Check your fork settings

[fredz43]

I recall reading one suspension specialist shop having a saying that "the best you've ridden is the best you know". Problem is that once you have ridden high quality suspension, then you do know and then tend to find it easy to find qualities that can be improved over stock, just as with seats, engine tuning, etc.

As an example. I know that I can't feel the much discussed power restrictions in gears 1, 2 and 3. Perhaps if I rode one without those restrictions, I could tell the difference. I have ridden more compliant suspension than my S10 has, so therefore my desire to improve it.

 

[rem]

As an example. I know that I can't feel the much discussed power restrictions in gears 1, 2 and 3.

Nor can I. I have no idea what they're referring to, but that could very well be my less than astute ability to notice such things. R

 

[Buckeye56]

I have been told that the actual range of adjustment is relatively small on OEM suspension regardles of the number of "clicks". The reason is to keep folks from getting things too far out of whack, potentially having a bad day and then looking for someone to sue. My FZ1 has a Penske shock and Traxxion Dynamics cartridges and one click makes a noticeable difference in suspension performance. Once I wear out the stock suspenders I will probably invest in higher grade equipment. Since I plan to run the Tenere into the ground I see that as money well spent.

 

[tomatocity]

I recall reading one suspension specialist shop having a saying that "the best you've ridden is the best you know". Problem is that once you have ridden high quality suspension, then you do know and then tend to find it easy to find qualities that can be improved over stock, just as with seats, engine tuning, etc.

As an example. I know that I can't feel the much discussed power restrictions in gears 1, 2 and 3. Perhaps if I rode one without those restrictions, I could tell the difference. I have ridden more compliant suspension than my S10 has, so therefore my desire to improve it.

::026:: Heck I can tell the handling difference when I installed the OEM luggage.

 

[toompine]

Thanks toompine. This is my first adventure touring bike and know very little about them, but I can tell you that after riding this thing for a few months, I will never go back to cruiser bikes. Going back to fork adjustments, I have mine on “standar” on all adjustments (according to the owner’s manual) and felt ok, except for the "nose dive" when hitting the front brake. To reduce this, do I stiffen the compression or the rebound or both? Thanks again

I would try adding one line of fork spring preload as the first step. If it improves it but not enough go to two and see how it feels. You don't want too much preload or it gets too stiff on the small bumps. You could also add one click stiffer ont eh compression screw to slow it down a bit

 

[toompine]

I got a lot of education when I was doing National Observed Trials for the Montesa National team. Lots of little stuff to make forks and shocks feel different over a very small range. We had to be able to run the bikes at full speed on the loop, way beyond the supension and fork angle settings and still have them work soft and at full stroke in the sections over small stuff and huge wall hits and jumps.

Probably a better education was AFM racing the 650 Twins class. On a track doing lap after lap on the same surface you can begin to feel what the suspension is doing and then find ways to make that feel better. I am by no means an expert but once you have ridden a well set up bike you will know the difference, it is like riding on a cloud with gum rubber tires. Two years ago I had my Multistrada at a track day and paid to get some suspension tuning help. Go out and ride, come back and report, he tweaks it a bit, go out and ride...repeat until satisfied. I had about four runs and after that the suspension was the best I had ever had on that bike. Stuck like glue, great feedback, stable as hell. Never changed it for the next two years. Suspension is so easy to play with everybody should take a day and play with it. At the end of the day if you are confused you can always come back to stock settings.

It only gets complicated when you start changing fork offset and rake with variable triple clamps and for the very exotic swingarm pivot height.

 

[colorider]

Nor can I. I have no idea what they're referring to, but that could very well be my less than astute ability to notice such things. R

How long has your bike been stored away? I'm surprised you can remember anything about it.......

 

[Tremor38]

As an example. I know that I can't feel the much discussed power restrictions in gears 1, 2 and 3. Perhaps if I rode one without those restrictions, I could tell the difference. I have ridden more compliant suspension than my S10 has, so therefore my desire to improve it.

You betcha! Us analogue critters must have a reference to compare thangs to. I can tell you I feel a big difference between S and T modes, but don't have a bike with Power commander to compare the S mode to. I don't have much of an issue with the bike's fueling, but would like a more gradual transition to idle when moving at super slow sleeds...I DO have a good refence for that.

I also can appreciate a quality, well dialed in suspesion. I completely transformed my last bike's suspension my revalving and adjusting the shim stacks and getting springs for my weight and riding style in front and rear. By comparison that bike's OEM suspesion performed several ticks below what the S10 comes with, so I feel no rush to improve that aspect of the bike. I spend most of my time on the street and the only time the suspension has any hint of being pushed is while and high speed over irregular surfaces.

 

[kraigd]

Boy that makes me feel better. I took the Ohlins off my 06 R1150GSA put back the stock shocks and it felt the same. I thought I was a LOOSER, and easy to please. ::021::

Make that two of us! ::026::

 

[sportrider]

Make that two of us! ::026::

Three of us. And I RR'd a motard for two years. Lol

 

[cosmic]

Three of us. And I RR'd a motard for two years. Lol

Long time ago i've discussed a lot, about stock suspension settings, with a guy who had a lot of racing experience (125,250, sbk...). He was also his own mechanic in those times and he is still in business today. Anyway, what i've learned then is that i should not touch anything if i can't explain what to improve.
Long time ago i tested some tweaks on my TDM 900 (btw ST Is waaay better than tdm) and found out that on stock forks/shock dialing means nothing. All in, or all out changes nothing, and that is by testing it always on the same road.
Basicly i went out with a lap timer, plastic ties around the forks and pushed it down my favourite road.
Playing with bike's geometry was something i felt right away, but compression and rebound showed no difference in feel, or time.
Then a friend came along with me, and we were dialing each others suspension, in order to explain any difference in bikes behavior.
You can guess where is this going. We felt nothing, or talked shite.
I guess i will never learn to let it go, and i will always go back to the same road with tie wrap around my forks.

