Suspension Adjustment

[bmramon]

Hey all, I need some help.

Cant seem to get my gen2 vmax suspension dialed in right. I come from the GSXR world and this bike feels like its riding on dirt road on every bump.

I've tried every adjuster all the way on HARD and then all the way on SOFT, and no matter way, the ride feels harsh, and every bump feels terrible.

I'm around 230-235 lbs suited up.

I appreciate any pointers.

 

[adambweird]

Have you backed off the rear spring preload?

 

[bmramon]

I have moved that all the way to the last line

 

[dmax1]

Tire pressure?

 

[Itgoes]

Hey all, I need some help.

Cant seem to get my gen2 vmax suspension dialed in right. I come from the GSXR world and this bike feels like its riding on dirt road on every bump.

I've tried every adjuster all the way on HARD and then all the way on SOFT, and no matter way, the ride feels harsh, and every bump feels terrible.

I'm around 230-235 lbs suited up.

I appreciate any pointers.

The bike doesn't have a real cushy ride.......the shaft drive components are very heavy and are unsprung weight. That being said though mine will adjust to quite soft.....much softer than I like. I'm assuming you've played with the damper and rebound settings as well? As important to have them right as the spring preload.

Do you know if it has a lowering link installed? That will effect the ride.

Most everybody feels the recommended rear tire pressure is too high for a good ride and even worse for traction. You may want to try 36 - 38 lbs. to see if that helps.

 

[bmramon]

I bought the bike new, so definitely wont have a lowering link, right?

Good idea on the tire pressure, will lower and see what it does.

Regards to damper, rebound and preload, can you guys give me a crash course on how I should be setting all of this up? I have a feeling that me "setting everything to soft" is probably the cause for the harsh ride?

 

[TheFleshRocket]

You're about my size, and bikes are usually designed for riders in the 150-170# range, so what's right for them will usually be too soft for us. Setting the suspension adjustments to full soft could make the ride harsh if the suspension is bottoming out.

Put a ziptie around your front fork tube just above the dust seal, take the bike for a ride, and see where the ziptie ends up. If it's pushed up all the way to the bottom of the triple tree, that means that the front suspension is bottoming out. Set the preload at about the halfway setting, push the ziptie back down to the dust seal, and go for another test ride.

There's not an easy way to see if the shocks are bottoming out--it's just one of those things that, when it happens, you'll usually know it.

Preload basically affects where the suspension sits in its travel. You want the bike to be about an inch and a half from topped out when you're sitting on it.

Rebound affects how fast the fork and shock extend after hitting a bump. If the rebound is set too soft, the bike will rebound too quickly and it will feel loose, like it's pogoing. I like a LOT of rebound damping so I usually wind up with it at full stiff or really close to it.

Compression affects handling to some degree but, in my opinion, it mainly affects comfort. I basically add compression damping until the ride gets harsh, and then I back it off a tiny bit.

Hope this helps!

 

[scuff]

Not sure how to set a Gen 2 suspension, but I've had a lot of dirt bikes and I always started with setting the sag first. Get someone to help you hold the bike up straight and on flat ground be suited up in your gear and measure from the foot peg to the ground, remember that then sit on the bike and measure that on my dirt bike I would like to be between two to four inches of sage when you sit on it, get that where you like it then worry about rebound and damping after that, those will be affected more by your riding style and terrain and then there is always air pressure to play with also, hopefully that will get you started in the right direction, and I like the zip tie idea on the forks.

 

[Redbone]

Watching the riding video in another post the author suggested that the suspension likes to start in the middle of it's travel. I took it as meaning that as a general rule to set your sag to the middle of your suspension travel, maybe I took this wrong but it sounded right to me.

 

[scuff]

Watching the riding video in another post the author suggested that the suspension likes to start in the middle of it's travel. I took it as meaning that as a general rule to set your sag to the middle of your suspension travel, maybe I took this wrong but it sounded right to me.

you may be right Brian I'm not sure how the Gen 2 suspension is set up as far as the best place to be in the length of travel, I was just trying to help him as far as a place to start I know suspension set up can be a bit overwhelming when you get into it at first, like I said step one should be sag setting weather the 2 to 4 inches is right would be something of trial and error.

