This guy sounds really good. If I was anywhere near Preston I'd be visiting him with my Monster, for sure. I did however have my Pani set up by P&H when I was at the Donnington Ducati track day. Again, to say it was a transformation is an understatement. Bazzer had his 999r done as well and reported the same happy results. I'd agree that it's the best bang for buck that you can spend on bike. I do find it slightly weird that the factory doesn't set them up better. I know each of us might be slightly different in weight but it's amazing that it makes that much difference.
Surely it would be easy for the dealer to discuss the type of riding anticipated, riders weight etc and do a basic setup as part of the PDI process? It would certainly be in line with the level of service to be expected when buying a premium product and if it involved a few quid extra on the purchase price who is going to quibble or even notice on a bike costing as much as they do these days.
When you really think it through, what extra would it cost (in time and resource) for the dealer to simply set the preload correctly (you can do that in a range without the rider) and put the settings at ‘tried and tested average’? Sounds like a nice added value to me
Hardly any. If someone overrides the bike in its current state, that’s the rider not the bikes (or dealers) fault
Why buy without a test ride? Why not return to the dealer when unhappy with the feel? Why not return to factory standard settings and do small adjustments until it "feels right" ? Get to know your bike and it will work for you!
Up to a point I agree with the above, which is what I did with the Multi. However couldn’t get it as good as I wanted which I put down to lack of knowledge/understanding of suspensions. I then decided at a track day to get a pro to “tweek” it. Although I wasn’t to far out the changes made transformed the bike to my complete satisfaction. The guys also explained what they were doing which obviously helped me understand a bit more about suspension setups. Then I got the 899 which just didn’t feel right. Rather than spend days/weeks trying to sort it myself I took it to TW suspension straight away and Teut did his stuff. For the £40 he achieved a result that I wouldn’t have come close to in weeks or months. It amazes me the number of posts that go on here about handling issues and what bling to buy to fix the problem, rather than sort out the basics. This is where I think the dealers could do better, at least set the pre-load and give those non technically minded a fighting chance.
A few years ago MCN did a series of suspension set up guides for a range of the leading bikes, giving the number of clicks for everything for a given rider's weight, type of riding etc, without even going as far as measuring sag, just a very basic suspension setting guide - this sort of information should be available from dealerships for the bikes they sell. All well and good for a brand new bike, but next to useless for bikes that are a few years old when oils and springs are bedded in and who knows what else has been added to, or removed from, the bike, or even suspension changed. Therefore the dealer angle is only part of the answer and also the reason I am so glad I discovered the benefits of using a real pro to help out
I agree with the value of specialist set up. my M1200s felt wooden and imprecise when i got it. I tried twiddling with no joy so took it to JHS Nr Bristol and he told me the compression damping was not adjusting much if at all. They stripped and rebuild both forklegs with a racing shim stack and then set the suspenders for my weight and style (fat old bloke who likes to go faster than he should) Cost more than Teut (£140) but it was really worth it and the M1200s is now probably the best handling bike i have owned