So i guess it makes four of us. ;D

 

[Dirt_Dad]

So i guess it makes four of us. ;D

Maybe I'm not such a Neanderthal after all?

My lesson came from a magazine writer who wrote wonderful things about Elka shocks for an ATV I owned. He tested two identical ATVs one with, one without Elka. He was very impressed switching from one to the other. At the end of his review he was allowed to keep the Elka shocks on his personal KFX700. About 18 months after that article was published I happened to be staying at the same camp as the author. He was there testing some other Kawasaki equipment and Kawasaki had loaned him a new (stock) KFX700. At the end of the weekend I asked him if it was difficult giving up his plush suspension for the stock setup. He thought for a second and said "didn't notice a thing." I thought to myself, thanks, you just saved me a thousand bucks.

 

[whisperquiet]

Back to the front suspension...........who has the stock specs per the shop manual handy.
Oil weight, oil height, and oil cc for a total drain and refill? I think they have 7.5 weight and I plan on a refill with 5 weight fork oil.

Also, I am going to buy a Motion Pro Fork-tru tool to determine precisely if the bike's front fork tubes are parallel/in alignment to reduce any stiction.

http://www.motionpro.com/motorcycle/partno/08-0412

Thoughts???

 

[fredz43]

Dennis, the manual specifications page says 485 cc and for level it says 150 mm. Recommended oil is stated as Suspension oil 01 or equivalent, whatever that is.

 

[whisperquiet]

Dennis, the manual specifications page says 485 cc and for level it says 150 mm. Recommended oil is stated as Suspension oil 01 or equivalent, whatever that is.

MR Z,

Thanks...........think I read that the stock Yamaha suspension oil is 7.5.

 

[mcrider007]

MR Z,

Thanks...........think I read that the stock Yamaha suspension oil if 7.5.

Yamaha 01 is a 5wt....but Honda's SS-7 is also a 5wt and usually costs about $6 a pint at your local Honda dealer.

 

[whisperquiet]

thanks for the Honda/Yamaha cross reference info.

 

[GoNotShow]

I stiffened my bike up the second day I had it.. We where off road this last weekend and the front end was really close to bottoming out all the time. On the trail stiffened the heck out of it and worked much better. Yesterday I road about 600 miles home with it set up in the same positions... Do you guys think all the bikes came the same way out of the factory ? I have my front and rear almost full blast stiff and I like it.. im about 185*... The guys with the stiff suspension, we should trade, Ill give you my soft.... I can see a full up grade to my front and rear in the future..

I think the factory springs are really soft, probably too soft for most folks here. I went to my local suspension expert soon after buying the bike and he put the F/R preload at about 3/4 full stiff in order to get the sag to a reasonable amount and I'm only 165lbs. The tech who helped with my setup said that Yamahas tend to be softly sprung, especially in the rear.

His professional touch took out some of the high speed harshness, but it's not totally gone. I think a revalve would be needed to really improve the plushness. However, getting the preload right made the handling even crisper. My bike had too much rear sag when I got it from the dealer and as a result it was riding like a chopper (high in front/low in rear). The added preload in the rear leveled the bike and made a noticeable difference in handling. I suspect anyone here who is over 180lbs and running the stock spring probably isn't experiencing the true potential of the bike in terms of how flickable it really can be.

Like others here, my plan is to do a re-valve and re-spring in a few years once the stock stuff gets a bit tired. My 1st gen FZ1 was pretty good stock, but was fantastic after I got some Race Tech valves and new springs installed.

 

[snakebitten]

I'm one who can tell a big improvement after it has been achieved. But I am not one who could tell I needed the improvement, in the first place.

Example. Took a Honda Superhawk and rigged it for track use only. (no lights, mirrirs, safety wired, etc) Put some good tires on it and had a couple of fun track days. I liked the bike just fine. I wasn't "racing", afterall, just enjoying going fast.

Then I got involved with some smart fellas that wanted to help me. LOL. I ended up with Ohlins on the rear and Ohlins guts in forks and trees off a 929. Holy cow, what a difference. It was anything but subtle. I could FEEL the tire. Track day precision increased exponentially. The fellas even got a kick out of watching the fat old man on the poor-man's-Ducati get pretty fast. They took ALL the credit. Rightfully so.

The S10?

I'm back to only noticing substantial improvements. But I find tweaking the pre-load when I change from solo-commute to "2-up loaded with weekend baggage", to be very noticable. Even the headlights notice. You load this beast down 2-up and forget to pre-load the rear and you will find oncoming traffic flashing you with brights when you are on low beam. So if turning that dial changes the attitude of the bike THAT much, it should be something you can notice. Again, it's not that subtle.

Some bikes lack adjustment parameters that cover the range that this bike's cover. I don't know if these suspenders are the highest quality. But I do know they can be adjusted to make a sizable difference in feel.