Suspension advice: Stopping my bike 'flopping' into corners

Q. My 2004 Kawasaki ZR-7 has a tendency to flop into corners although I fitted a new rear shock recently.

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I’ve checked the head bearings for play and set the tyre pressures, with 42psi in the rear it feels a little better. Is there anything else to check?

Brian Burke, email

A. It sounds like the forks are too soft.

When you’re coming off the throttle and braking for a bend the front is diving down fast which steepens up the steering geometry, making it steer a lot quicker for the same input from you, which feels like it’s falling into bends.

Check the front sag is 30mm by wrapping a tie wrap around a fork leg, lift the front up so that the suspension is fully extended, then let the weight of the bike settle on the suspension and see how much travel has been used up.

Chances are you’ll be looking at 50% of the available travel gone before you even put your weight on the bars.

The ZR-7 doesn’t have front preload adjustment so you will need to change the fork springs for some linear rate springs from the likes of Ohlins, Hagon or KAIS and replace the fork oil with the same weight fluid.