Anyone beef up their suspension?

[christhenewfie]

I was riding in to work this morning (35km on the highway) and went a little squirrely as I went over some rolling bumps on the on-ramp. Made me start thinking about needing to upgrade my suspension. Anyone have any recommendations? 2005 FJR

 

[RossKean]

MANY have done both front and rear!!

Tons of reading here and I would encourage you to do some searches. 'Nuff info to keep you busy all day.

 

[El Toro Joe]

Good question for a friday...

 

[Viper Pilot]

Traxion Dynamics AK20 front and Ohlins rear works for me!

 

[BkerChuck]

Search function is your friend.......

I have a Gen 3 rear shock and Hyperpro front fork springs and am quite happy with the results.

 

[exskibum]

Speaking directly to the 2005 FJR with OEM suspension, it was notoriously undersprung. Even new, mine wallowed in corners on the stiff rear setting, and I have weighed between 175 and 200 lbs. during the 11.5 years I have owned it. I first upped the spring rate with a Wilber's rear shock and front springs, but not enough. It helped, but still bottomed out 2 up, and compressed so much mid corner that the collector on my 4-2-1 Muzzy exhaust system used to scrape.

In 2009, I did a ride-in to GP SUSPENSION for suspension work that included a much heavier spring and rebuild of the Wilber's shock and a rebuild of the front suspension, all with a detailed explanation of why every mod was being done. Pure wizardry that gave me both a heavier sprung bike at the same time that both the 1 up and 2 up ride was made smoother, not harsher. It was the number one mod necessary to the bike. No more header collector scraping, no more 2 up bottoming out and much better tracking in hard ridden twisties.

Get thee to GP Suspension, get it set up right and avoid Friday dog piles for pissing off the failure-to-search police here. (I had Traxxion on my Blackbird and have similar good stuff to say for that set-up, but they're on the east coast and a little more expensive than GP, or at least: they were.)

 

[0Face]

Bust uses zip-ties to keep the sheep's back legs attached to his ankles... He's gettin' old and can't chase them around like he used to.

 

[mcatrophy]

Bust uses zip-ties to keep the sheep's back legs attached to his ankles... He's gettin' old and can't chase them around like he used to.

That's off topic fftopic: .

The title definitely says "beef".

 

[0Face]

Bust uses zip-ties to keep the sheep's back legs attached to his ankles... He's gettin' old and can't chase them around like he used to.

That's off topic

.

The title definitely says "beef".

Why do you think your veal is so tender?

 

[TomInPA]

GP Suspension can get pretty expensive. I bought a Penske 8983 shock off the forum used, in 2012 and got it rebuilt by GP this past winter. I also installed the heavier shock springs, but kept the stock valves in the forks. It makes a huge difference in handling, avoids scraping hard parts in curves, and adds a lot of confidence. You might get lucky and find a used shock, but I think the new one is still worth the money. If you ever sell the bike, it will still bring $550+ used. Keep in mind one shock fits all FJRs. The Gen II and Gen III shocks will work for your bike. The cool kids are all buying Gen III shocks and putting them on Gen I and II bikes cause they got more guts.

 

[WBill]

After about 65,000 miles on my '05, the shock began to leak. It was time to either upgrade the suspension or look for a newer motorcycle. I had the money put aside for either, but I chose the upgrade because I was still very happy with the '05, and really couldn't find a newer motorcycle that I wanted more. My mechanic installed an Ohlins shock and rebuilt the forks with Race Tech parts, and it was a good choice.

Since I am not a very aggressive rider, and since it had been nearly a decade since the bike was new, it took awhile for me to really notice the new suspension's advantages. The first thing I noticed was that the bike handled much better two-up. Next, I noticed that at 90 mph, it felt like I was going 80, and I needed to mind my speed. Now, after a little over 10,000 miles on the new suspension, I am convinced I made the right choice.

I recognize the fact that my old suspenders were so beat that I would probably have noticed similar results with stock parts, but it just makes me fee good to know that I have one of the best set-ups available for the FJR, or just about any other bike. That little gold remote adjuster perched on the frame looks neat, too!

Hope this helps, WBill