Originally I was not going to go into much depth on this page, but I felt I was remiss in not explaining how suspension and geometry work together to provide a final product. If you really want to read the ideology of motorcycle geometry/suspension and how it has evolved over the last couple decades then the old article can be read here and it is quite thorough.

In a very nice contrast to the way so many production bikes have been being delivered from the factories in the last decade or so where longer & longer swingarms coupled with unrealistic trail numbers require us to raise the front end up to atmospheric levels just to get the bike to finish the turn or even install offset triple clamps to accomplish the same task. This 2025 CB1000 actually steers pretty damn decent and requires what I would consider more conventional methods of altering the geometry for proper track use. What I mean by that is we are finally getting back to flatter ride geometry and not having to fight the front so much.

The bike as delivered does has some understeer, but it's not overly difficult to fix. A combination of better valving in the rear Ohlins TTX shock and getting some proper support from the forks for both springs and damping made this motorcycle exceptionally quick to steer considering its heft and riding position. Along with that I have to mention that tires make a world of difference on this bike. The OEM Bridgestones are just crap tires period... I tried a 180/55 Dunlop Q5S on the rear and that alone completley changed the handling of the bike - literally just a tire change felt like we made suspension adjustments... The whole bike was much more compliant especially when leaned over mid-turn. The 180/60 Q5 was even better making the bike feel MUCH more trackworthy, competitive even for lack of a better term. For the guys that are going to be using this on the track the 180/60 is definitely the way to go.

As a suspension tuner and the Largest Ohlins Dealer in the World I almost immediately installed a custom Ohlins NIX30 Cartridge Kit into my OEM Showa forks on this bike so I am already working with a level of suspension that far exceeds the OEM components...

SO what does you need to do to setup your Hornet SP?

That is not easy to answer...

The geometry and damping of a sportbike is basically fine tuned to a riders needs and is dictated by how fast the rider actually is, how far they lean off the bike, the size and profile of the tires, the quality of the suspension and a list of other variables.

Stock suspension will require a different type of geometry than quality aftermarket suspension would. With proper damping and spring rates in most quality aftermarket suspension you will limit the amount of front end dive under trailbraking and squat under acceleration etc which drastically alters the way the bike enters and exits the turns and adds not only stability, but consistency to the set-up. Stock suspension almost always lacks that ability and you have to ride around those issues which makes geometry setup a massive compromise. I learned years ago that stock suspension is shit. I don't care how many accolades whatever magazine or blog throws at it, it's still shit and is much harder to get set up properly for one specific weight, rider or riding style when it was built as a one size fits all.

As I don't ride on stock suspension I am not going to do an article about setting up OEM Hornet SP suspension... What I can say is that the first step is attempting to set Rider Sag as the springs are the basic building block of the entire suspension. If the springs are not the correct rate and you cannot set the proper Sag, which is nothing more than a mathematical equation of overall stroke, then nothing you do past that point is going to be correct either. For normal street riding the OEM suspension will likely get you close enough to endure, but it will never be even remotely close to what aftermarket suspension will do for you. What I would not do is just arbitrarily set your clickers to what some moto-journalist posted in some magazine article somewhere. Most of those guys are just writers that happen to know how to ride a motorcycle and they don't really have to be good at either one to do the job. The rest of them are retired racers or test riders that have specific requirements or feedback they look for in a motorcycle set-up that may make the bike handle great for them, but would likely mean very little to the average rider.

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