Ducati Scrambler 800 suspension problem!

[ColaCraze80]

my brother's been trying to dial in the suspension on his Ducati Scrambler 800, and we're both kinda scratching our heads here, especially with the front end.

He was messing around with the front preload adjustments, going from basically no preload (turned all the way counter clockwise) to full preload (cranked all the way clockwise). He was expecting to see a pretty noticeable change, right?

But get this, when he measured the fork length (from the top of the fork to the center of the wheel axle), he only saw about an inch of difference between those two extremes! He even made sure to compress the suspension hard a few times after each adjustment to get rid of any friction.

I'm helping my bro figure this out. So, what do you guys think we're missing here?

We were really expecting a much bigger difference in fork length when going from min to max preload.

Is there some trick to this, or are we just misunderstanding how preload should visually affect the fork length?

Any Duc experts or suspension gurus out there have some insights for us? We'd really appreciate any help!

 

[twenty-08]

That inch of difference in static fork length is actually normal. Preload mostly affects rider sag, not total fork travel. You probably won't see huge visual changes, but it should feel different under load.

 

[simon.scrambler8]

my brother's been trying to dial in the suspension on his Ducati Scrambler 800, and we're both kinda scratching our heads here, especially with the front end.

He was messing around with the front preload adjustments, going from basically no preload (turned all the way counter clockwise) to full preload (cranked all the way clockwise). He was expecting to see a pretty noticeable change, right?

But get this, when he measured the fork length (from the top of the fork to the center of the wheel axle), he only saw about an inch of difference between those two extremes! He even made sure to compress the suspension hard a few times after each adjustment to get rid of any friction.

I'm helping my bro figure this out. So, what do you guys think we're missing here?

We were really expecting a much bigger difference in fork length when going from min to max preload.

Is there some trick to this, or are we just misunderstanding how preload should visually affect the fork length?

Any Duc experts or suspension gurus out there have some insights for us? We'd really appreciate any help!

I agree with @twenty-08. The Scrambler 800 front forks only have preload adjustment, no compression or rebound. The difference you're seeing in fork length is probably correct for the range of adjustment. It's not a huge amount of travel to begin with, so the preload adjustment on the front is more for fine-tuning sag rather than making a drastic change in ride height. An inch of difference at the fork tube is a significant percentage of the available sag range. The rear shock will give you more noticeable changes since it has preload and rebound. It's more about how the bike feels under you when you're sitting on it, not so much about the absolute difference in static fork length. You want to set the sag for his weight and riding style, and a lot of guys find that the stock springs are a little soft anyway, so he might be bottoming out regardless of the preload setting. Hope this explanation helps!