[Jaco]

G'day all, had a search but couldn't find anything directly related to suspension adjustment when going out 2 up. I've just had my 1k service and my wife could wait no longer to get on the back. Got her kitted up with all the necessities yesterday and went for a ride yesterday afternoon. Didn't go for too long 'coz its all a bit new to me. Just wanted to get a feel for it. I noticed a tapping and clunking feel in the Sprint on the not so smooth roads. I figure its coming from the rear suspension. I see in the Owners handbook that the suspension should be adjusted accordingly. Are the suspension settings a GOOD guide to go by? Is it just a matter of trial and error? Do you(all who ride with pillion occasionally or often)adjust the suspension accordingly each time or just find a "happy medium" setting and leave it at that?

PS. Went out again this morning with wife on back for a nice long ride through some gorgeous countryside and took my love for riding my Sprint to yet another level.

Shayne

 

[DaveM]

Shayne,

yes the manual settings are "good to go" in the sense that they are a starting point.

It is trial and error and it is a very personal thing a bit like tyre pressures and seats, because of the many factors that affect suspension settings.

Start with the manual settings and see how it handles and adjust from there.

cheers,
DaveM

 

[Jaco]

Thanks Dave,
Next Q - where the ...... hell is the rebound damping adjuster on an 09 Sprint? The manual says it is on the rhs. After trying to locate it unsucessfully on the bike I searched the forum and found it may be on the lhs, but where?
Shayne

 

[Shovelstrokeed]

It is on the left side, down near the bottom of the shock. You can access it with a looong screwdriver, or, if you happen to have an extra wrist on one hand, the screwdriver in your tool kit.

I don't ride with a pillion often but do have a 40 lb tool bag slung across my seat along with a pair or 30# panniers so the rough equivalent of an anorexic teenager. I went up about 2 full turns on the preload adjuster and a roughly equal amount on the rebound. Seems pretty much OK with me at 190# without gear. If your loading is more than that, you might have to consider a heavier spring and a higher quality shock. I have doubts the standard shock will cope with much more spring.

 

[Jaco]

AAAaahhhh, yes, there it is. Thanks for that. I was starting to get worried. Its all black down there and couldn't without a torch. On another site someone wrote that they were dissapointed that the 09 didn't have the damping adjustment. I guess I'll just have a bit of a play with it and see how it goes. I don't wont to spend too much $ replacing stock parts just yet.

 

[Filthyphil]

Two up

Gday jaco

Just done a tour of Tassie in March on my 2009 ST Two up with hard panniers and 52 ltr Givi top box i'm just over 100kg my wife is abut 60kg i found the Sprint handling spot on long or tight corners. just brilliant.

My settings are the same as my EX 2000 ST Front is screwed in to the second line on the adjuster. The rear the rebound set at 1.25 ( I think that is the setting in the book for two up riding) the preload is screwed in fully then out 6 clicks. The tire presures i run 36psi front 42psi rear never had any issues with these settings. i hope it helps you with a starting point.

for solo rideing the only thing i change is the preload out another 2 clicks

Phil
Melbourne

 

[steventhechef]

As Dave said it is a case of having a play. Sometimes it is a compromise for 2 up and solo riding. I have mine wound up pretty firm but I am 85kg and my wife is 50kg with her full kit on.

I prefer the harder settings although some of the bigger bumps can knock the wind out of you sometimes . but with firmer settings you can throw it in to corners without the wallow associated with the softer end of the scale.

It is really a personal (and variable) deal that you'll need to experiment with. See what your wife feels good with..

I was chasing a solo VFR down the mountain yesterday and with the firm setting it allows even a slow old timer like me, going 2 up to be able to keep up easily.

Good luck

 

[Jaco]

Tragedy

Thanks for all the advice guys.Got some good news and some bad news. I made some adjustments on Monday morning then took the back way to work which has some nice winding roads. The suspension felt great and gave me even more confidence in the tighter bends......too much. I went in too hot on one of my favorite bends and ran out of road. The result was tragic :sad: . Front and lhs fairing,headlight shroud and gear selector all need replacing. Minimum 3 weeks off the road :SadSigh:. My wife says its the wake up call that I needed. I would post pics but I'm not sure anyone wants to see a 2 week old 09 Sprint in this condition.

 

[DaveM]

Hi Jaco

I am sorry to hear that.

I hope you get her all fixed up real soon.

DaveM

 

[pingpong]

Sorry to hear of the off Jaco but it sounds like you escaped without much/any personal injury. Good for that. You can fix the bike and learn from the experience. I read a story in our local news today about a young rider who crashed into a stopped ambulance that had all it's flashers going and was attending another accident. The rider was focused on the other accident and rear ended the ambulance. His head put a big dent in the ambulance and he is in critical but stable condition. He was also wearing ear buds and listening to music, not a good idea in busy city rush hour traffic.

hope you are OK.

