New suspension settings

[big ears]

Got mine set at 3-6-6-6, soft on lever. Good for me. 185 and light gear.

 

[Av8rider]

I found after making the initial adjustment that at 80+ on the freeway it rode a bit like a rocking horse bouncing front to back.

I thought I would experiment with the settings and started with the easiest first, changing the rear suspension back to soft. For me that did the trick. Still bounces a bit but smoothed the ride out nicely.

Its hard to belive what a difference these minor adjustments can make.

 

[skisby]

Thanks man - quite a difference. The CTS still kicks in but it was hours instead of minutes! Who knew! Thanks again...now about that throttle ....

 

[beacher]

Just a very quick THANK YOU, JEFF! for the advice on setting up the suspension; rides like a completely different machine, and it took a whole 5 minutes to do it!

 

[NJ609Eagle]

I've been reading this thread every now and then, and wish I knew someone who could make these types of adjustments to my ride. Of course knowing how I ride and how to adjust from there would help too. Just can't find a bike suspension specilist around.

 

[Av8rider]

I've been reading this thread every now and then, and wish I knew someone who could make these types of adjustments to my ride. Of course knowing how I ride and how to adjust from there would help too. Just can't find a bike suspension specilist around.

As far as making the adjustments that Jeff recommends they are VERY EASY to do. Once you've made them you immediately feel the difference and this is a great place to start adjusting the suspension to better fit your riding needs.

I was very skeptical about trying this myself and asked Jeff to create more of a visual tutorial. But after reviewing the owners manual and comparing Jeff's recommendation with the stock setup it was very simple to make make the adjustments and I'm not as convinced as I was that such a tutorial is needed.

This is really easy to do and best of all it makes a huge difference and its FREE.

 

[Fubar]

I'm not a MC expert but have a resonable amount of experience wrenching my own equipment since I was a young lad. This past weekend I made adjustments to my suspension on the recommendations here in the forum. Took all of about 10 minutes and most of that time was reading the owners manual explainations of what knob did what and which way to turn for all the way in as all of the recommended adjustments are by backing out. What a difference in handling. I tried the setup on the soft and the hard settings and both were an improvement from stock.... Thanks to Jeff for a good post.

Don

 

[jeff62]

This stuff is really easy to do, but I can understand how people can get spooked a bit by it. It took me 5 years of racing before I felt that I really had a good feel for setting up a suspension. If anyone really feels like they can't tackle this on their own, I'd be willing to offer some remote assistance. I'm in the Northern CA area -- shoot me a PM. Heck, I could probably walk you through it over the phone.

 

[Kirrilian]

Thanks for the great post on the suspension, I read the manual last night and didn't really understand what to do with all the dials and knobs. I am going to give this a try this weekend and see if I like it.

 

[FJRONAMISSION]

Question.... on the 2008, rear shock. laying on your back with your head towards the rear tire,.... right hand on the clicker... righty tighty or lefty tighty. :huh:

-your laying on the clutch side of the bike-

 

[AFCJER]

Question.... on the 2008, rear shock. laying on your back with your head towards the rear tire,.... right hand on the clicker... righty tighty or lefty tighty. :huh: -your laying on the clutch side of the bike-

It's righty tighty (harder) / lefty softy. It shouldn't matter which side of the bike you are on or which way your head just as long as you are looking at it from below. You've got me a little turned around thinking about it so you may want to verify with owners manual page 3-23.

 

[FJRONAMISSION]

Question.... on the 2008, rear shock. laying on your back with your head towards the rear tire,.... right hand on the clicker... righty tighty or lefty tighty. :huh: -your laying on the clutch side of the bike-

It's righty tighty (harder) / lefty softy. It shouldn't matter which side of the bike you are on or which way your head just as long as you are looking at it from below. You've got me a little turned around thinking about it so you may want to verify with owners manual page 3-23.

-------

uh... yea.. owners manual... it's about 40 miles away right now...

Thanks for the quick info... I better get back out to check what I screwed up.......... :dribble: :yahoo:

 

[Pango]

I set my GenII 2007 close to these numbers, a little tighter on the rear rebound, and what a difference! It feels like a finely tuned machine now. I equate it to the suspension in the rental Pontiac G6 I'm driving to the one in my Acura TSX: Both keep you from bottoming out but one feels like crap while the other makes you smile. The new settings make me smile.

 

[caryt]

Went for a 2 up ride with the new settings..much better :yahoo: but did nothing to help the vibs :angry2: I am just one of the lucky ones that has a very bad case of buzz! And nothing has helped.

 

[FJR-Voltron]

Hey guys,

I just set mine up exactly like the directions...

Front: Line-2, 6-clicks, and 8-clicks

Rear: Hard, 6-clicks

I weigh 215lbs, so I shall see how it handles on my drive home..

Cheers,

Dave

 

[FJR-Voltron]

FOLLOW UP:

After making the adjustments, the bike feels completely different... :wubsmiley: :wubsmiley:

As other had described, I too had issues with high-speed sweepers that felt really nervous.. I too was questioning my riding ability, until I made the changes...

Highly recommended!!

 

[IAGeezer]

I never saw this thread until 2 weeks ago, got back home last Sunday, and got up the guts to do the adjustments yesterday.

Holy Moley! I never realized how much I had been wrestling the bike around! It's like that feeling when I first got the Feejer after riding around on my old K bike and XS 1100. The FJR now feels like an old friend, and it's helping me now. Planted and supple. Checked the speedo in the curves (Yes, there are a couple in Iowa), and I'm 5 mph higher, with nowhere near the focus previously required. Makes a guy feel like a hero....

Oh, BTW, being a gummint employee, it took me 20 minutes to get the job done, instead of the 5 minutes I read about earlier.

Thanks for the assist, Jeff. Maybe this thread should become a sticky, or go to Bin'o facts....

Scott

 

[Aviatorkev]

I used Jeff's recommendations and it made a huge difference. When I was riding solo everything was great. However, I ride two-up about 70% of the time, so I tightened the front and rear rebound by two clicks and now no more wallowing in the corners! :yahoo: Much better!

 

[old&slow]

I thought my 2008 handled great the way it came from the dealer,,,,,

But yesterday I changed the suspension setting from 3 -12 -12 front & hard - 12 rear,,,,

to 3 -8 -8 Front and Soft - 6 Rear,,,

then took it for a ride ,,,, I thought it handled better,,, I felt the rear was a little stiff,,

might try changing that to a Soft - 8 ....

I've never understood suspension ,, there settings ,, etc... but the information in this thread seem

to be a good place to start,,,, Thanks All,,,,,,,,,, :yahoo: old & slow Dan <<<<<

 

[terrysig]

Never touched the setting on my 04 except for the hard lever. I was pretty happy with how it came from the factory and it made some sense for my size. But read this thread and liked the "if you don't like it, change it back" comment so also went with 3-8-8 and soft-6 on my new 08.

I was pleasantly surprised at the planted feel through the corners. seems to not take the sharp edge bumps the same either. I'm particularly sensitive at the moment because with less then 500 miles the steeering head bearings are starting to seat and loosen. previous to the change it was much more obvious.

I'm going to leave as is for a few days then try some minor adjustments to see what happens.