Suspension setting

[Don Hardcastle]

I printed it. There is some contradiction between the instructions that Bill uses and the setting the owners manual and the service manual use. I am not questioning Bills setup everyone says its great. I am just trying to get some clarification.

On to the questions:

Front Spring Pre-load:

The manual says 0 is the Maximum Preload setting. Is that stiffer or softer.

Then 8 is the opposite of that.

Don

 

[Don Hardcastle]

C'mon. Shibumi and I have the bikes out in the garage and are trying to get this right. Someone knows the answer.

Don

 

[pure_ego]

more pre-load = less lines showing = stiffer 0
less pre-load = more lines showing = softer 8

8 is softest according the lines.. 0 is stiffest..

assuming we are talking about the same thing.

 

[loboboy]

0=stiffest
8=softest
To clear up the confusion between Jinksters settings and the manual, the manual is refering to the lines showing on the preload adjuster and Jinkster is actually counting the turns made to achieve the adjustment. He did it this way because of his bar risers, He could not see the lines therefore he counted the total turns from all the way in to all the way out and made his adjustments from there.

Hope that helps, and if you turn the preload adjuster all the way in(righty tighty- lefty loosey) it will be at the stiffest setting in preload, and vice versa. Also don't forget like I did, the Compression adjustment is at the bottom of the fork, and the rebound is at the top.



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[Don Hardcastle]

The owners manual and the shop service manual are wrong. They say the stock pre-load setting in the front is 5 lines showing. They say to make it stiffer set it to 6 lines showing, nope that is backwards.

Anyway I set the suspension to Jinkster's settings with the following exceptions. I only adjusted the rear pre-load 2mm not 4. The front compression Jinkster has set at 4, the manual says the stiffer setting (from stock) is 9. I set mine at 6.

I quick ride report. Stiffing the rear preload reduced the nose coming up during hard acceleration noticebly. I didn't pull the wheel up, just short of it. With the front pre-load set at Jinkster's settings (which by the way is ~3 lines if you can see them) there was still nose dive. It dove the same distance as the stock setting; HOWEVER, is was more predictable and the dive was slower and less abrupt. Shibumi and I have a 50 mile corner carving ride planned in the morning. I will be able to give you a better report afterwards.

Don

 

[JINKSTER]

Jinkster weighs in...

Points To Consider For The Performance Minded Rider:

Point #1. I can not emphasis enough the importance of stiffening up the rear by taking the rear shock preload collar down the full 2 turns (4mm's tighter from stock) as not only does this greatly reduce accel squat in the rear?...but it also..."COUNTER-ACTS FRONT END RISE"...as the front and rear suspension "work together"...and what you do (or don't do) to one end?..always affects the other as....The more your rear squats under hard accel?...the more your front end is permitted to rise...which in turn transfers more weight from the front of the bike to the rear of the bike...thereby causing your front end to "get lighter sooner" when attempting hard acceleration out of a corner exit...which in turn reduces the size of your front tires contact patch....which in turn results in an expotential loss of front tire traction levels.

Point #2. Stiffening up my compression damping to 4 clicks out was and is merely my way of attempting to compensate for what is an under-sprung condition up front (for those of us 180-200lbs and up) as this does help firm things up and serves to reduce front end dive under hard decel.

Point #3. Anything adjustment that can help reduce the "Hobby-Horse Affect" of diving into and then squating out of a corner is a good thing...then?...tune to taste....and balance out "Performance VS Bump Compliance" based on personal preference and riding style.

Don...Looking forward to hearing your corner carving report and...L8R, Bill.

 

[Shibumi]

I'll back Don up on this, the service and owner's manual are simply WRONG on the settings page, it shows "Stiff" setting at 6 lines when 0 is stiffest, 8 is softest, and 5 is factory setting. Hasn't anybody busted Suzuki on this before?!? It's been out 7 years, after all...

Of course, the settings are almost imperceptibly close as far as feel for one line of adjustment, maybe anyone using it just set it to 6 and never really noticed or thought through the process. Then others like Jinks simply adjusted it by feel and didn't even use the lines for a reference point.

 

[DaCol.]

Of course there are those of us who solfen it up for LONG RIDES over ruff and or bumpy roads