► Seats (too high, too hard, pillion...) and suspension

Berin said:
Anyone tried the Hyperpro lowering kit F800GS
yet?

Apparently BMW can get them but our local dealer (NOG) said tey can't fit tem as they don't have spring compressors.
Click to expand...

Berin

Got Hyperpro springs on my 1200 and contact Hyperpro directly. I bought mine through their dealer in Birmingham called Calsport and they are really helpful. Removed the shocks and took them to Birmingham for them to fit.....no problem.

Hope this helps.
 
rear shock settings

anybody know how the rear shock should be set for pre load ? i have heard that you should have about an inch of sag when you sit on the bike ? i want to set mine up for best road handling. i've put nearly 2k miles on it now so suspension should be loosened up? the handbook doesn't give much info. any ideas ?:nenau
 
spring preload and damping settings?

what are the correct spring preload and damping setting with and without loaded panniers? according to the manual the basic settings seems to be it, i think?? maybe a better explanation on what conditions i would need to think about adjusting them would help, i believe its more for off road riding.
 
I asked the BMW sales guy about this. he said its all down to personal preference and what 'feels' right. It depends on lots of factors like your weight and the weight of your luggage etc. I try it on different settings and see if I can feel what difference it makes when going over speed bumps etc.
 
Hi, quick question.

Is is enough to adjust the top knob only? Or does it have to be adjusted accordingly on both places (big black knob on top and small screw at the bottom?

I am not sure if I should change the settings when carrying a pillion passenger...

Yeah, I had read the manual but as I am very new to bikes I am looking for some guidance!.

With a second read of the manual I am positive that it does need re-adjusting when carrying a pillion or the handling will be affected... I took my girlfriend out for a 90 miles ride and I did notice the difference but as I am new to bikes and particularly this bike (my first bike, only 500 miles so far on it) I just coped with it and rode it even more carefully.

The manual seems to state that the spring pre-load for 85 kg is when the screw is turned counter-clockwise all the way, leaving the whole of the thread for increasing the load (just with my hand quickly it was able to turned it 4 clockwise). The damping setting however seems to be almost at its maximum for a 85 kg load, having only 1 1/2 turn for increasing it. This confuses me a little bit...

What I am not too sure about is how to measure the amount of "adjusting". It seems to be fine with the standard settings for when I ride on my own. I am about 87 kilos so its good. Now... how much would I increase the spring pre-load and dumping if I carry a pillion that weights about 60 kilos (my girlfriend) :confused: The manual does not give much guidance on that...

Maybe someone with the same weights can give me some tips as to what settings work best?

Thanks a lot!
 
Firstly hope your enjoying the bike :-)

Secondly preload and damping are different things, in short preload deals with distance and damping deals with speed.

Preload is the starting point from which the suspension can compress, it has a limited amount of travel (obviously) if you carry a heavy load with less preload you risk compressing the unit completely (bottoming out) and putting extra stress on other parts of the bike. That's why it is recommended when carrying extra weight to increase the preload.

Damping changes the speed at which the suspension compresses, less damping bounces faster more damping makes the ride essentially harder. If I was taking the bike on a track day, I might, with the advice of others increase the damping to make the ride a little less bouncy. To be honest though there's no real need to change this, it's setup well enough for road riding.

When I first got mine I wound the preload down as far as possible to make it as low as I could. You will find that after a while the suspension "settles" a little. After 1500 odd miles I've experimented with winding it up a little, but found maneuvering to park (especially in the wet) quite difficult.

I took my girlfriends dad out for a ride last weekend, I made no adjustment to the preload (probably should've but it was a only a 15 min bimble) the bike didn't bottom out, but ran very low at the back, so much so I could finally get both feet flat on the ground.

If I was going to be doing a long journey 2up or with luggage I would load up sit on the bike give it a bit of bounce so the suspension can settle and gauge if it needs more/less preload, adjust and repeat until I'm happy.