 

[TheFleshRocket]

Setting sag in the middle of your suspension travel should be impossible--IE even if you back off the preload all of the way, the sag shouldn't be anywhere near mid-travel.

I don't subscribe to the conventional wisdom about setting sag--I use it more to tune ride-height rather than affect actual suspension behavior. That said, you don't want your preload so tight that the bike has no sag, and you don't want it so loose that it has a ton of sag.

 

[bmramon]

This is all very informative guys, thanks so much! Will spend a good couple hours playing with the adjustments in the garage this weekend.

Could you point to me where all the adjustments are on the bike (in relation to the names you posted) - I know where the knobs are, but don't know which one's what.

 

[dan2theVmax]

Wish someone would have answered your last question, I am about to ride the dragon and have no idea how to even adjust all the settings. Anyone have a reference to a video on these shocks or shocks similar to them?

 

[Tony Strange]

Wish someone would have answered your last question, I am about to ride the dragon and have no idea how to even adjust all the settings. Anyone have a reference to a video on these shocks or shocks similar to them?

Following

 

[ShawnD]

Could you point to me where all the adjustments are on the bike (in relation to the names you posted) - I know where the knobs are, but don't know which one's what.

Fork has rebound & preload adjuster at top. Preload is the round aluminum part with 5 lines on it. Rebound adjuster is black knob above the preload adjuster. Compression adjuster is on the back side, bottom of each fork leg. Need a flat blade screwdriver to adjust.
Shock preload is on left side of bike, just behind the side cover & below fender. Big knob. Rebound adjuster is underneath swingarm on left. Same sized adjuster as top of fork. Compression damping adjuster is on right side, just behind side cover.

 

[Taarzaahn]

I bought the bike new, so definitely wont have a lowering link, right?

Good idea on the tire pressure, will lower and see what it does.

Regards to damper, rebound and preload, can you guys give me a crash course on how I should be setting all of this up? I have a feeling that me "setting everything to soft" is probably the cause for the harsh ride?

Hi you have some good guides in the instruction manual how to set the front and rear suspension and then just try from there.

 

[mavgrab302]

Fork has compression damper & preload adjuster at top. Preload is the round aluminum part with several lines on it. Compression adjuster is black knob above the preload adjuster. Rebound is on the back side, bottom of the fork leg. Need a flat blade screwdriver to adjust.
Shock preload is on left side of bike, just behind the side cover & below fender. Big knob. Rebound adjuster is underneath swingarm on left. Same sized adjuster as top of fork. Compression damping adjuster is on right side, just behind side cover.

This is good info, I was wondering where all the adjustments were and what, couldnt find rebound below swingarm. I guess (cant see) if there spring adjustment on back, it looks like no.

 

[VMax-Mike]

Keep in mind there is no-one setting for different styles of riding. Single Rider in twisties has its own adjustment 2 up has its own adjustment and drag racing in a straight line has its own adjustment and doing great second gear rolling burnouts has its own attachment. And for all the different adjustments I just talked about tire air pressure in suspension have to be adjusted, that being said don't drive yourself crazy this is not a crotch rocket with you in gear it's approximately a 900-pound rocket and is mainly a very vicious straight line bike.

 

[mavgrab302]

Lower the tire pressure to 30 helped on the bumps for me and tire spin. Dampening 17 clicks From soft >hard, preload 4 clicks as is rebound. I will say in twistys shes a bit loose now working on that may stiffen it up preload and rebound a bit.

 

[MarioRRR]

Lower the tire pressure to 30 helped on the bumps for me and tire spin. Dampening 17 clicks From soft >hard, preload 4 clicks as is rebound. I will say in twistys shes a bit loose now working on that may stiffen it up preload and rebound a bit.

Anyone else have some good set up numbers to follow?
In the same position, trying to find proper set up and it is hard coming from sport bike.