I have been trawling the web and this forum regarding the rear shock on my newly acquired Gen 2. I am 12st, and having been out on two 170 mile Sunday runs, I came to the conclusion that as the bike was way too skittery I needed to do something about the suspension. The previous owner was rather more portly than myself, so today I dragged a friend around and we set about doing the sag etc.
The front is set up and just needs fine tuning, I will probably run it a tad softer than the settings that we arrived at.
The rear is on the softest preload, and with my weight it moves, but not as much as I would like, nor as smoothly.
It seems that the consensus is that the Gen 2 is way oversprung, and that an R1 shock is the way to go, the snag is, which year to go for? I have looked at a few on Ebay, but it seems that designs varied over the years.
My last question is, do they alter the ride height? I am happy with the Gen 2 seat height, so would rather retain that if possible.
Cheers
Rob
Thanks for the link, as you say it looks like a bigger task than my initial research suggested. It looks like it's back to the drawing board on this one.
I well recall the difference the Ohlins made on my Gen 1, but I am reticent to splash out that sort of cash on this one, so I am looking for a solution that will make the rear more compliant. I am guessing that others have resolved this one, though reading through many US threads it seems that those of a more rotund stature have fewer problems.
Rob
Only the 2006 model came with the overly-hard spring, Rob. I recall that was one of the things I criticised when I test rode the Gen 2 on release.
You could have your shock resprung for under £100 or try to track down a used 07 - 12 shock because Yamaha fitted a softer spring to the later models.
Thanks again Mike, I will have a ferret around and see what I can find. I will probably take the bike off the road during the worst of the winter months, so if I take the rebuild option it won't really matter as I won't be using it.
I used to know every mod in the book for the Gen 1, but it's a whole new learning curve for this one.
Cheers
Rob
Is yours the 2006 model?
What settings did you end up with?
Cheers
White FZ8
Yes its the 2006 model. When I bought it everything had been set to hard, probably because the previous owner was bigger than me (doesn't explain why the rebound and compression had been stiffened though).
There was no alternative, I had to go through the whole set the sag etc routine with a friend and a tape measure. The bike is under a cover at the moment so I can't be sure of all of the settings, but the front preload ended up on four rings, and the shock is on the softest setting. I set the compression so that the forks and shock actually move rather than feel like they are made out of concrete. I started on the default settings and then kept reducing the compression damping until they felt right when the bike was stationery. The rebound settings were left as standard, or slightly softer as I recall. I won't know whether further adjustment is needed until the next long Sunday run, as it will all behave differently once it all gets warm.
At the end of the day suspension should absorb bumps and braking smoothly, and then return to position smoothly and quite quickly. The reason for this is that if you go over a series of bumps, or have a combination of braking and bumps, then all that will happen is that the suspension will undergo compression before the rebound damping has allowed it to return to the top. Too much of this and effectively you are altering the geometry and reducing the suspension travel, if that makes sense.
It's why some bikes with stiff suspension handle like barges when under pressure, suspension should be compliant and controlled for the road. Tracks are different as there aren't the bumps to contend with.
That is the difference between super slick cool running friction free expensive suspension, and the cheap stuff. At the moment the achilles heel is the rear spring, but that looks solveable.
Rob
Have you got an owners manual to find the recomended settings?
I know its only the internet but they are real people ! ain't they?
PM me your email address mate I have it as a pdf file
White FZ8
If anyone wants them they are:
Fork preload: 5.5 rings showing. Counting from top.
Fork rebound (right leg): 15 clicks out, from fully in.
Fork compression (left leg): 5 clicks out, from fully in.
Rear preload: 3rd notch from softest.
Rear rebound: 6 clicks out, from fully in.
These are only ever rough, as variations in manufacturing processes mean that no two suspension systems will be identical.
