2012 owners

[krony506]

I got a question. Did any of you feel the need to tighten your steering stem to help with head shake? i ask this because MXA said it was a free mod that it needed. I have not ridden mine yet but I had my suspension done by MB1 with heavier front springs. Just curious what you guys think.

[gyd]

My son is pretty particular and he likes his steering stem pretty snug. We set it so that it will not move on its own while on a stand, it requires imput for the bars to turn. You can also have your steering dampner valved stiffer.

Are you experiencing head shake? If you are having trouble with head shake I would suspect your suspension is were it needs to be. When properly set up my son never complains about head shake on his bikes.

He generally runs his forks 1mm below the fork caps and he runs as much rear sag as he can until it adversley impacts the turning. Depending on the track it will be between about 108mm to 118mm.

[j368]

I've not done that. I do have the HSPD only 2 or 3 out. For me I don't feel like the front end is twitchy and I only run 95mm of sag since I like a bike to steer a little quicker. The suspension is pretty good out of the box if you adjust the clickers.

[j368]

My son is pretty particular and he likes his steering stem pretty snug. We set it so that it will not move on its own while on a stand, it requires imput for the bars to turn. You can also have your steering dampner valved stiffer.

Are you experiencing head shake? If you are having trouble with head shake I would suspect your suspension is were it needs to be. When properly set up my son never complains about head shake on his bikes.

He generally runs his forks 1mm below the fork caps and he runs as much rear sag as he can until it adversley impacts the turning. Depending on the track it will be between about 108mm to 118mm.

Just goes to show you every rider is different with what they like when setting up their bike. That's why they call it testing. What one rider likes may not be right for another rider.

[JFRacing911]

Changed the sag to 105mm and it turn like a champ, haven't experienced any headshake yet.

Our 2012 with the new linkage is not prone to headshake like the 2010-2011

[krony506]

Just one more point that MXA has something against Honda.

[Grinstead_77G]

For my first race, I was running my stock damper at max and still got a few instances of severe head shake on really rough high speed (50+ mph) sections. I was running a lot of preload in the rear spring to get my sag set correctly and I think that contributed to the instability.

I softened up the rear spring preload, went to the larger size front MX51 (90/100x21), lowered the front tire pressure from 16 to 14 lbs and reinstalled my Scotts Damper. Last two races have been w/o headshake and the bike is super stable, but now takes a bit more effort to turn. It seems to me the 2012 is sensitive to too much rear spring preload, but not nearly as sensitive as my 2010 was.

[gyd]

I only run 95mm of sag since I like a bike to steer a little quicker.

We have worked with some really good suspension people with a lot of individual testing and we have never run less than 100mm of sag on any bike since my son moved up from 85's.

I looked at some of our notes on the Yamahas my son rode off of 85's and we were running 102-108mm sag on 125's and 250f's. On the Hondas we are running mostly around 110-115mm.

We ran about 90-95mm on 85's.

You might want to test running more sag, with only 95mm your bike might seem to turn well but it probably does not work really well in breaking bumps. Going to 102-105mm you might even turn better and overall your bike may be more ballanced.

You should also check your sag everytime you ride and everytime you adjust your chain. As your suspension breaks in/down, the sag will change and moving the rear wheel changes the sag. You should also service your suspension at least every 15 hours.

Grinstead_77G Your 16 psi air pressure may have contributed to your head shake issues. We never run more than 12.5 psi. When you change your sag/preload, you should also keep track of the sag measurement so you know where your are with your sag.

[Grinstead_77G]

Grinstead_77G Your 16 psi air pressure may have contributed to your head shake issues. We never run more than 12.5 psi. When you change your sag/preload, you should also keep track of the sag measurement so you know where your are with your sag.

I didn't realize I was running that much pressure until I got a better/calibrated low pressure gauge. I usually ran recommended pressures (15 lbs) because of lots of sharp rocks on our hare scramble course. And was running 95mm sag for first race and am now running 115mm.

gyd: Thanks for the tip... I may take another pound of air pressure out of the front and see how it handles... If it ever warms up enough to melt the snow here in Colorado. Race scheduled for today was postponed due to snow and single digit temps.

[funkinalive]

i actually find that running less sag (less than 100mm) makes my bikes turn WORSE since it wont hold an arc and over-steers like crazy.

[j368]

We have worked with some really good suspension people with a lot of individual testing and we have never run less than 100mm of sag on any bike since my son moved up from 85's.

I looked at some of our notes on the Yamahas my son rode off of 85's and we were running 102-108mm sag on 125's and 250f's. On the Hondas we are running mostly around 110-115mm.

We ran about 90-95mm on 85's.

You might want to test running more sag, with only 95mm your bike might seem to turn well but it probably does not work really well in breaking bumps. Going to 102-105mm you might even turn better and overall your bike may be more ballanced.

You should also check your sag everytime you ride and everytime you adjust your chain. As your suspension breaks in/down, the sag will change and moving the rear wheel changes the sag. You should also service your suspension at least every 15 hours.

Grinstead_77G Your 16 psi air pressure may have contributed to your head shake issues. We never run more than 12.5 psi. When you change your sag/preload, you should also keep track of the sag measurement so you know where your are with your sag.

Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm pretty happy with my setup. I've tested from 90mm-110mm as well as changing the hsc on the shock. There are many variables in setting up a bike and every rider is different. Rider position on the bike changes everything too. I've spent a lot of time in the past with Ross at Enzo and picked Mike Tolle's brain till he couldn't take it anymore lol.

[Fishdog]

IMO: Try changing the oil in your steering damper and use 10w-40 engine oil! It works for me:ride:

Also a Pro Circuit link arm and stiffer fork springs will help too! That's what I did on mine!

[speedboot]

meby someone knows the in/exh duration and lift of the 2012 cam , before i go messure myself .