Phugedaboudet
Well-known member
not anymore! I got the racing905 crash bars now
Safety counts. The saddle bags are your rear sliders!
Caseless in Seattle
- Thread starter Jed
- Start date
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Jed
Active member
I agree.........I totally understand the logic of with a lighter rider the weight of the bags is a higher percentage of total load and with a heavier rider percentage wise it makes a very small difference. I think what I was trying to convey in my earlier post was more in the difference of flick ability I was experiencing. Not a difference in power ie. acceleration. I was noticing how the bike seemed to respond faster to my commands in turning and lane changing. My early comments about weight was speculation about loading the bike enough (big rider plus side cases) so that the suspension performance began to suffer. Whereas a smaller rider with side cases is still well within the load limits of the bike.
I'm only beginning to learn about all the adjustments you can make to the suspension and assume that factory default settings are some where in the "safe" middle of the range. I'm sure with a little adjusting I could probably greatly improve on what is already a pretty decent ride right out of the box.
UselessPickles
Making Grand Canyon replicas from air boxes...
It's probably some of both. 4 WHP is not too far away from what you get with a set of after-market slip-ons. I agree that it may affect handling significantly enough to "feel" it due to the reduction of weight far back on the tail. The position of the bags has a longer "lever length" against the shock compared to where the rider sits, so it would be similar to losing quite a bit more than 23 lbs of your own weight as far as the rear shock is concerned. Removing the bags would also lower the center of gravity very slightly, which could affect "flickability".
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Silverbullet
Well-known member
Don't assume that at all Jed. One of the very first things I did on my 06 was check the suspension settings and sure enough, just like my other FJRs, there was no rhyme or reason to the factory settings at all. In fact, on the forks, they weren't even the same left to right.
Jed
Active member
Ok good to know, thanks Silverbullet. I'm going to stop by the tech meet in the area on Saturday on hopefully some of the more experienced FJR riders will help me check to see where the settings are now and what direction I might want to adjust them.
wheatonFJR
...
When my bags are loaded up for a trip...the both of them weigh more than 23 pounds...jes sayin'
