1st New Owner Q's - Suspension & Clutch

[Stitch]

Its a bit odd to me why you would have oil under there to attract all the dirt. Looks like it is sprayed all over the area. The dirt just accumulated on it over a long period. Who knows, maybe someone got carried away with some "armor-all" years ago  (?). I would think that someone was riding without a  rear inner fender to see all that everywhere in the picture (which chain lube could get all over the place). All speculation on my part based on what I see.

[Moorso]

Don't know if these help....but here you go....these are the suggested factory settings etc 

[Roadinator]

Thanks Moorso.  I have a manual, but still wanted to confirm some things.  I also wanted to try out adding pictures and then writing on them as I know I will have questions in the future and will keep looking for help/advice. 

Nice to have a community as I venture into motorcycling again!

[bjago]

Okay, thanks for the fork info.  I had read somewhere that certain models might have some sort of drain, but guess not.  Not going to worry about the forks for now, but the rear shock.  As far as pre-load, I turned it for multiply clicks and I thought you were suppose to see some marks on the side like it shows in the manual;

but I don't see any numbers on the side and/or it going up or down.  Am I missing something?

For the rebound, I figured from the manual it is insert and turn, I just don't see a lot of room to turn.  Also, is this the bottom of the shock mount in the swing arm breaking?

My rear shock has the same mold line in the same area.  unless you actually see a crack in there I wouldn't worry about it. 

[Roadinator]

I will check it out on Friday.  If it is not a crack, then I am happy.  Just have an extra swing arm to keep or resale 

[Moorso]

No problem Roadinator

By the way....thanks for posting this thread!!  I have just ordered a new shock that my mechanic is fitting.....but I've never adjusted it before either. So we're feeling in the dark together on this one buddy! 

[Roadinator]

Well I will be posting a lot more questions as I am a noob to Triumphs

bjago, I do not have a crack! (I do, but the bike does not  )  Thanks for posting and I caught the shipment of the swing arm in time to cancel.  Now it's pulling the rear wheel and taking it to get the tire swapped.  Didn't want to try that one yet...   Should be easy to adjust the preload without a wheel back there.

[Roadinator]

Update. 
Tire mounted and suspension tweaked.  Adjustments stiffened up the rear, so that is good.  New tire is nice and it felt good to wrench on the bike some.  Modified my top box mounting plate for the best fit.  I purchased shorter bolts from Home Depot and painted bolts and brackets black so they wouldn't be seen.  Top box plate will stay on most of the time.  Purchased a cheap Bestem unit and seems to meet my needs, especially for the price ($85 shipped). 

Man I love this bike!  

[Moorso]

Roadinator...... what settings did you use? Did you stiffen the rear just by damping or with spring rate?? Intrigued to know, as I don't like a soft rear end (God....it's a double-entrandra nightmare!!) Ha ha!  but you know what I mean!!

[Roadinator]

I did the spring, which I thought for some reason was turning the entire spring (old motocross days), and clicked the screw all the way out and then back to increase the firmness, counting the turns.  It seemed to go three small clicks to equal one full click. It seem to tighten up, but I have not road two up yet.  I don't think it made it night and day, but did help.  I tightened the spring pre-load load all the way tight and backed off until it clicked.  I still need to get inside the housing to see if I can find a number it's on.