Dirt_Dad
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2011 Site Supporter
2013 Site Supporter
2014 Site Supporter
Yes, I know for many of you it last as long as it takes to get the bike home and change it. I've done the searching, we have a lot of threads here about upgrading the suspension. I didn't find anything about the normal lifespan of the stock suspension. If I missed it, please point me in the right direction.
If it's not here, I'm wondering about my stock ES suspension. I generally consider suspension to be a dark art that I will never understand, or truly appreciate. But I'm starting to think I may have a suspension issue, and I'm wondering if it's due to my bike being over 39K miles and time for spring replacement. My 2015 ES is just 9 miles short of where my 2012 was when I hit the deer and totaled it. I hadn't noticed any issues with my 2012, but I was also over 5K miles into a cross country ride and maybe it would have started to show up soon.
Why I'm suspicious: In July, during our ride out west, the bike started to have a small left/right steering wobble as it was coming to a stop. Just at the last 1 or 2 mph to 0 mph phase, and not every time. I chalked this up to either the warped brake disc, or possibly the steering which has not been torqued to specs since the last steering lube at 20K miles. You could not pull on the forks and feel any play. The bike was fully loaded for the trip and set to 2-helmets + luggage. and Standard on the suspension. I was concerned enough that upon getting home I took the bike straight to Romney to have them lube the steering and get things re-torqued correctly. I ordered a new front disc and took care of the warped one.
This weekend took another fully loaded ride. Bike was initially in just 2-helmets and standard. Got the wobble again. Went to 2-helments + luggage. Still wasn't fully happy with this setting. So took the bike to Hard + 3. Everything seemed to settle down and be normal. I kept those settings in place the remaining 400+ miles of the ride.
I've never needed to keep the bike at Hard when fully loaded with just me and the cases. But I'm wondering if I'm I getting to the end of the useful life of stock suspension. Of course I could also be missing something that I don't even realize.
If it's not here, I'm wondering about my stock ES suspension. I generally consider suspension to be a dark art that I will never understand, or truly appreciate. But I'm starting to think I may have a suspension issue, and I'm wondering if it's due to my bike being over 39K miles and time for spring replacement. My 2015 ES is just 9 miles short of where my 2012 was when I hit the deer and totaled it. I hadn't noticed any issues with my 2012, but I was also over 5K miles into a cross country ride and maybe it would have started to show up soon.
Why I'm suspicious: In July, during our ride out west, the bike started to have a small left/right steering wobble as it was coming to a stop. Just at the last 1 or 2 mph to 0 mph phase, and not every time. I chalked this up to either the warped brake disc, or possibly the steering which has not been torqued to specs since the last steering lube at 20K miles. You could not pull on the forks and feel any play. The bike was fully loaded for the trip and set to 2-helmets + luggage. and Standard on the suspension. I was concerned enough that upon getting home I took the bike straight to Romney to have them lube the steering and get things re-torqued correctly. I ordered a new front disc and took care of the warped one.
This weekend took another fully loaded ride. Bike was initially in just 2-helmets and standard. Got the wobble again. Went to 2-helments + luggage. Still wasn't fully happy with this setting. So took the bike to Hard + 3. Everything seemed to settle down and be normal. I kept those settings in place the remaining 400+ miles of the ride.
I've never needed to keep the bike at Hard when fully loaded with just me and the cases. But I'm wondering if I'm I getting to the end of the useful life of stock suspension. Of course I could also be missing something that I don't even realize.