VOL. 51 ISSUE 33 AUGUST 19, 2014 P43
As good as the fork is right out
of the crate, however, we made
some changes to it over our first
two days on the bike. While the
fork action is quite good via the
stock settings, we increased the
inner chamber 10 pounds to help
hold the front end up a little more
in the stroke, to reduce brake
diving, and to give mid-stroke a
firmer feel. To maintain the bike's
overall balance with these new
settings, we increased pressure
in the balance chamber a bit.
Just these few tweaks alone put
a real smile on our faces. We can
only imagine what we can do with
this fork with more time. We feel
we're just scratching the surface.
We've never had much to com-
plain about when it comes to the
RM-Z's rear suspension, and we
still don't. Out back we were fair-
ly happy with the stock settings
with the sag at the seemingly
standard 105mm recommenda-
tion. Once we got the fork dialed
in we slowed down the rebound
damping by two clicks to calm
the rear end a bit and to give the
SPECIFICATIONS
2015 Suzuki RM-Z450
MSRP: .............................................. $8749
ENGINE: ..................Liquid-cooled, DOHC,
4-valve, 4-stroke, single
DISPLACEMENT: ..............................449cc
BORE & STROKE: ...... 96.0mm x 62.1mm
COMPRESSION RATIO: ..................... 12.5:1
FUEL SYSTEM: ...................................... EFI
STARTING SYSTEM: ........................... Kick
LUBRICATION SYSTEM: ........Simi-dry sump
IGNITION: ........................ Electronic (CDI)
TRANSMISSION: ...........................5-speed
FRONT SUSPENSION: ..................... 49mm
Showa SFF Triple Air Chamber-Air fork,
nine-position compression, 12-position
rebound damping adj.
REAR SUSPENSION: ........... Single shock,
12-position compression, step-less
high-speed and 12-position rebound
damping adj.
FRONT BRAKE: ... Dual piston, 240mm disc
REAR BRAKE: ...Single piston, 230mm disc
FRONT TIRE: ....................... 80/100-21 in.
Bridgestone M403
REAR TIRE: ........................... 110/90-19 in.
Bridgestone M404
WHEELBASE: ................................. 58.9 in.
GROUND CLEARANCE: ................... 12.8 in.
SEAT HEIGHT: ................................37.6 in.
FUEL CAPACITY: ............................ 1.6 gal.
COLORS: ...........Champion Yellow/Solid Black
