right about the overall end result.

@superduked33

Жыл бұрын

@@RubberChickenMan007 I believe their stacks, or other stacks, could be measurable improvements. But the open airbox idea I am not a believer in. Don't feel like an ass-hat I bought into it too. Threw out all my OEM airbox-related parts, then bought it all again to go back to stock airbox. I just LOVE doing shit like that

Are you related to Anthony Jesylnik?

@alexwhatley1190

Жыл бұрын

Also, I love that you have obviously been drinking before you made this video. As an avid motorcycle racer, comedian and alcoholic, I love this video and will always support your channel! Ride safely good sir!

@superduked33

Жыл бұрын

No but thanks for the tip. Dude is hysterical

Rijdt niet zo lekker hè

@superduked4507 , I appreciate your content to help fellow riders like myself find some guidance on these lovely machine’s. I’m reaching out to get as for further guidance on an issue that seems to have many opinions. The infamous “MTC Failure. I would appreciate any insights as to how to troubleshooting the issue. Here are some specs on the bike, many thanks in advance. MTC failure 2015 1290super duke - Advise needed MTC failure 2015 1290super duke - Advise needed I have read many threads about the issue and there doesn’t seem to be a clear consensus on a fix as I have read it’s an umbrella code for various issues. Here is what is on the bike for reference: I purchased my bike with 40k miles. Now has 47k. I bought it with a few Rottweiler mods already on it: Ignition module Power commander 4 Full Remus exhaust TVs 80 59 stack And all the single deletes Lithium battery Stage 3 canister delete Air intake filter kit Tail today Heated grips Maintenance/service Oil change 1500miles ago Fuel pump and filter 1500 ago Rear brake rotor and pads replaced Recent tire change ** is there any specific service I should consider for the miles it has? Local ktm dealer was not very helpful. I get the error code shortly after it’s turned on, it runs.BUT I can tell it’s not running smooth. Also if I manually cycle the throttle body code goes away and comes back. Sometimes for a few hours sometime it comes back after a few min. Any advise as to where to start troubleshooting would be greatly appreciate it. It’s been one of my favorite bikes in my 20 years of riding.

@superduked33

11 ай бұрын

I will ask my boy Alex about this and get back to you. he's not always super quick to respond because I think he mutes my ringer - especially on weekends because that's when I call him the most! Hahahahah

@cj1valdez

11 ай бұрын

@@superduked33 your are a gentleman and a scholar. Your input is appreciated. Hopefully one day I have the opportunity to get on the track

@superduked33

11 ай бұрын

OK that was quick. Alex must not be pissed at me :-). Alex says its' not an easy answer because the MTC is like a default code that shows up for everything. You remove the exhaust flag, you get the MTC code. You have a bad battery, you get the MTC code. Etc. etc. Alex says it shows up even with non MTC related problems often. So, diagnosis of "the" problem would take a deeper look into what else the motorcycle is doing wrong. Hope this helps brother

@cj1valdez

11 ай бұрын

@@superduked33 I’ve read the same thing on multiple forums and vids. I was afraid of that answer as it’s a wild goose chase. I will start my checklist and start crossing out potential suspects. Thanks for your time

@superduked33

11 ай бұрын

@@cj1valdez Sorry I couldn't be more help my friend. Good luck and never hesitate to reach out