Hi,
I'm really struggling with the "twitchy" front end feel on my 2023 250. Especially under braking and corner entry. The front end feels so twitchy and has a tendency to tuck on corner entry or speed wobble on decel. It's really messing with my confidence.
I've had my suspension revalved by my local tech, tried dropping the forks flush in the clamps, tried adding more sag. None of these changes are giving me the confidence I am looking for to charge harder into corners.
I'm looking at buying a set of Talon triple clamps that can be adjusted to 24mm OS. Keefer has reviewed them and makes them seem like the solution I am looking for.
Does anyone else have any experience with trying 24mm OS clamps? Does it really make a huge difference? I don't want to risk wasting money, because these things aren't cheap...
I really want to love this bike. But it's making it hard for me.
I appreciate any help
JMO, but 99% of bike handling issues can be solved without expensive bolt ons like clamps.
What are you running for sag? Have you contacted any other local suspension tuners?
Adding more sag for me helped calm the front end down. I run 105.
Forks may be under-sprung??
100% 24mm clamps help
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If you're having twitchy issues after you've gotten the suspension properly setup and tested various sag and fork positions, then clamp offset would be the next step. 24mm offset is what most of the fast guys are running outdoors on that chassis.
We also have adjustable offset clamps for the Honda (21, 22, 23, and 24 in the same clamp) if you're open to a different brand:
https://www.luxonmx.com/product-luxon-honda-triple-clamps-gen3-pro.html…;
While I was stuck on the couch recovering from back surgery, I was bored out of my mind. So I went nuts ordering stuff. Hell, I bought the bike 2 days after surgery, a friend picked it up for me and brought it to me. Great friend. Anyways, I did the 24mm clamps from Ride Engineering, suspension revalve with suspension linkage from Factory Connection. My goal was to have as plush of a ride as possible to spare my back. Man, let me tell you, it’s one of the sweetest handling and plush bikes I have ever ridden. It’s always fun to play musical bikes with my buddies at the track. The common comment is “wow, this thing is stable and plush, not what I was expecting” no twitch at all. Long rant, but I do believe the clamps helped. My bike is stable, and my wallet is lighter 🤣🤣🤣
My 23 Honda was all over the place first time out. In fact it was so bad I parked it and rode my old YZF. Took me two hitches to get the rear spring right. First I tried the heavy Honda spring which was two light, didn’t work. Got with RaceTech and they helped me get the right spring for my weight etc. Set the sag to 104. I have it written in my competition handbook but seems like I went two clicks heavier all the way around, front and back. Actually pretty decent scooter to ride now. Getting the rear spring right was key in my case.
My observation on 23 Honda. Rear is way to soft for most of us. I’d guess it’s sprung for 150-160 pound person. Forks are sprung for a heavier rider, 200 ish pound fast guy or in my case 230 pound old slow guy.
If used bike prices hadn’t of tanked I’d flipped it. I was so put out with the Honda bought a 24 Beta 300 RX back in Sept. Which gave me something decent to ride till I sorted out the Honda.
Some of the problems getting my Honda sorted out were my hard head. If I had to guess I’ve talked to more people who didn’t like the Honda than did. Talked to more than one vet rider that took the hit and flipped it for another ride. Lots of guys just want to get a new bike set the sag and go ride. The Honda takes some work to get right. Once it’s right it’s like a totally different scooter.
After reading your complaints my thoughts are that you need to get your suspension setup better than you currently have it. Triple clamps do help and I recommend them, but I don’t think it will cure the problems you described in your post. The triple clamp change will be subtle and it sounds like you need a drastic change.
FYI… I owned a 2023 Honda CRF250 with Factory Connection suspension and Ride Engineering triple clamps so I have a good background / opinion on this topic.
Solid advice. I don’t think most guys have had a chance to ride a bike with suspension setup just for them. It’s an incredible experience
Thanks for all the replies everyone. I appreciate the input, it's definitely been helpful. I think my forks are sprung way too heavy. I'm on stock springs @150lbs bodyweight, intermediate level rider (i lost like 30-40lbs in the off season since my revalve.) I guess I'll go get the suspension resprung first of all, I'm just terrified of spending all this cash on the bike and still not liking it.
I just got new springs on this bike. Didnt do a revalve as new lighter springs is all I need for my level. Vet C rider. I weigh 140-145 and the stock springs were much too stiff for me. I couldn't set the sag at 105 without the rear shock being a floppy mess lol. So with the stock springs I ran sag at 102 and felt very stink buggy. Not to mention I never felt planted and stable. Went down to a 4.8 rear shock and .47 forks... Thing is mental now. I feel very comfortable and the bike just feels stable. I can actually load the suspension now lol.
It’s funny to me how unbalanced spring rates are front-to-rear on your bike. My ‘23 250 XC-W was the same way for me. I had to go two rates down on the front, while the rear still borders on being too soft for me at 155 lbs.
Also, another vote for using Race-Tech’s spring rate calculator. I first tried going to the lower rate suggested in the manual, but it was not light enough.
A friend of mine and his dad both have the 23, I can't be sure but I believe he's running 107-108 sag somewhere around there, and forks are almost flush, and that had it going pretty stable, still has that notorious honda twitch but nothing like before, his dad also just recently got the clamps and it is a completely different bike, got to ride both of them back to back and wow what a difference. I'm definitely going to see about getting some for my '16.
I had the same issue but a factory connection revalve and one rate stiffer springs front and rear dramatically improved it. Linkage helped the rear feel more connected and helped a bit with stability that way. I am 160 vet rider with a B class pace. My forks are also flush, sag at 108. I also ride mostly sand. I love how the bike feels now but I get it’s not for everyone.
Try increasing your fork comp clicker, those showas have a lot of bleed and will dive unless the clicker is run in. Unless they effed up your forks you should find some stability in the 6-8 out range.
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