My 2018 handles better than my 2015

I bought a 2018 SDR a couple of months ago and noticed that it handled better then my 2015 SDR.
I made all of the suspension settings the same and my 2018 still handles better.
The bike chassis's are virtually identical other then a few mounting tabs.
Does anyone know why the 2018 should handle better?
Thanks >>>> Mike

Have you tried just swapping the wheels/tyres (without changing tyre pressure) and comparing again? Also have you measured the front and rear static sag and the adjusted length of the chain and rear wheel to swingarm pivot length? There are so many small changes, adjustments, suspension wear on bushings and seals to even handlebar position being just a little forward or rearward that makes a bike feel different. Seems everything new handles just a little better than something with even slight wear on all of the components.......well at least that's what I tell myself to justify the money spent getting a new bike Just for grins I'd start by changing the wheels and tyres and measuring sag and wheelbase......or you could just take them both to the track and compare lap times

I thought swapping wheels was too much like work so I did something a lot easier.
I compared the technical data in the back of each owners manual to see if anything was different.
It turns out that the 2018 has more spring preload on the rear spring and the spring rate on the front was increased slightly.
So I added two turns of preload on the rear spring of the 2015 which helped out the handling quite a bit.
I figured with the front spring change there would be more sag on the 2015 but it was reversed from what I expected.
The next step is Iam going to raise the forks in the triple trees to make up for the sag difference tomorrow.
Thanks >>>> Mike

And you should be getting 10% better fuel economy from Beast 2.0