Suspension mods for 2005?

[HaulinAshe]

I've read several threads where people with 04-05s have either stiffened the rear shock, raised the spring height, changed out the rear shock for aftermarket, or in some cases slightly softened the front forks. All was done to effectively raise the rear of the bike.

I have a good friend who is also one of the best damn suspension guys in the business for MX. I'm sure he could do anything I need done but I need to know why and what result I'm looking for.

I am not tall or heavy, 5'10" 185 lbs., and I usually prefer a slightly plush feel to my MX suspension. (I am also pretty damn old for a MX racer, 45). So I am wondering if it's the tall guys or heavier ones that have problems with the rear settling too deep in the turns, or if there is indeed something more universal about the problem they experienced.

 

[Ramblin Man]

I'm not sure how to answer your post other than to say that most of the people here (I think most covers it pretty well) Have upgraded to Wilbers suspension front and rear.

There is really no comparing the stock to the Wilbers, or rather no point in it. Its that much better.

The biggest problems I see with the stock units are feedback and damping. Plus most people around here actually ride thier FJRs, or should I say ride the **** out of them so they rack up the miles pretty quick. Most people have said thier rear shocks are toast at 25,000 miles.

 

[Rogue]

Basically:

The stock isn't rebuildable and a few have reported it going out as soon as 15K.

The 03's had a way too soft spring.

The stock isn't very adjustable.

The stock fork springs are too soft for a lot of riders.

For me (230#) it was okay on hard, solo with not much gear, I've got an aux fuel cell now so I decided to jump on the group buy.

I would say if it is okay for you stock just ride it, If there is another group buy or after riding for a while your not happy then look at upgrading.

 

[MCRIDER007]

I would say if it is okay for you stock just ride it, If there is another group buy or after riding for a while your not happy then look at upgrading.

Agree. I rode my 05 about 12,000 miles last year and didn't have any complaints with the suspension or the seat but the springs get soft over time and the seat wears out. Once I decided that I was going to keep the FJR for a while, it was time to upgrade -- and money well spent.

 

[HaulinAshe]

Have upgraded to Wilbers suspension front and rear.
There is really no comparing the stock to the Wilbers, or rather no point in it. Its that much better.

How much $$$ and where do I get it? I want to go ahead and do the obvious things to my new ride while I am waiting for the broken arm to heal.

Thanks to everyone for the valuable feedback.

 

[Rogue]

Have upgraded to Wilbers suspension front and rear.
There is really no comparing the stock to the Wilbers, or rather no point in it. Its that much better.

How much $$$ and where do I get it? I want to go ahead and do the obvious things to my new ride while I am waiting for the broken arm to heal.

Thanks to everyone for the valuable feedback.

Well before the group buy I was looking at Works because they are local to me, there is also Olins & Penske. The group buys have been Wilbers which is really nice. My shock & fork springs were about $1100 with the group buy (I went for all the bells & whistles). I think the group buy was 10% off IIRC.

I don't thinkyou can go wrong with any of these.

 

[Geezer]

I have a little under 10K miles on my '05 and I can already detect the rear shock starting to go. I have a Wilbers in the box that will go on as soon as I have a spare weekend.

BTW, I stopped in my local dealer yesterday to see what kind of fork oil they had on the shelf. I iwll need that when I replace the fork springs with the new Wilbers. They had 2 quarts of 2.5W silkolene pro, exactly the stuff that I had decided to use, on clearance marked down from $10.95 to $3.00. Too bad they only had the 2 quarts or I would have stoicked up for the future.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Are you an aggressive street rider?? This is NOT an MX bike. Plush suspension may be highly desireable on your MX bikes, but if you're an aggressive street rider, that's not the best answer. For aggressive street riding, the FJR suspension is adequate at best when new, but degrades alot over time and miles. At 15k I was very unhappy with my suspension. Badly undersprung and underdamped in the front...ditto for the rear compounded by lack of adjustability. I sent my forks to Racetech for respring and revalve...big mistake! I'm getting ready to send them to Traxxion Dynamics in GA to fix what (the *******s at) Racetech screwed up. I also have a Penske shock on order from Traxxion and anxiously awaiting that. If you plan to just tool around on the FJR, you can adjust the factory stuff to an acceptable level, ride it and be happy. If you plan to flog the bike, you're probably going to want soemthing better.

MHO,

 

[madmike2]

If you have a friend in the suspension business, uou might ask what he can get you. We got a great deal on the Wilbers, but many other rear shock/front spring combos are being used by other owners. IIRC, Progressive makes springs for the FJR forks, but I don't know about changing the valving, etc. Any quality adjustable rear shock should suit you well, and be rebuildable if the FJR remains in your stable, or at least increase the resale if you sell it.

 

[daviddowns2000]

I would say if it is okay for you stock just ride it, If there is another group buy or after riding for a while your not happy then look at upgrading.

My vote also. Before I spent kilobucks on suspension mods, I would experiment with the available range of adjustments of the stock, especially if I preferred a plush feel. If you can't get the basics dialed in and tweak it til it feels right, or when things wear out, then spring (no pun intended) for mods/upgrades. If you are going to be doing a lot of slab, commuting, etc. you might be perfectly happy with the soft factory setup, even the "soft" rear setting. If you are going to be flogging it in the mountains you will probably want to get it firmer all around, but you aren't that heavy and you have a fair range of adjustments, especially up front, so try tweaking what you have first.

