Diavel 1260 S Firm Suspension Suggestions

Alright Guys,

Anyone else got a 1260 S with Ohlins or a similar Diavel with aftermarket Ohlins or hints?

Going over potholes or bumps in the road goes right up my back - other than that it rides pretty well its just bumpy roads, or bumps or potholes.

I wound the compression down to 16 (away from fully clockwise) and the rebound down to 20 (defaults are 12 away from fully clockwise for both) but that didn't do much at all, even whacked them down to 18 and 24 (max are 20 for compression 30 for rebound) and still didn't really make any noticeable difference.

Couldn't see the default spring weight or the model numbers for the forks or shock, the rear preload sort of looked like it was the factory settings which I'll include here but I don't have the Ohlins spanners to get at it so can't really do preload right now;

Ohlins Shock;
STANDARD setting from the fully closed position (clockwise):
- rebound: loosen adjuster (3) by 12 clicks from fully closed;
- compression: loosen adjuster (1) by 12 clicks from fully closed;
- spring preload: 19±5 mm (0.75± 0.2 in) from fully uncompressed spring.

Ohlins Forks;
STANDARD settings are as follows: - compression: - rebound: ; - spring preload: .
- compression (LH leg): -17 clicks (from fully closed position);
- rebound (RH leg): -12 clicks (from fully closed position);
- spring preload: 4 turns (4 mm) (0.16 in) from fully open, for each one of the two adjustments (2) (RH and LH).

Thanks!

 

Yeah from watching a Dave Moss video I think we're on the same page - from looking at it my bike looked like it might have even had a bit more than 19 probably had the full 19+5 looking at it, so definitely going to wind that back a fair whack and reset the comp and rebound to stock and then go from there!

Thanks for the hints Andy appreciated, the forks are super stiff as well so I'm guessing its preload again, will wind a bit off them as well and set the comp/damp to standard for now as the manual at least seems to be in the ballpark for the comp and rebound settings just way off on the preload for some reason.

 

Cheers mate, I think I'm gonna wind the preload off a bit as Dave Moss seems to think thats the way.

I will try to get it done properly though after I've tried tweaking, Harris Performance and FTR Suspension are my two goto's for suspension near me but I've heard good things about ProTwins as well, pretty sorted with my favourite dealership - On Yer Bike up in Aylesbury but I think I might just go to a specialist suspension centre this one time.

Dave Moss talking about an XDiavel S rear Ohlins shock;


Same rear shock and frame layout roughly on the XDiavel S so I'm gonna go with my solution being similar. If I get it wrong it'll go to FTR or Harris in the end anyway lol

 

Just as an update to this one, the rear preload is impossible to do for me without a double sided C-Spanner Wrench so I've ordered the Ohlins tool to do it properly.

The shock is in there so tightly that I couldn't figure out a way to untighten at all without a took that can catch it from this side as the exhaust pipe blocks the other side completely. Tightening them back you could probably just use a normal C-Spanner wrench though.

 

So I got the Ohlins C-Spanners today and wound a bit of preload off and its a bit better - the amount of space you have to do it though is really small so I've had a go at the rear subframe, the preload nuts and even put a mark or two on the resevoir;



Does anyone know what the paint code for that part of the subframe is? Also are other peoples preload adjusters as messed up as mine from just one attempt at adjustment?

Cheers!

 

Hi Mate,

I only wound a turn or so off as even with the right tools there's almost no clearance to turn the preload nuts and you end up whacking the subframe with the Ohlins C-Spanners so I've stopped tinkering for now and I think the brunt of the problem is coming from the rear shock area.

The guys at Ducati Aylesbury (On Yer Bike) have got it better but I still think I can get it better still - not sure if they did the rear preload or just the front, but I think according to Dave Moss above the preload setting needs to be wound out three-ish turns on an XDiavel S with the same shock but I'm guessing possibly slightly different linkages to give the spring more travel over the bumps - obviously depending on the weight of the rider as too much and I guess it will start bottoming out which will be even worse !!

Might take it to Harris Performance/FTR Suspension or Steve Jordan Motorcycles and see what they make of it as they know what they're doing and I'm just guessing here really, ideally I'd like an Ohlins suspension dealer who knows the Diavel type of bike well and has perfected one or two already so knows what needs to be done - have pinged an email to Ducati UK to ask them how their technical team setup the UK press bikes so will see if they come back with anything good as well!!