 

[CharlieS]

Thanks for all the advice guys.Got some good news and some bad news. I made some adjustments on Monday morning then took the back way to work which has some nice winding roads. The suspension felt great and gave me even more confidence in the tighter bends......too much. I went in too hot on one of my favorite bends and ran out of road. The result was tragic :sad: . Front and lhs fairing,headlight shroud and gear selector all need replacing. Minimum 3 weeks off the road :SadSigh:. My wife says its the wake up call that I needed. I would post pics but I'm not sure anyone wants to see a 2 week old 09 Sprint in this condition.

Jaco, I'm so sorry to hear about your spill. If it's any consolation, I did just about the same thing , totaled a 2000 ST that I had for only 3 months. At least you're all right, and you'll be getting your bike back.
Don't give up and keep at it.

---Charlie

 

[steventhechef]

Guess we'll have to cancel the meet up! Really sorry to hear Jaco, that's awful! Glad that you're OK though. Who is fixing the bike?

 

[danall]

Jaco
Sorry about the mishap, from your post it appears you were not injured and so I'm guessing you were wearing proper protective gear so congrats on your wisdom in that regards.
If your really don't mind I'd appreciate some posting of the accident details, i find i can learn from recounting of other folks accidents in that sometimes it helps me avoid similar situations. Me I've had 3 corner 'accidents' on bikes, 2 were from sand in the corner with resulting lowsides, and 1 was from 2 deer leaping at/over me in a corner and i braked a bit too much in the front with a resultant front end wash out.
In your case, any chance of a decreasing radius corner, did you lowside, did you brake and try to stand up the bike, or brake and wash out, right or left hand corner, posted corner speed?, estimated travel speed, etc etc. If you really don't want to post the painful details i can understand, my intent is not to get into a critical on line analysis of what you did or did not do but rather help understand so i can avoid similar situations. Take care and hopefully you continue to ride.

 

[Jaco]

some details

Thanks all for the sympathy and concern. I'm a bit stiff and sore and have a lot pain and little movement in my left shoulder(my first point of impact with the ground)but xrays have cleared me of any fractures. I took my bike straight over to Springwood. Their service department and my insurance will take care of the rest. As for the details of the spill I will give my best recollection-of coarse it all happened quickly. I was on an exit ramp off a motorway kind of horseshoe shaped. Its one of my favorites because of the amount of lean you can get without doing excessive speeds. Posted speed was 40km/h and I went in doing just over 60. Was doing it easy so I thought I'd give it a bit more. Heres were things went wrong. I hit the throttle a little too hard and I don't know if I flinched or just the extra power or what but I was now off my line. The edge of the road is gravel then grass.I was about 2/3 of the way in. At that point I figured I had 2 choices. Choice 1- Try and lay it right over and maybe get around. If I caught the gravel edge or my tyres slipped the ending would have involved either electricity pole, sign post or if I got past these, other cars coming onto the roundabout at the end of the horse shoe. Choice 2- bail out, straighten up and head for the grass. Chose option 2. Unfortunatley the unforseen added element to this was a aprox. 2 ft deep by 2 ft wide drainage gully which I hit at an angle. That through me off. Felt the impact with shoulder and remember thinking thats not good. I was wearing my jacket and the padding surely saved me from a hospital stint. Happy to answer any other Q's if you think it will help. Will post pics when I get a chance.

 

[steventhechef]

Don't beat yourself up about it too much Jaco. It can happen to all of us.

I did a very similar thing about 12 months ago. Too hot in to a corner, chickened out, stood it up and ended up having a little rest on the side of the road

With 20-20 hindsight I would have leaned it over further. I have quite sticky tyres (Pilot Power 2CT) and they can out perform anything that I can throw at them. Your Bridgestone (BT021's) aren't known for stickiness TBH

Glad that you were ATGATT and not too badly hurt.

 

[john348]

one trick I was told from a class one police rider was that if you can think about it in these circumstances then try putting extra counter steer in. It might give you a bit more grip at the limit, keep things smooth and you are probably not at the limit anyway. I watched a GP where they had the camera pointed at a front tyre, tarmac contact patch and you could see the counter steer being applied.

 

[Jaco]

Thanks for the advice john348. The obvious thing that I have learned out of all this is, although I feel great and confident on this bike, I need a lot more riding experience before I start pushing my boundarys again. I'm seriously considering doing a track day or two to practice things like countersteering and just leaning further and more consistantly under more controlled conditions. Its not my intention to ride like an idiot on the road but I want to know that if something happens like this again that I might have the confidence to take option 1 next time.