 

[I'mAllIn]

Are you an aggressive street rider?? This is NOT an MX bike. Plush suspension may be highly desireable on your MX bikes, but if you're an aggressive street rider, that's not the best answer. For aggressive street riding, the FJR suspension is adequate at best when new, but degrades alot over time and miles. At 15k I was very unhappy with my suspension. Badly undersprung and underdamped in the front...ditto for the rear compounded by lack of adjustability. I sent my forks to Racetech for respring and revalve...big mistake! I'm getting ready to send them to Traxxion Dynamics in GA to fix what (the *******s at) Racetech screwed up. I also have a Penske shock on order from Traxxion and anxiously awaiting that. If you plan to just tool around on the FJR, you can adjust the factory stuff to an acceptable level, ride it and be happy. If you plan to flog the bike, you're probably going to want soemthing better.MHO,

DD,

When are you getting your susp re-worked? Please keep us updated. I'm a waiter on an '06 (first time FJR'er) and after much research, I've basically settled on the very suspension mods you're doing.

Thanks,

 

[Dangerous Dave]

DD,
When are you getting your susp re-worked?  Please keep us updated.  I'm a waiter on an '06 (first time FJR'er) and after much research, I've basically settled on the very suspension mods you're doing.

Thanks,

Steve, the Penske shock is on order now. The only reason I haven't sent the forks away to Traxxion yet is because my Derbi is down right now for some mods and I don't want to be without something to ride. I expect the Derbi to be back up and running next week. Once it is, I'll pull the forks back off the FJR and send them away. I'll keep you posted.

BTW, on the whole waiter thing...I feel your pain. :eh: When you're ready to order your suspension stuff, I highly recommend contacting our own Sportryder (Lee) for your needs. He can get good prices and gives personal attention to his customers. A good egg all the way around.

More later,

 

[hippo]

I sent my forks to Racetech for respring and revalve...big mistake!  I'm getting ready to send them to Traxxion Dynamics in GA to fix what (the *******s at) Racetech screwed up.

What went wrong with Race Tech? Was it the hardware or the labor that got screwed up? I'm just wondering because I have Race Tech damping and springs on one of my bikes and it seems to work well -- but a local race shop did the installation, not Race Tech.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

What went wrong with Race Tech?  Was it the hardware or the labor that got screwed up? 

Yes, and yes....and add another yes for COMPLETE lack of customer service. For brevity, I'll exclude the details about the horrific lack of customer service by everyone there from the owner (who neither takes calls nor returns messages) on down.

On the labor side, they rounded off the flats on one of my preload adjusters and sent the forks back to me with the two legs adjusted differently for both compression and rebound damping. On the parts (and labor), the left leg now makes a horrendous scraping noise on compression and rebound. Lee from Traxxion tells me that the scraping noise is because of the spring size that they use, in that it doesn't fit the tube correctly and Racetech makes no provision to correct for this. Traxxion uses a different design with a spring buffer that eliminates the problem. It would also appear that Racetech doesn't even offer an appropriate spring rate for this application. Instead, they use too soft a spring and add a heap of internal preload to (try to) compensate. So instead of the supple yet controlled ride I was expecting, I have a ride that's harsh over average bumps and still not as controlled as it should be when it needs to be.

As for the customer service issues, I'm still so angered and confounded that any modern company could actually treat a customer this badly, I just don't even want to think about it anymore. It's easy to get someone there to say "I'm sorry", it's just impossible to get them to do anything about it.

 

[hippo]

Dave,

Wow. Sounds like a nightmare! :angry2: I got the Race Tech dampers and springs, but had a professional race shop set everything up -- which means I avoided the labor problem you described. My setup seems to work ok -- it's better than stock, but I'm not a racer, just a trackday guy so my speeds are probably a lot lower than yours.

Your post gives me pause when thinking about Race Tech. I'm looking to upgrade the completely shot suspension on my Goldwing and everyone who I've met trackside or on the net has only good things to say about Traxxion.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[DocDanDC]

@DD... Sorry to hear about your RaceTech probs.

I had the FJR done at Race Tech and am very happy with the results. I did the Ohlins setup front and rear. Race Tech just did the install and added their compression and rebound kits to the front forks. I think that it helps that they are about 3 miles from my house though.

I put the Ohlins front fork springs on the FJR and dont have any noise ever. Let me know if I can be of help.

Dan

 

[Dangerous Dave]

@DD... Sorry to hear about your RaceTech probs.
I had the FJR done at Race Tech and am very happy with the results. I did the Ohlins setup front and rear. Race Tech just did the install and added their compression and rebound kits to the front forks. I think that it helps that they are about 3 miles from my house though.

I put the Ohlins front fork springs on the FJR and dont have any noise ever. Let me know if I can be of help.

Dan

Thanks Dan. I can easily see where they might provide a different level of customer service to someone who walks in their door vs someone on the other side of the country who can't get 'in their face'. All I've gotten from them is a LENGTHY list of broken promises, including from the owner's "right hand man", a guy by the name of Mike Beier who promised to get to the bottom of all the problems and ASSURED ME he'd call me back. I never heard from him again. I made multiple attempts to contact Paul Thede, the owner, but as I said before, he neither takes calls nor returned any of the messages I left him. I believe that they may have just been stalling me to run out the clock on my right to dispute the charge. They certainly ran me down to the wire on that. I'm hoping for a just outcome from Visa. Time will tell.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Let me know if I can be of help.
Dan

Can you go over there and bitch-slap a few people for me?? I can give you at least 4 specific names......

Just let me know if that's do-able...ok??? B) B)

 

[Hotboot]

The FJR is under-sprung, the damping on both ends goes south quickly.

At 15K I am finally getting the forks re-valved and bolting a Penske 8981 with a 850# Hyperco spring out back. Some use California Suspension Works, the Wilburs product is popular here and a rime product.

I use Lee at Traxion Dynamics 'cause he put my FZ on rails and lets me pick every cell from his brain.

Whatever you do, ****-can the stock suspension. Minimum is new fork oil and straight rate fork springs.