Adjustable pull-rods, why, how and when?

Let´s start with making sure that everyone knows what we´re talking about.
The pull-rod is what connects your linkage and rear suspension to the frame. Most commonly you´ll find it under the swingarm connected from the frame to a lump of aluminium known as the triangle cantilever. As the rear wheel moves closer to the inside of the rear fender, the pull-rod is what moves the triangle in your linkage and, subsequently, compresses the rear shock.

By adjusting the length of the pull-rod we can either lower or raise the rear end of the bike. Some may even call them lowering links. That is one use case for them. But we are going to be using them to adjust the bikes handling. By adjusting the rear height you are adjusting, not only the seat height, you are also changing the rake of the forks and what we call the stance. We change the length by just a few mm to make significant changes to the chassie and how it behaves.
Adjusting the length will also adjust the linkage ratio slightly but in most cases that won´t effect your riding negatively when we are only adjusting the pull-rod length. We´ll talk more about linkage ratios in a future Tech-Talk.

Lowering the rear will add stability to the motorcycle (less rake) while raising it will remove some of that stability (more rake). How much stability you as a rider want in a motorcycle may differ from how much someone else is comfortable with. Some riders want the bike to be nimble while others prefer the bike to be as stable as possible at all times.
We refer to the bike as more or less stable. But in very few cases do we talk about a bike that is actually unstable. For that to happen we usually need some parts of the bike to not be working as intended. But when we say that we are removing stability, it doesn´t mean that we are removing all of the stability.
Less stable means that it is more nimble.

The second thing the change of the stance does is that it will move some of your weight from, or to, the front wheel.
If we raise the rear we will be adding weight to the front wheel and vice versa.

In stock configurations, most bikes tends to lean more towards the stable type of bikes. More weight on the front wheel can increase your front wheel grip. It´s very rare for a supermoto to have too much weight on the front wheel. MX is a slightly different thing because of the track surface having the surprising ability to just dissapear if we push it too hard.

For the supermoto-gang, we would recommend trying a pull-rod that lifts the rear up and increases rake aswell as adding weight to the front. On a 2024 KTM 450 SXF, going for a pull-rod that is -5mm will raise the rear enough to give you about 0,7degr of rake. On a KTM 450 SMR that number goes to about 0,9 degr. So if you have a 2024 KTM, why not choose a pull-rod with a length of 149 +-3mm. That will allow for adjustments from close to stock all the way to a bike that´s extremely fast turning. You probably won´t be riding it at it shortest setting unless you go for a triple clamp with a different offset. But having this pull-rod will get you prepared for future mods.

For the dirt-crew, we would recommend a pull-rod that has the +-3mm adjustment. Because the +-3mm will give you the option to adjust the rake +-0,5degr. And, as a added benefit. -3mm will shorten the bike ~4mm while the +3mm will lengthen the bike ~4mm. A longer bike will be more stable in high speeds when the ground is uneven. 

Can´t we just move the forks in the triple clamps?
Well of course you can. But in order to get the same amount of change in the front as the -5mm in the pull-rod, you need to lower the front about 29mm. And then you are most likely hitting the forks on the handlebars. So no more adjustments available. If you opt for the adjustable pull-rod you willl have the option to adjust the rear in 1mm increments and then fine tune the stance by lowering/raising the forks in the triples.

Bike chassie adjustments are individual. What suits one rider like a glove may be terrible for someone else. There are a lot of small differences a rider makes to the bikes handling that effects the chassie.
That´s why we prefer parts with adjustments, that way everyone can work on their setup and learn for themselvs what they prefer.

And as always, if you have any questions, send us an email and we´ll help you out, or why not join our Discord?

https://discord.gg/bcAh4HTQ