KTM 500 EXC Suspension set-up

you [Music] hey it's David Pingree with upshift online we're here today at KTM want to go over some basic suspension setup points with you so if you have a 500 exc a 350 or a 250 everything we're going to talk about today applies the concepts are all the same between all those bikes so if you come from a road racing background or you're just not that familiar with how the clickers and and knobs work we're going to kind of go over some of that basic stuff today all right we're going to start with the front end of these bikes today so this is the 48 Explorer fork from WP it's shared among all the exc models and there's two basic settings here so as far as for tighten the clamps leave that where it's at it's on the second line down that's a pretty standard setting so basically what you have is a compression and a rebound the red knob is the rebound it says re be right on there so it shouldn't be too much confusion as to what does what they're the compression side basically consider it like a screw that's going in and as that screw goes in it closes an orifice and makes the fork feel stiffer so every clique that we turn in the front of this bike is going to feel a little more firm so if you're riding and you feel like the front end of the bike is diving down too low and you get on the brakes if when you hit bumps it feels like it's it's going in too far or basically just that the balance of the bike is off you're going to want to go in with this and each click that you go in the fork will feel a little firmer it'll ride a little higher in the stroke to a point where it'll start to feel very rigid and give you a lot of feedback what this knob is great for is you can adjust on the fly that that feel so as you're going if it feels too too firm like you're getting too much feedback just back this dial off one click at a time until you find for you what's a good setting alright the other side here the red knob is for rebound so if you can't read on there just remember Reds for rebound the feeling you're going to get here is basically if the front end feels like it's bouncing out too fast so when you hit a bump and it does it feel like it returns and almost springs back up on you you can dial this in again the same kind of concept where as you close that orifice off its going to move slower the further in you go on this the slower that the fork is going to return so the manufacturer recommendation for settings is 15 on both of these clickers so that means you go all the way until they stop going in and back out 15 clicks that's where these will come stock when you get them and again that's a general setting designed to accommodate a very large range of skilled riders at different weights so you're going to it's going to take some fine-tuning to get this thing working the best that it can for you so again work on the compression if it feels like it's coming out too fast you can turn the rebound in if it feels like it's kind of coming up too slow that's that's it and you again go in two or three or four clicks and feel it that's a good way to if you're not sure you don't get much feeling when you make one or two clicks do make a drastic change and feel it and see if it feels better or worse and then you can come back to your baseline and go the other direction that's sort of a good practice when you're trying to get these set up for yourself so again 15 and 15 or your standard settings and then from there it's just tuning to what you like all right for the Explorer PDS rear shock there's a an extra setting on here a next adjustment that we'll talk about so you've got your high and low speed compression adjuster here at the top of the shock which is a flat blade screwdriver and a 17 millimeter t-handle or socket and then down here on the bottom you've got a rebound adjuster as well all right so this is your high and low speed compression adjuster here on the top inside the center this is low speed so just like the fork every time that we go in a click the shock is going to feel firmer hitting bumps going through the stroke it's going to be just a little more firm feeling okay and then on the outside this is your 17 mil this is the high speed this is going to affect more where the bike rides in the stroke and they do sort of complement each other but if you're trying to get the bike to sit a little lower in the rear one thing you could do is try a quarter turn on this on this adjuster here a quarter turn at a time is going to let it ride a little bit higher in the stroke so it's going to sit a little taller and it's going to add to that firm feeling when you're on the tracker trail all right on the bottom of the shock here we've got our rebound adjuster and same thing just on that like on the four if we go in with this the spring the shock returns up to its upright position slower you open it up it's going to be it's going to move quicker up and down through the stroke if you get a feeling in the like when you hit a bump the back end of the bike wants to pop up and hit you in the seat that's an indicator you might want to slow this down try one or two clicks at a time going in again it's just a flat blade screwdriver we go in a couple clicks that's going to slow it down and keep it give it a more settled feeling like just not as active all right so manufacturers recommendations on this PDF shock are 15 and 15 out just like we talked about with the fork so all the way in and then 15 clicks out and in terms of the high-speed here you want to go all the way in until it stops and then two turns out two full revolutions that's the manufacturer recommended recommended setting for this thing stock and then again just like the fork you're gonna want to dial it in to your own personal preferences all right guys there's one last piece of the puzzle to really get this bike set up for you and that is the SAG so the basic there's a couple of things you need to know about sag one KTM has really done a great job of showing you right the right way to do it so they've written sag on the fender right here you'll see it and you want to take from the basically the axle you can either go through the axle bolt or find a place back here just make sure you do it the same every time and run the tape measure up to this line and that should be a hundred and ten millimeters difference between the bike sitting on the SAG on the stand rather so no weight on the rear wheel you take that measurement write it down then you have your rider sit on the bike with the bike on the ground all of his weight on the seat and the difference between the standard measurement from the stand and him on the bike should be a hundred and ten millimeters so a little bit of subtraction there use a calculator if you have to but that's going to get the number the right ride height for you and really help the bikes balance which is really key to make these work the way they're designed to work the compression rebound adjusters are all sort of to make it customized for you the way you like to ride and your weight but this really sets the balance of the bike and that's really the the foundation for making this thing handle the way you want it to okay if you've taken your egg measurements and they are above or below 110 millimeters you're going to need to adjust the spring and so basically let's say that your number is too high you have too much sag you're going to need to tighten down the spring so basically that that will hold you up a little higher and get your number right so you start here by loosening this one screw here at the top of the collar all right and once that's loose you should be able to take and just turn the spring and if you go a turn at a time half a turn something like that you'll you'll kind of start to get a feel for how much it's moving until you can get the right numbers so you'll retake the sag keep working on it till you're at 110 millimeters and then make sure you come back here and tighten this collar back up before you're done so again if your numbers too low then you're going to undo the spring unwind it so loosen it and if it's your numbers too tall you're going to tighten it down [Music] you

Channel: UPSHIFT ONLINE

Views: 84,754

Rating: 4.9324055 out of 5

Keywords: KTMHow-ToAug17, suspension, ktm, 500exc, maintenance, motorcycle, off-road, enduro, dual-sport

Id: Z_vG0g5yJts

Length: 8min 8sec (488 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 14 2017