New suspension settings

[MCRIDER007]

*** resurrection ***
I am thinking of adjusting my suspension, for the first time on my '13, and try using Haulinashe's settings for the initial adjustment. Is there any differences in the Gen III, over the previous generations?

The GEN3's have a different shock, different fork design, and each has new spring rates, and damping curves. Other than all new internals, the shocks and forks are interchangeable with the earlier models.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

I'm still searching for the equivalent of Haulin's or majbach's settings, but for a gen III. Good stuff. Lots of good stuff around, threads and pinned. I dearly love my bike. But it's squirrely compared to what I'm used to. Still chasing the glail.

 

[MadRussian]

I'm still searching for the equivalent of Haulin's or majbach's settings, but for a gen III.

How much do you weigh and what kind of riding do you do?

 

[Bill Lumberg]

I do a mix of slab and mountains. I weigh 235 with gear, add another 20 for SR357 and E55. So around 255 total payload. 2014A.

 

[MadRussian]

Ok, start with turning top adjuster on top of right fork to the right 4 clicks.

Use a screwdriver and turn the screw at the bottom of right fork 4 clicks to the right.

Go under the rear shock and you will see a black knob that you need to turn to the right 6 clicks.

Take bike for a ride and see how she feels.

Add one click at time if you feel you need more and take a ride in between adjustments.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Done. Started at midpoint (been running midpoint everywhere except front preload since Feb), then 4, 4, 6. Will see how that feels in about an hour. Thanks for the suggestion. The russians, they are simply mad...

 

[MadRussian]

I'm a little lighter than you (215) and don't have a top case, but those settings work real well for me.

 

[Mossyrocks13k]

Ok, start with turning top adjuster on top of right fork to the right 4 clicks.Use a screwdriver and turn the screw at the bottom of right fork 4 clicks to the right.

Go under the rear shock and you will see a black knob that you need to turn to the right 6 clicks.

Take bike for a ride and see how she feels.

Add one click at time if you feel you need more and take a ride in between adjustments.

Please help me to clear up my confusion. Am I to assume the "click to the right" (CW?) is after turning the adjustment fully to the left (CCW?)? In the Bin o' Facts it refers to "clicks out" and I could never figure out if that meant CW or CCW.

 

[MadRussian]

All adjustments I speak of, are CW.

Bike comes from factory with it set up in the middle, all you do is turn CW from that middle position.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Mine didn't come set in the middle. Didn't change much when I centered initially. Mossyrocks- bottom them out counter clockwise, wind them up to clockwise, counting the clicks, then back out half the total number of clicks you found between bottom and top. That's your center. All bikes don't come centered. I don't know whether it's a dealership thing or a factory thing, but it only takes a minute to check. According to some learned folks here, every bike won't have the exact same number of clicks, though I wouldn't imagine the deviation to be much.

Madness- changes made the bike handle better, no doubt. A little jarring on notable road imperfections. Going to ride it for a few more days before deciding whether to adjust further. I have my front preload adjusted to two rings showing. Wondering if this is too much preload for a rider my size, particularly since my heli has moved my cg back a little..

 

[MadRussian]

I have mine set at 2 rings shown as well with MV riser plate.

If it's too hard for your liking, try 3/3/5 or even 2/2/4

 

[Bill Lumberg]

On an almost unrelated note- a while after buying the bike new, I had to readjust my headlights down to avoid blinding people (I keep the top cutoff just where it hits the average trunk/hood. A simple goose of the throttle gets them up into the rearview briefly for attention getting). With a given load, the bike had settled enough in the rear to cause the headlights to be a bit high. Now, around 9K in, I am on the verge of having to adjust them down again. Interesting that it's required adjustment twice, and this soon.

 

[Mossyrocks13k]

Mine didn't come set in the middle. Didn't change much when I centered initially. Mossyrocks- bottom them out counter clockwise, wind them up to clockwise, counting the clicks, then back out half the total number of clicks you found between bottom and top. That's your center. All bikes don't come centered. I don't know whether it's a dealership thing or a factory thing, but it only takes a minute to check. According to some learned folks here, every bike won't have the exact same number of clicks, though I wouldn't imagine the deviation to be much.
Madness- changes made the bike handle better, no doubt. A little jarring on notable road imperfections. Going to ride it for a few more days before deciding whether to adjust further. I have my front preload adjusted to two rings showing. Wondering if this is too much preload for a rider my size, particularly since my heli has moved my cg back a little..

Set them today:

Front Right Top– Total Click = 36 (from CCW to CW) – Set to 22 CW (from max CCW) (was at 31 CCW, set some time ago)

Bottom - Total Click = 25 - Set to 17 (was at 17)

Front Left Top – Total Click = 34 – Set to 21 (was at 28)

Bottom - Total Click = 26 - Set to 17 (was at 18)

Bottom – Total Click = 47 – Set to 30 CW (was at 24 CCW) note this is a 2013 shock, the original was replaced at 46K miles (currently at 54K)

 

[Mike Aldea]

My '06 FJR was bought used with a GP Suspension front fork kit and a Penske rear shock. I've never tried to do any adjustments to either end. The rear shock was installed with adjuster mechanism placed under the left side cover instead of being strapped to the right side passenger foot peg bracket. The suspension feels pretty good compared to OEM that I've ridden from other manufacturers. I've never ridden any other FJRs. I don't know if my trying to adjust it would be an improvement. I'm sure I weigh more than the previous owner but would not know how I would want to change anything.

