Varg suspension

[TechZoo]

The front is stiff, but the rear shock is way stiff! Nothing like my other bikes. It was making studder bumps on the exit of my turns. I took it to my suspension shop, and he said it had a stiff single-stage compression stack. He replaced it with a softer two-stage setup. Much better! Any thoughts as to why it's so far off? I can check the other bikes at the dealer to see if it's an error.

 

[fred900]

I took off my suspension from my 2020 KTM 450 that the Stark replaced, Lainer Shock and my forks. Had to have the bottom
Triple Clamp enlarged. Bike was amazing but not perfect. On the shock I just took out Rebound and it was amazing. On the forks, I played with Oil and clickers but same problem. I ended up doing the revalve myself, I took off one of the mid-valve face rebound shims (large shim on the valve) in .10 thickness and added a 10 .10 on the comp side in the High Speed Comp area. I have the exact came suspension on my 23 KTM 350, and the stark suspension it the best I have ever rode on.
On the other hand, my buddy had his bike done by ENZO (Forks) on his KTM and had Shock Theropy revalve the shock and put the Stark uppers on the forks. Rode mine and then took his bike to REP. They did the revalve to their specs and the bike was not for a human, ok vet rider, but for a pro, they put 5.9 springs in the front a a 6.8 in the rear. Rode my bike again and said F-it and took to Lainer, got the Impact 18 shock and 6.0 spring with my exact internal settings. Had all the Lainer special Lainer KYB parts installed in the forks, but only put 5.0 springs in the front. Bike was really good but no hold up in the front, So I put the original 5.2 springs in the front and moved the face shim and now he says his bike is better than mine, lighter springs, I have 5.4 in the front.
I think back when I first got the bike, I think I had the rebound almost all the way out and that was the best setting for stock suspension.

 

[wfopete]

I'm not going to go through all I did but I ride Arkansas rocks and roots (2nd gear type of trail) so plush is key. Two things; one the preload is way too much on the forks (10mm). There are a couple ways to fix this but I took the quick and dirty way: I cut the plastic spring perch down 5mm. Also the compression stack on the base valve is uber stiff. I tossed out about half the 32.0 shims as just a start. Yes I did a lot more including going with a early style mid-valve (Lanier) to get rid of the KYB trampoline spring. I use .46kg springs.

As for the rear shock, once I set the sag, backed off the compression and dialed in the rebound, it wasn't too bad. Yes it could be better but I can live with it for now.

 

[jswr450]

Went for the first ride today. Stiff but compliant, but I didn't move the clicker settings. Will probably go a couple clicks out (less) on both compression and rebound, but I wanted to ride it for a few hours before making adjustments. I have KYB SSS and their shock (KYB) on my YZ250x, and I've found both very responsive to clicker adjustments.

 

[mbrobich]

For those asking about which fork springs work, I use the same fork springs from Racetech for my 2005 KTM 525EXC. Same length, ID and OD. I had a set of .40, .42, .44 and .46 in the garage (Have had too may KTM's over the years lol). I recently lost a bit of weight so to properly tune for my weight, I left a 200lb spring in the left leg and installed a .42(170lbs) spring in the right leg with 3 weight oil in the cartridge and fork leg(this allows greater clicker adjustability). For the rear I went with Racetech's suggestion and installed a 4.8KG coil on the shock. This has transformed the bike into a veritable woods weapon.