Triumphrat

CYNCRZR · 05-13-2008

Well it finally arrived. Picked up my Black '08 Saturday in SoCal. It spent the first day of it's life in the trailer on the way back home to "Where-D-Phock-Are-We-Land" and Sunday am met the Boyz for Coffee and it's first outing.

The Rear Suspension is waaay too stiff, After Sunday I took half a turn outta the pre-load and 1/2 turn off the compression damping, still too stiff. Over some hard seams I get the ole "Whiskey Throttle Effect" and this morning my back is a little sore.

I'm 185 lbs, anyone else have a similiar experience ?

How much pre-load can I back off ?

Oh ya, other than that, what a freekin blast! 200 miles Sat, a 300 miler yesterday, will ride today & tomorrow and then it becomes a comuter !

Once I clean the bugs off from yesterday's adventure I'll get some pics!

sanderson385 · 05-13-2008

Hi

Found my suspension felt quite stiff at first, but as I started to realy pick up the pace the suspension seems to make sense. Bit of a pain when I want to commute, but great when out on the weekend.

Hope this helps

CYNCRZR · 05-13-2008

Thanks, the roads here a well ... not smooth. For me it's painfully stiff, and at times the rear isn't in contact with the road. Hopefully the shock is good enough that I can soften it up without sacraficing any stability.

My other bike is a Thruxton, and I had to set it up stiff cuz otherwise it wiggles a whole lot in real fast corners. The Speedy makes the Thrux feel like a marshmellow at the moment.

It does help to know that someone else's came this stiff though, thanks.

If anyone has any setup advice, I'd appreciate it. I know what all the knobbies are s'posed to do, but a starting point would help!

Bohdan · 05-13-2008

Are you sure it is too stiff?
That was what i was thinking initially, but recently come to conclusion that it is too soft. I'm 200lbs in buff and I know that this is not an average rider weight to which Speedy suspension is set-up. I feel sharp jolts to my hands on every surface crack (my left hand is still healing from misfortune that happened earlier this year), similarly on the back (although I'm less sensitive to it, ride with my legs absorbing most of shock). Then I compared to my other bike that I have set perfectly to my weight, and come to conclusion that suspension is too soft, compressing and transferring all jarring to the me. Properly set suspension feels like you are on highly strung surface of drum, with support for your weight firm but compliant.
I plan on taking bike to the same suspension specialist (GMD Computrack) to have it adjusted and probably re-sprung. Believe me, that is the best money you spend on the bike upgrade. If somebody tells you that only professional will feel the difference between decent and great suspension, he is full of it. Try it, you'll have much more fun riding and be safer doing it.

CYNCRZR · 05-13-2008

I don't know, I haven't measured the sag yet, but pushin on the seat, and the way it reacted to hard edged cracks is what makes me think it's too stiff.

I definately agree about having it setup by a pro, I got a buddy who's had his bikes done and well the difference in his riding is startling.

It'll be a couple of weeks for I can get to NorCal to get this done, so I'm looking for a good starting point for the time being. I'll have to get the kid to measure the sag for me and we'll see if it's soft or hard.

Wouldn't that be easy if it really was bottoming on hard hits, or had too much rebound damping and was packing up. Think I'll go check the damping settings.

S3Junkie · 05-13-2008

First of all it sounds your bike is brand new. The suspension will be stiff. DO NOT adjust it for the first..uumm..say 500 to maybe 1000 miles...it WILL break in a bit. The dealer should have told you this. Read the manual, it mentions it in there too.

Give 1000 miles and then start to make subtle adjustments.

Congrats on the bike! ne safe.

VWTim · 05-13-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by S3Junkie

First of all it sounds your bike is brand new. The suspension will be stiff. DO NOT adjust it for the first..uumm..say 500 to maybe 1000 miles...it WILL break in a bit. The dealer should have told you this. Read the manual, it mentions it in there too.

Give 1000 miles and then start to make subtle adjustments.

Congrats on the bike! ne safe.

I agree, my S3 was VERY stiff at first. It's settled in noticably since.

S3Junkie · 05-13-2008

I'm 215lbs with no gear and my bike shop that set up my suspension told me the rear shock was usesless at my weight (1050 S3)....was adjusted ALL the way. Had to chuck the rear shock abd buy an aftermarket bad boy.

CYNCRZR · 05-14-2008

Thanks fer the input fellas, I didn't notice the will wear in part in the instructions.

So last night I got my daughter to measure the static sag @ the rear, and came up with 1". I also found that the compression adjustment on the shock was WAY on the soft side.

I'm gonna set the sag to 1.5" and re-set both the compression & rebound to the "factory" spec and see how that goes.

It's kinda unfair to the Speedy since the roads I normall ride are sometimes more akin to an outdoor MotoX than smooth asphalt...

If the worst thing that happens is it gets an Ohlin well that aint all that bad...

CYNCRZR · 05-14-2008

Time for an update.

I had backed the pre-load off 1/2 a turn and got an 1" of sag, so I backed it off another 1/2 turn and got an 1.25" static sag. Checked the Rebound and Compression and was really surprised.

Rebound: Full in!
Compression: 3.0 +/- turns out

Reset both to 2.0 turns out.

Just went for a quick test ride and aimed at bumps, Much Better!

I'm gonna leave things as they are for now, the spring will soften a bit over time, so we'll see how it goes. might actually firm up the fork just a little. I'll wait till I can get the kid out to measure the front sag though before I do anything.

So I guess I got a "Friday" shock, hope I got a "Wednesday" Motor