Tweaking suspension when fully-loaded

[roxburd]

Hey all,


The little Yamaha manual is pretty good on describing where the suspension controls are and how to adjust them. But it says bugger-all about what adjustments you should be looking to make for different loads.


I don't usually bother adjusting the suspension at all as it's either just me (~80Kg) or me + light luggage or me + pillion for short trips and I've never felt it warranted messing with the set-up.


But I'm planning a long trip two-up fully loaded and I'm thinking that's gotta be worth a tweak on the rear pre-load at least (as that's where most of the load will be).


But I'm not sure what else if anything is likely to need adjusting.


Front pre-load - yeah, I guess so, to firm the front up a bit, especially under braking?


Front & rear compression - maybe? Especially on the front to firm it up under braking again?


Front & rear rebound - really don't know why that would be needed!


Any advice? Any recommendations for step-by-step guides?


Cheers,
Dave

[celticbiker]

If anything it's the damping that needs tweaking. It's a common misconception that adding preload stiffens the spring, it doesn't it just increases the shock length/ride height allowing for greater travel before bottoming out.
If you need a stiffer spring, you need a stiffer spring.

[roxburd]

Well, just got back from the Isle of Man. I had a good play with pre-load and compression damping and it did make quite a difference, so much so that the suspension felt perfect on the ride there, two-up fully loaded, but when I was riding round the island one-up after dumping all the luggage I had to put the compression damping down again as the front was too stiff and harsh. You're dead right about pre-load, Celtic, just moves the rest position.