I've put 24,000 miles on my VFR since I bought it new 2 yrs ago and have never messed with the suspension settings. The bike handled great from day one, so I never really had the urge to change anything, but I figure I'll play around a little this spring and see if I can't make it handle a little better (short of replacing components).
I'm going to use my current settings as a baseline and start playing around. When I have a friend around, I'll finally set the sag.
Anyway, how many spring preload settings are on the rear shock of a non abs 6th gen?
And is setting one, the stiffest or softest?
I weigh 235 lbs geared up, so I'm probably going to go a little stiffer in the rear and see how that feels.
I don't currently have access to the VFR service manual or I'd look up the answers myself, so thanks in advance...
Set your sag and adjust the rear rebound so the rear comes up with out going to slow or fast. The rebound is hard to describe, just play with it. You will never get it perfect especially with the stock shock. That's all you can adjust without getting rid of the stock junk.
You'll see the adjuster ring at the top of the shock and notice the teeth in the ring for the adjuster spanner to gain leverage. Above this you'll notice the stepped mechanism which effects the extra load on the spring... the lowest one is the softest, the standard setting is the second one from soft. I think there are 7 settings all up soft to hard. If I'm fully geared up and hacve the tankbag fully loaded, I might weigh roughly the same as you and tended to use the third up from soft... I now have the ABS remote adjuster installed which makes it a breeze...
It's important to adjust the rebound after setting the sag, you'll have to play around with this one a bit to get it right... as already mentioned above, I'm never happy with it. (Everytime you adjust the rebound, turn it all the way to full hard (H) and then back it off to where you want to try it). Standard is one and a quarter turns towards soft (S) from full hard... from full H to full S there are about 2 full turns. In theory the more preload you apply, the harder you'll want the rebound damping as the spring will want to rebound with more force...
[image: View Post]Alien VFR, on Mar 4 2009, 05:16 PM, said:
I've put 24,000 miles on my VFR since I bought it new 2 yrs ago and have never messed with the suspension settings. The bike handled great from day one, so I never really had the urge to change anything, but I figure I'll play around a little this spring and see if I can't make it handle a little better (short of replacing components).
I'm going to use my current settings as a baseline and start playing around. When I have a friend around, I'll finally set the sag.
Anyway, how many spring preload settings are on the rear shock of a non abs 6th gen?
And is setting one, the stiffest or softest?
I weigh 235 lbs geared up, so I'm probably going to go a little stiffer in the rear and see how that feels.
I don't currently have access to the VFR service manual or I'd look up the answers myself, so thanks in advance...
[image: View Post]Auspa�ol, on Mar 4 2009, 06:15 PM, said:
It's important to adjust the rebound after setting the sag, you'll have to play around with this one a bit to get it right... as already mentioned above, I'm never happy with it. (Everytime you adjust the rebound, turn it all the way to full hard (H) and then back it off to where you want to try it). Standard is one and a quarter turns towards soft (S) from full hard... from full H to full S there are about 2 full turns. In theory the more preload you apply, the harder you'll want the rebound damping as the spring will want to rebound with more force...
Now this is the part I've been looking for.....Thx....I've been looking for a formula for that rebound thingy...Monk....Go Spain
[image: View Post]Auspa�ol, on Mar 4 2009, 07:15 PM, said:
(Everytime you adjust the rebound, turn it all the way to full hard (H) and then back it off to where you want to try it).
This is not really necessary. It's just a simple needle and seat in there, you can make really small adjustments either direction without going all of the way the full stiff first.
[image: View Post]JamieDaugherty, on Mar 5 2009, 05:53 AM, said:
[image: View Post]Auspa�ol, on Mar 4 2009, 07:15 PM, said:
(Everytime you adjust the rebound, turn it all the way to full hard (H) and then back it off to where you want to try it).
This is not really necessary. It's just a simple needle and seat in there, you can make really small adjustments either direction without going all of the way the full stiff first.
The idea of going to full stiff is for reference purpose only so you have some knowledge of where you started from. Most every suspension guy uses this method and I know I do. Going to the full stiff side of adjustments is usually the only guarantee that you'll seat against something solid, giving you a consistent reference which is the most important thing in suspension tuning IMO. :blush:
[image: View Post]Baileyrock, on Mar 5 2009, 10:31 AM, said:
[image: View Post]JamieDaugherty, on Mar 5 2009, 05:53 AM, said:
[image: View Post]Auspa�ol, on Mar 4 2009, 07:15 PM, said:
(Everytime you adjust the rebound, turn it all the way to full hard (H) and then back it off to where you want to try it).
This is not really necessary. It's just a simple needle and seat in there, you can make really small adjustments either direction without going all of the way the full stiff first.
The idea of going to full stiff is for reference purpose only so you have some knowledge of where you started from. Most every suspension guy uses this method and I know I do. Going to the full stiff side of adjustments is usually the only guarantee that you'll seat against something solid, giving a consistent reference which the most important thing in suspension tuning IMO. :blush:
I'd just like to add for the new home mech....not to put any pressure on the seat it's easy to distort/harm valve seat....Monk.....at least that was what I was told....
[image: View Post]Baileyrock, on Mar 5 2009, 04:31 PM, said:
[image: View Post]JamieDaugherty, on Mar 5 2009, 05:53 AM, said:
[image: View Post]Auspa�ol, on Mar 4 2009, 07:15 PM, said:
(Everytime you adjust the rebound, turn it all the way to full hard (H) and then back it off to where you want to try it).
This is not really necessary. It's just a simple needle and seat in there, you can make really small adjustments either direction without going all of the way the full stiff first.
The idea of going to full stiff is for reference purpose only so you have some knowledge of where you started from. Most every suspension guy uses this method and I know I do. Going to the full stiff side of adjustments is usually the only guarantee that you'll seat against something solid, giving you a consistent reference which is the most important thing in suspension tuning IMO. :blush:
That may be true. I wasn't awar of this when I first bought the bike and therefore didn't put it into practice until (shortly afterward) I read the manual and decided to follow its instructions. Can't say I noticed a grat difference so it may well be just for acheiving a good reference point. If I followed everything the manual says I'd be broke and still have the bike in bits... it's not well expressed in some parts and even contradicts itself on occasion :mad:
This is a great video. Thank you for posting. I just got my Penske back from a rebuild and the back felt really funky. I had my wife help me with setting the sag and realized the pre-load was too low. So I added more pre-load (1200lb spring btw). My forks are off at Race-Tech getting a rebuild so I'll dial in the front end after they get back.
Roger
[image: View Post]Monk, on Mar 4 2009, 06:07 PM, said:
[image: View Post]Alien VFR, on Mar 4 2009, 05:16 PM, said:
I've put 24,000 miles on my VFR since I bought it new 2 yrs ago and have never messed with the suspension settings. The bike handled great from day one, so I never really had the urge to change anything, but I figure I'll play around a little this spring and see if I can't make it handle a little better (short of replacing components).
I'm going to use my current settings as a baseline and start playing around. When I have a friend around, I'll finally set the sag.
Anyway, how many spring preload settings are on the rear shock of a non abs 6th gen?
And is setting one, the stiffest or softest?
I weigh 235 lbs geared up, so I'm probably going to go a little stiffer in the rear and see how that feels.
I don't currently have access to the VFR service manual or I'd look up the answers myself, so thanks in advance...