Shock Value

[TriumphTengu]

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Thinking about the trip up the Brickyard MotoGP in September I went out and checked under the seat of my 06' Tiger and looked at the shock for the first time (I've only put 3,000 miles on her-yet!).
I can play a mean guitar, but know very little about motorcycles.
Anyone have any advice on adjusting the rear shock for on and off road? I usually ride solo, though my wife rides pillion once or twice a week.
How would I set the suspension differently for a long haul?

[John Stenhouse]

You wouldn't change it for distance, but you would for load. So when the wife rides pillion turn the preload up about two clicks. Three clicks if you load the bike up with her on the back.

These aren't hard and fast rules though, you go with what feels right for you, try changing it and then test ride it to see if you feel any difference.


On my Tiger in the UK on the stock rear shock, it made very little difference. However now that I have a White Power rear shock you can really tell when you make adjustments.

[ridin gaijin]

Too right John. When I first got mine I read thru the manual, including the rear shock part, and thought, "Well, that sounds about OK, I'll just try it like this." Fast forward 4 years. For the trip back here from CT I actually did move it up a click. I enjoyed the stiffer feel (I am 155 lbs) and will keep it there. I reckon I'm either not demanding enough, not skilled enough, or not preceptive enough--or all three, what the hell!--to really tell the difference and care.

 :D

[Chris Canning]

Both my 2 900i's and my 955 when i bought it new were run on setting 5 on the preload and max on the damping,and i'm no heavy weight,the rear shock is pretty poor to say the least,i dumped mine years ago.

[blacktiger]

Both my 2 900i's and my 955 when i bought it new were run on setting 5 on the preload and max on the damping,and i'm no heavy weight,the rear shock is pretty poor to say the least,i dumped mine years ago.

Your shock felt poor because you had it too hard. Adjust it properly so that it actually absorbs the bumps instead of crashing into them and it'll feel much better. Mines covered 50K now and still feels and works fine.

[blacktiger]

So when the wife rides pillion turn the preload up about two clicks. Three clicks if you load the bike up with her on the back.

I don't think you mean clicks. Lines on the adjuster maybe. One click is about half a turn of the adjuster screw.

[Chris Canning]

Both my 2 900i's and my 955 when i bought it new were run on setting 5 on the preload and max on the damping,and i'm no heavy weight,the rear shock is pretty poor to say the least,i dumped mine years ago.

Your shock felt poor because you had it too hard. Adjust it properly so that it actually absorbs the bumps instead of crashing into them and it'll feel much better. Mines covered 50K now and still feels and works fine.

Too Hard!!!,your jokeing matey,you couldn't set a stock Tiger shock to hard if you tried,ajust it?? how the hell would you do that,without a separate compression and rebound??,i replaced it with an Ohlin with a 180 spring,of course if you know anything about shocks thats not what they come with in the box

50K on any shock is a joke,all that proves you've more feel for your wallet than your bike,my Ohlins got 20k on and even i can tell thats it's worn.

I work in the trade,the sad fact is,your average biker doesn't know a shock spring from a bed spring.

[paulie]

admittedly i know basically nothing about suspension or tuning suspension setups.. i know the terminology, but not the theory. can anyone point me to a good source of info on this?

[DirtBiker]

I got an 01 (which I hear has one of the worst suspensions).
So this might not do you any good.
But I bought my bike preload was at 5, rebound at all the way to hard it worked ok on the street, dirt it sucked.
So now preload is at 2 (solo) and 4 clicks out from soft. Bike handles alot better in dirt and street. I weigh 150 lbs.
Also.
Running Retech springs up front (cut out 11 coils) front spring is at 8.4 lbs. up from the stock (i think) 4.4 lbs.
The next thing is to replace the whole rear shock $$$$
 
Anyway try loosening up the suspension. It might feel a little soft at first.

But I agree with Blacktiger on this one, also if the suspension is to hard your letting your tires handle too much of what the suspension should be doing (it's hard on tires)

My 2 cents

[sanjoh]

I couldn't have said it better.

Just ordered a Hagon with a 200kg spring on it.  Two up with luggage is demanding on a shock.

Both my 2 900i's and my 955 when i bought it new were run on setting 5 on the preload and max on the damping,and i'm no heavy weight,the rear shock is pretty poor to say the least,i dumped mine years ago.

Your shock felt poor because you had it too hard. Adjust it properly so that it actually absorbs the bumps instead of crashing into them and it'll feel much better. Mines covered 50K now and still feels and works fine.

Too Hard!!!,your jokeing matey,you couldn't set a stock Tiger shock to hard if you tried,ajust it?? how the hell would you do that,without a separate compression and rebound??,i replaced it with an Ohlin with a 180 spring,of course if you know anything about shocks thats not what they come with in the box

50K on any shock is a joke,all that proves you've more feel for your wallet than your bike,my Ohlins got 20k on and even i can tell thats it's worn.

I work in the trade,the sad fact is,your average biker doesn't know a shock spring from a bed spring.

[Patrick the Scot]

just PIN IT! wfo!

[Chris Canning]

admittedly i know basically nothing about suspension or tuning suspension setups.. i know the terminology, but not the theory. can anyone point me to a good source of info on this?

The reality is,your in the vast majority i'm afraid,every man and his dog wants to tell the world how good or bad his tyres are,and when you talk suspension,their eyes go all glazed,mainly because most people can't be bothered to learn.

You don't need to learn about how the internals work,just the basics sag,pre-load,spring rate,compression and rebound,the object of the excercise is to use the minium of each,the reason being to bigger spring,and you'll need to much compression and to much rebound to control it,with the result the shock will over heat.

Ones things for sure,without separate compression and rebound,you've no chance of ever setting a shock up,that is,unless you don't ride the bike all that hard,and in that case any old junk will do