Okay, I am willing to be educated.
I have quite a few miles on Dad's Gen2 with factory suspension. I have a 14 mile demo ride on the '14 ES. I am NOT a suspension expert.
I have no issues with OEM Gen2 suspension. I was blown away by the ES. The changes in damping brought about immediate results that were real world useful and I could easily see myself making those changes while on a ride. The preload changes were obvious as well and I would certainly use them based on bike load but not so much during a ride as before the ride.
I found the ES to be much more controlled than the Gen2. Everything seemed more solid, smoother, less harsh, more controlled.
Why do you say the inverted fork is worth more than that immediate and wide range of adjustability?
I can't offer a education, just my impressions after 1300 miles of ES ownership. I also had a GEN1, GEN2, and still have a '13A. The GEN1 had the GP Suspension fork rebuild and a Wilbers shock, both of which were eventually moved to the GEN2 and I thought worked better in the GEN2 than the GEN1. I just traded that bike, a 2008, for the ES, so my impressions are pretty current and I can certainly understand why you were blown away by the ES.
The ES is more solid, smoother, less harsh, more controlled and that is due to heavier spring rates, greatly improved damping, and the increased rigidity of the inverted forks. The '13A has the heavier spring rates and improved damping but does not have the inverted fork. The ES also has the smoothest engine of any FJR I have ever ridden and that contributes to the overall ride quality and refinement.
The 4 preload adjustments are great if they fit your needs. The solo plus luggage fits my weight and riding style when I am solo, I need more preload when I actually have luggage but going to 2-up doesn't work very well because the damping settings offered with that preload have too much damping. On the '13 I can switch to the hard spring setting, make a minor adjustment to the damping, and I am ready to go. The ES requires me to choose between slow steering or a less plush ride.
After dozens of trials on about every road surface available, I think the solo plus luggage preload and the STD 0 damping fits me the best and it is very good. However, the range of damping from SOFT -3 to Hard +3 is actually very narrow and several of the magazine testers have made similar comments. I can notice a small improvement in ride quality by switching to the SOFT setting on very smooth road surfaces but any advantage in that setting disappears quickly when you encounter a bump. I haven't found a use for the HARD setting, I can't detect any improvement in handling. Again, the range of adjustment is very narrow, and if someone else was controlling the damping I wouldn't be able to detect when the damping was changed and would not have any idea of what setting was being used, any road surface I ride on will have greater changes in any given mile than the damping variance offered for that preload.
I've been testing the damping settings for 1300 miles and am just going to use the STD 0 and hope that the ride quality stays the same as the suspension and oil ages. I have ridden 5 BMWs and 3 Ducatis with electronic suspensions and the damping changes are very noticeable when you change the damping, this doesn't mean that those changes are improvements, but I could certainly feel the change. When I change the ES damping there doesn't appear to be any immediate change at all, I have to ride a while and then make a very subjective evaluation of the change. I know other have reported otherwise, but my evaluations are pretty consistent with what the moto-journalists have reported.
I think the ES is a significant improvement over the '13 due to its smoother motor and inverted fork and also appears to be a "tighter" package and more refined. I have not ridden a '14A and it also may be an improvement over the '13. I know there are a lot of doubters concerning the valve added of the inverted fork, but I also have a C14 with an inverted fork that is more stable than the '13 at speed, cornering, and in winds; but not any better than the ES under the same conditions.
I really like the ES but at this point cannot see any additional value from the ES itself. I would much prefer to have fully adjustable suspension that I can fine tune rather than a lot of preset damping combinations where I am searching for the one that seems to work the best.
