Suspension Sag

[colinw]

I am interested in what other riders are running with regard to Suspension Sag, either Static or Rider Sag and equally whether the normal method of mesuring front sag with a cable tie round the fork works on the gs due to the telever......

I have fitted aftermarket suspension (Budget) Hagon Shocks and am struggling to get a good base setup. the normal 25-30% of sag doesent seem to work very well on the gs as it seems to need more rear preload to keep the front biting, Normal set up on would suggest 47-50mm of rider sag, if this is equally across front and rear the front becomes light in corner and skates, i was going to up the preload on the rear but then with pillion and luggage have nothing left to adjust, if i lower the front preload the bike will bottom out under hard braking... the springrates should be right as the maker had my weight and riding style and springed the shock to suit.

Any help would be apprecialted.

[Outtomunch]

Sounds like you are running into the same probs. as with the standard shocks ie in order to get the front turning nicely you end up winding rear preload all the way up and front down a notch.

TBH it sounds to me like your spring rates may be wrong :nenau if you are having the same issues.

FWIW I've recently fitted Wilbers and am running them as set up and supplied by Every Accs. For me they are pretty much spot on with only minor tweaking needed (which I haven't bothered doing yet).

I'll measure the F & R rider sag for you tonight and post up in this thread.

Andres

[John Armstrong]

A few years back, (and it is a few as Ride was decent then :( ) they had an 1150 amongst other things in a suspension set up class. The bit I do remember is that they said to forget all the normal rules for it, but I can't remember what they did say to do :blast

So as the 1200's suspension is very similar to the 1150's, I'd ask Hagon themselves what they recommend.

[Pukmeister]

My Wilbers were brilliant out of the box with stock settings. When I moved to Western Australia I upped the preload and damping due to the smoother tarmac conditions and slower speed limits as the suspension hardly moved on the road. I wish now I hadn't bothered.

On return to UK the bike rode awfully with a tendency to understeer through corners with no front end confidence, so I wound out the preload to roughly the previous settings and set the damping by trial and error. It now rides much better but like you state, the rear preload needs to be higher than the front in order for the bike to steer confidently (especially at speed).

Because of the front telelever suspension system, the travel measured at the shock absorber is different (although directly related) to the travel at the fork slider.

I did write the sag measurements down once set, but like a pillock I've misplaced the sheet of paper in the garage somewhere. I do know that I had a greater measurement at the rear suspension though. Be interested in Outtomunch's measurements to see if they sound close to mine.

[Outtomunch]

I did write the sag measurements down once set, but like a pillock I've misplaced the sheet of paper in the garage somewhere. I do know that I had a greater measurement at the rear suspension though. Be interested in Outtomunch's measurements to see if they sound close to mine.


I'll also post up my settings (as supplied) :thumb2

Andres

[Slowdown]

I got WP shocks after I gave up trying to get the stock ones to work well.

They came set up as Ohlins describe and not as the WP manual describes. I guess 'cos the travel on a GS is much more than on a normal bike (190mm front and 200mm rear)


http://www.ohlins.com/Portals/0/productlist/documents/mountinginstructions/MC/BM437.pdf

and

http://www.ohlins.com/Portals/0/productlist/documents/mountinginstructions/MC/BM508.pdf


50mm non-rider sag measured on a tie-wrap on the fork works nicely for me - just like the Ohlins sheets says!

The 10mm at the rear is a little hard, so I've decreased it a couple of turns and it's getting very pleasant!



I'd love to play with the compression and rebound, but don't have the time or that much inclination

[colinw]

Thanks for the offer of measuring your sag that would help me a lot.

Sorry to be a pain but rider sag should be taken with damping all the way off, if you are happy to do that its great, I am interested in the ratio between front and back also.

Thanks.

I am hoping the spring rates are right as i have already spoken to hagon and they keep telling me that they are, but saying that they dont hold any setup info either :augie

[Slowdown]

Sorry to be a pain but rider sag should be taken with damping all the way off,

I've not seen that make one bit of difference :nenau

[colinw]

I've not seen that make one bit of difference :nenau

it will affect the reading, especially if the damping is quite hard as it will restrict the free movement of the spring.


I have just looked at ohlins figures and they reccommend

front 50-60 mm rider sag
rear 30-40 mm rider sag

this seems to make sense, as per the usual handling problems but still am interested in real world figures from your bikes.

[Outtomunch]

Just posted my settings HERE (http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1731765#post1731765)

Andres