Cheers

 

Apparently its just an inherent issue with the design of the frame + front and rear wheel sizes, but you can also get it pretty good on a 1260 S I'm told if you have someone who knows what they're doing. I just think the bikes have all been setup for very smooth European roads and not what we have here!

As soon as I get something concrete back I'll update the thread!

Cheers

 

I wound a few more rotations of the preload nut off today and left the other settings as they were on the shock;

Compression : 20 Clicks (maxed)
Rebound : 18 Clicks

Here's a picture of how far I've loosened off the preload to give the spring more room;



Front forks I'm currently running;

2 turns clockwise of preload from fully open
Front Compression-> 20 turns anti clockwise from fully closed
Front Rebound -> 15 turns anti clockwise from fully closed

Thats where I'm at right now, I might try wind off the preload a bit more and tighten the compression and rebound up a bit on the shock but thats for tomorrow.

Would be really interested to see what other people have done to settle their bikes down a bit.

Feels a lot less back breaking with these settings over 40mph than it did before, at slower speeds its better, but still not ideal.

Harris Performance said they'd look at it next week, would like to see how far out my settings were !!

Cheers

 

Hey,

So wound a bit more off today and the bike is finally quite ok now. Still not ideal up to 30-40mph and over mega bumps but much much better than before.

Still running Comp at 20 clicks anticlockwise and Rebound I've adjusted to 20 clicks anticlockwise as well and will see how I get on but for now its ok, the back actually feels pretty good I think I might need to wind a little bit of preload off the front forks now and I might be there.

Here is picture of preload screw as of today on rear shock;



(In case anyone was wondering I got the Ohlins C-Spanner tools from FTR Suspension they were about a tenner each give or take and I got two to separate out the two rings - also used a cloth over the compression valve and some door wind jammer type bouncy sticky tape on the rear subframe to not take anymore paint off when I whack the c-spanner against the subframe.)

Thanks

 

Quick update;

So on more agressive riding the shock seemed to be hitting the bump stop, so I put a cable tie on to confirm and yeah its going up the entire level of the shock when I start to ride a bit faster so I've wound a few turns of preload back on now and its using almost all the length without hitting the bump stop which is good, but its also killed the compliance of the rear wheel over imperfections. I put a cable tie on the front forks and they are also pretty close to the end of their travel, probably around 18mm left but I'll leave them as is for now as I think thats probably in the safe zone as I did do some relatively hard braking to test that.

Might try playing with the PSIs as its summer, manual states 36/36 cold but might try a couple of PSI lower and do 34/34 see where that gets me

Heres the specs from the manual for the forks and shock;

Diavel 1260 S
Make: Ohlins.
Hydraulic fork with Ø48 mm (1.89 in) upside-down
legs with TiN treatment fully adjustable in rebound
and compression hydraulic damping.
Front wheel travel: 120 mm (4.72 in).

Diavel 1260 S
Make: Ohlins.
Fully adjustable rebound and compression damping
and spring preload.
Stroke: 62.5 mm (2.46 in).
Rear wheel travel: 130 mm (5.12 in).

and this is what I've sorted of reverted to now;

Rear Shock:
Preload: 5 screw threads / 22mm
Compression : 20 Clicks anti clockwise
Rebound : 20 Clicks anti clockwise

Front Forks:
Preload: 4 turns clockwise
Compression : 20 turns anti clockwise
Rebound : 18 turns anti clockwise

Cheers!

 

the above settings were also bottoming out on a more spirited country ride so I've gone back to the base settings in the manual for the Ohlins suspension;

Forks;
STANDARD settings are as follows: - compression: -
rebound: ; - spring preload: .
- compression (LH leg): -17 clicks (from fully
closed position);
- rebound (RH leg): -12 clicks (from fully closed
position);
- spring preload: 4 turns (4 mm) (0.16 in) from fully
open, for each one of the two adjustments (2)
(RH and LH).

Shock;
STANDARD setting from the fully closed position
(clockwise):
- rebound: loosen adjuster (3) by 12 clicks from
fully closed;
- compression: loosen adjuster (1) by 12 clicks from
fully closed;
- spring preload: 19±5 mm (0.75± 0.2 in) from fully
uncompressed spring.

Have added two extra clicks of rear compression (to 14 from fully closed) to soften the back a bit more and am just leaving it now until I get it into a suspension specialist, it's firm but at least its not bottoming out on more progressive rides.

I think there's something amiss with the low/high speed damping changes on this Ohlins kit, but will see and report back!