Btw, I've garnered my limited knowledge from reading Bike magazine, if you're new to biking it's a good read, this month they took their F800GS round Ireland, which I'm hoping to do later this year.

Hope that all helps.


Jolyon
 
Alternative seats

On the 800 I find that after about 2 or 3 hours my backside starts to suffer and once I get uncomfortable it gets very uncomfortable very quickly. Being a lanky git, I can ride perfectly well from the pillion seat and while it helps to relieve the pain a bit, I'm thinkning I need a better solution.

Has anyone tried the TT seats or any other aftermarket ones that might be available (I don't know of any others)? The TT seats aren't cheap...too much for me to buy on blind faith alone (that's assuming they're even in production).

I've been looking at airhawk pad things...any feedback or sizing info on those?
 
Freedom air?

Not sure where I saw this, but has anybody tried the "Freedom Air"?

Here was short review:

- http://www.starcushion.com/consumer.php
The "Freedom Air" cushion compared well to the AirHawk in the July issue of Motorcycle Consumer News. Less wobble, front-to-rear, side-to-side, and less "constricting" for those of the male gender pursuaion. Prices were near equal.

MCN's conclusion - "the AirHawk offers a 25% improvement in comfort over the stock seat, while the Freedom Air provided a 70% improvement."

See http://www.mcnews.com


Jim
 
Uriel said:
On the 800 I find that after about 2 or 3 hours my backside starts to suffer and once I get uncomfortable it gets very uncomfortable very quickly. Being a lanky git, I can ride perfectly well from the pillion seat and while it helps to relieve the pain a bit, I'm thinkning I need a better solution.

Has anyone tried the TT seats or any other aftermarket ones that might be available (I don't know of any others)? The TT seats aren't cheap...too much for me to buy on blind faith alone (that's assuming they're even in production).

I've been looking at airhawk pad things...any feedback or sizing info on those?
Click to expand...

Hi Uriel

Just did nine hours on mine fitted with a medium-sized "cruiser" Airhawk - no problem in the derrière!
 
Seat

I have used the Airhawk on my 800, I would not ride more than 100miles without it.

The Airhawk needs a bit of setting up, you have to run it with very liitle air in it. Then its the business.

Seem to sell secondhand for 80-85 quid.

Good luck
 
treated my bum to a Skyeskin last weekend in Oonyakistan :oonyack.

Did 250+ miles on it yesty - numb bum and stiff hips issue much reduced :thumb2

And ignored the slagging / teasing from my mates :o :P
 
Airhawk

I bought the cheaper Airhawk and found it to be fantastic. I did two large rides. One from Brugge to Nuremburg and Innsbruck to Boulogne Sur Mer with no problems at all. If anything it was my wrists and ankles that were getting tired.

Previously I'd ridden Manchester to Devon without an Air Hawk and that was painful :eek:
 
Got the small airhawk. just did a 9 hr ride with it over the weekend. Needs some fiddling with the amount of air to dial it in right but once set up it was great! Well pretty much so at least, the narrow profile of the bike's waist doesnt quite lend to good ergonomics in the first place. I actually liked the squishing of the air around inside it as I could move around a bit so my bum doesnt get bored. The wobbling took me by surprise initially but once I got used to it, I didn't notice it anymore.
 
seats

i had the same problem on a trip to france, had a good chat to this chap and he is recovering both of mine as we speak, with an injection of new foam

mark

www.diggerseats.co.uk
 
blackie said:
Got the small airhawk. just did a 9 hr ride with it over the weekend. Needs some fiddling with the amount of air to dial it in right but once set up it was great! Well pretty much so at least, the narrow profile of the bike's waist doesnt quite lend to good ergonomics in the first place. I actually liked the squishing of the air around inside it as I could move around a bit so my bum doesnt get bored. The wobbling took me by surprise initially but once I got used to it, I didn't notice it anymore.
Click to expand...

If it's wobbling you probably have too much air in it.

Tim
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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