 

[harper]

I have had a 2006 with ABS for a little over two weeks. I was thinking I was never going to learn how to shift it smoothly or stop smoothly. It kept nose-diving when I stopped and would lurch and nose-dive when I shifted. I had never had this much trouble familiarizing myself with a motorcycle.

I decided to adjust the suspension as per the recommendations given by the OP in hopes that it would at least lessen the nose-diving while stopping. I made the changes and, expecting nothing out of the test ride, was astounded at the improvement in handling as well as the elimination of nose-diving while braking and the elimination of lurching and nose-diving while shifting. Suddenly I could ride this bike proficiently.

My original settings were:

Spring pre-load: L 3 lines R 3 lines

Rebound damping: L 8 clicks out R 7 clicks out -> (slightly unbalanced unless I counted wrong)

Compression damping: L 11 clicks out R 11 clicks out

Rear rebound damping: 11 clicks out

New settings are:

Spring pre-load: L 2 lines R 2 lines

Rebound damping: L 6 clicks out R 6 clicks out

Compression damping: L 8 clicks out R 8 clicks out

Rear rebound damping: 6 clicks out

Thanks FJR Forum!!

 

[Uncle Hud]

harper posted: <snipped> Thanks FJR Forum!!

No, Mr. Jumping harper, thank you! You actually took the time to search something, apply it to your bike, and test the results, without once -- not a single time -- asking a noob question. You get points in my book, sir, and (once again) welcome to the Forum.

 

[Fred W]

Damping adjustments should always be referenced to (clicks out from) fully CW. A damping adjustment is just a needle valve screw with a mechanical detent clicker attached to give you partial turn reference points. Fully CW is fully closed. Everything else is in reference to that

Fully CW is the equivalent of "lightly seated" for those of us with carburettor tuning experience. The number of turns you can get from fully CW to fully CCW will vary from bike to bike.

Also, FWIW, the OEM "standard" position is not in the middle of its total range. The "standard" positions (for third Gens) are:

Fork Compression Damping: 11 clicks out (of ~ 21)

Fork Rebound Damping: 12 click out (of ~ 16)

Rear shock Rebound Damping: 12 clicks out (of ~20)

But counting clicks is only a starting point. What you ultimately need for settings will depend on a lot of factors and will vary over time based on the state of the suspension oil. You really should learn to adjust the suspension based on how it is working, not just counting clicks.

Adjusting the Stock FJR's Suspension

 

[RaYzerman19]

Agree the damping settings are made from fully CW. I'll just add my opinion the factory settings (Gen II 12 clicks out) are likely to be inadequate for anybody but the lightest rider. You need more damping than that. When rebuilding forks, I start everybody at 8 clicks out and have them tweak from there based on their weight and riding style. Go with an initial 8 clicks out on the rear shock too. It's amazing where some have had their settings and have never touched them (12 or more), and again my opinion, but that isn't much damping at all.

As for fork spring preload, best there is measure sag and set preload accordingly.

This applies mostly to Gen 1 & 2 stock suspensions, I have no experience with GenIII. Spring rates and damping systems were changed for GenIII. The A and ES are again totally different (there are other threads).

 

[harper]

But counting clicks is only a starting point. What you ultimately need for settings will depend on a lot of factors and will vary over time based on the state of the suspension oil. You really should learn to adjust the suspension based on how it is working, not just counting clicks.

That said, with these settings it, at the very least, is no longer under-damped and oscillatory. The unnerving bouncy behavior is entirely gone. Starting from over-damped parameters will allow me to easily and gradually soften the parameters and retest knowing that, at some point, overshoot after hard braking or acceleration will occur. It's easy to isolate the effects of the two damping settings of the fork.

As you say, the condition of the suspension oil, in particular its viscosity, will vary over time and temperature. This variation can be somewhat compensated by adjusting the damping settings because they are merely frictional (resistive or lossy) components. The pre-tensioning setting should be independent of the fork fluid and dependent on the value, age and deterioration over time of the spring constant.

 

[Fred W]

It may just come down to personal preferences, but I believe that it is more logical to start with too little damping and then dial in only what is required. It is fairly easy to set the rebound damping relatively closely based on the... well, rebound with the bike parked.

Then you only have to increment the compression of the forks and test ride until you go too far, and then back it off a bit. It is easier to feel when you have increased the compression damping too far than when you have removed it from being too much (sensing a negative).

If you haven't already looked at it, take a look at what I recommend in the link in my post above..