Been having a play with suspension on the K8. From the go, front felt good but rear feels OK with Mrs on board but a bit bouncy solo, 2 clicks extra rebound solved that.
Decided to do the smart thing and measure suspension sag properly. All measurements are difference between rider on board and bike raised off ground with no load on suspension
I have read that for street riding 35-40mm front and 30-35mm rear is about right, so on with the riding gear and out with the tape measure.
Front is right on 35mm on stock setting so looks good, and feels pretty good on the road.
Rear sag is only 21mm - Figure I might need to loosen off preload, but there is only about 5mm above the top locking ring. So my question is, if I loosen up by around 3mm (to leave some thread for the ring to grip), is that going to get me another 14mm of travel, or so I need a softer spring? I weigh in at about 165lbs (or 75kgs) in gear, so quite light.
If I need a new spring, I assume this means whole new shock? Would not upset me too much as I would love to be able to easily change preload when Mrs gets on the back, she probably adds 145lb and sag is therefore probably about right with her on board
. Used to have a Honda VFR with a dial for preload, was so simple to give it a couple of turns to switch from solo to 2 up and back again. Ohlins is an obvious but expensive route, are there other recommended alternatives? I do a mixture of fairly calm 2 up riding plus some more sspirited solo riding, but no knee down heroics
Decided to do the smart thing and measure suspension sag properly. All measurements are difference between rider on board and bike raised off ground with no load on suspension
I have read that for street riding 35-40mm front and 30-35mm rear is about right, so on with the riding gear and out with the tape measure.
Front is right on 35mm on stock setting so looks good, and feels pretty good on the road.
Rear sag is only 21mm - Figure I might need to loosen off preload, but there is only about 5mm above the top locking ring. So my question is, if I loosen up by around 3mm (to leave some thread for the ring to grip), is that going to get me another 14mm of travel, or so I need a softer spring? I weigh in at about 165lbs (or 75kgs) in gear, so quite light.
If I need a new spring, I assume this means whole new shock? Would not upset me too much as I would love to be able to easily change preload when Mrs gets on the back, she probably adds 145lb and sag is therefore probably about right with her on board
. Used to have a Honda VFR with a dial for preload, was so simple to give it a couple of turns to switch from solo to 2 up and back again. Ohlins is an obvious but expensive route, are there other recommended alternatives? I do a mixture of fairly calm 2 up riding plus some more sspirited solo riding, but no knee down heroics