A lot of people seem to be setting their rebound damping (the only damping adjustment available, though adjusting rebound damping unavoidably has a (smaller) effect on compression damping) close to maximum.
Have any of you who do that actually tried bouncing the bike at standstill, to see how it rebounds? You should need just enough dialled in so that the bike rebounds smoothly and swiftly, without bouncing downward again. Too much rebound damping, particularly on a bike as softly sprung as the MT-09, prevents the suspension recovering quickly after bumps or over dips in the road, resulting in the tyres losing contact with the road; loss of traction at the rear; and packing down of the front suspension under braking or over harsh bumps, causing the front end to become totally rigid. Not good. You also don't want your front tyre staying off the ground when you hit a bump whilst leaned over in a bend.
It seems to me that what the MT really needs is more progressive (and possibly slightly heavier) springing, and/or a bit more compression damping.
Have any of you who do that actually tried bouncing the bike at standstill, to see how it rebounds? You should need just enough dialled in so that the bike rebounds smoothly and swiftly, without bouncing downward again. Too much rebound damping, particularly on a bike as softly sprung as the MT-09, prevents the suspension recovering quickly after bumps or over dips in the road, resulting in the tyres losing contact with the road; loss of traction at the rear; and packing down of the front suspension under braking or over harsh bumps, causing the front end to become totally rigid. Not good. You also don't want your front tyre staying off the ground when you hit a bump whilst leaned over in a bend.
It seems to me that what the MT really needs is more progressive (and possibly slightly heavier) springing, and/or a bit more compression damping.
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