1200 GS TE Exclusive suspension

[Engineer]

Does anyone else think that the new auto-preload/levelling ESA on the 2017 Exclusive is awfully soft? The initial travel is very soft to my mind.

I road a loan bike and even in dynamic mode it 'wallowed' a bit on fast sweeping bends. My 2015 TE feels much 'sportier' all round.

I intend 'upgrading' my GS next April but at the moment I am reserving judgement on this new suspension - it needs to work well fully loaded two up too - the 2015 bike is superb in this respect.

What's the general consensus on the new suzzies?

 

[unicycler]

ive a '17 rally and first thing i noticed was it was softer.
saying that, i have pushed it on fast and it handles no different than previous '14 bike.

 

[ChazzyB]

I think Road gives a slightly better ride than Normal did on the old bike. Yes, it probably is slightly softer, especially on the slow compression response. Overall, I like it better than the 2015 bike. Dynamic: are you talking throttle or damping mode?

 

[Wobbly65]

I use road for tootling around and dynamic for everything else. Isn't the suspension semi-dynamic and is as soft/hard as it needs to be at that moment ?

 

[Engineer]

I think Road gives a slightly better ride than Normal did on the old bike. Yes, it probably is slightly softer, especially on the slow compression response. Overall, I like it better than the 2015 bike. Dynamic: are you talking throttle or damping mode?

The mode setting - It appears to change the suspension setting along with the throttle response just like the 2015 bike.

 

[CPJS]

The suspension is very underdamped in road setting and overdamped in dynamic, it seems that BMW removed one of three damping settings that were there before.The setting they removed is medium damping. If you push on hard in throad setting ig does seem to firm up a bit, but not enough.
I have just come back after doing 1500mls enjoying the D roads In the Sarlat area, I was constantly jumping between the two damping settings trying to stop the bike from skittering across ripples in the tarmac that my old GS would have ignored.
The suspension is a big step backwards in my opinion.

 

[fred_jb]

Mine feels fine in Road Mode, but then I don't ride it that hard, and mine is the lowered chassis version which is supposedly a little stiffer anyway. It is particularly good with a pillion in that the extra weight seems to be properly compensated for, both in preload and damping, with the result that the handling of this bike is the least affected by adding a pillion of any bike I have owned.

 

[Engineer]

The suspension is very underdamped in road setting and overdamped in dynamic, it seems that BMW removed one of three damping settings that were there before.The setting they removed is medium damping. If you push on hard in throad setting ig does seem to firm up a bit, but not enough.
I have just come back after doing 1500mls enjoying the D roads In the Sarlat area, I was constantly jumping between the two damping settings trying to stop the bike from skittering across ripples in the tarmac that my old GS would have ignored.
The suspension is a big step backwards in my opinion.

That's interesting - it feels to me as if the initial suspension travel is soft and underdamped, which makes sense to soaking up pot holes and poor surfaces - then I think that it is supposed to firm up as one starts to 'tramp' along - perhaps it does if one is accelerating hard, but on a neutral throttle (high speed, constant radius, gentle, fast bend) it feels under damped and small road imperfections can cause it to 'wallow' even in dynamic mode which surprised me. I wonder how it will be when fully loaded two-up?

My 2015 TE has three clear differences of soft, medium and hard damping which are chosen to match the rain, road and dynamic modes. These seem to work exactly as I'd expect and the bike behaviour is predictable and pretty sporty in dynamic mode, i.e. hard damping and instant throttle response.

Perhaps it has all go to complicated especially with the addition of the weight sensing auto-preload business too.

 

[matchbox]

Within a few miles of collecting my Exclusive I was aware the rear suspension is underdamped. I have taken to switching between Road and Dynamic(suspension)as circumstances dictate. Lost a bit of faith in BMW over this and even more press roadtesters.
I do have a surprisingly simple solution but will let old_den comment as he enlightened me!

 

[Engineer]

Within a few miles of collecting my Exclusive I was aware the rear suspension is underdamped. I have taken to switching between Road and Dynamic(suspension)as circumstances dictate. Lost a bit of faith in BMW over this and even more press roadtesters.
I do have a surprisingly simple solution but will let old_den comment as he enlightened me!

Who is old_den?

 

[Rich C]

Have a 17 exclusive but have only so far done 800 miles so early days.

Thoughts so far. One up I find road suspension settings ( with auto self levelling) just about perfect for all types of roads. I find dynamic too firm for bumpy B roads but would be great on smooth A roads if you wanted to get a wiggle on.

Two up (with auto self levelling) road suspension setting is too soft and underdamped. Its better with dynamic suspension setting. Two up and with luggage is likely to require the auto turning off and the preload adjusting to max.

Throttle and suspension from road to dynamic are adjustable independently..

 

[matchbox]

old_den is a forum member. I will give him a chance to explain the'fix'

 

[fred_jb]

Two up and with luggage is likely to require the auto turning off and the preload adjusting to max.

Why do you say that? I would assume the auto levelling has any preload setting up to and including MAX at its disposal, so not sure what you would gain by selecting MAX, and you might find that it gives more preload than needed. The only beef I have with AUTO is that it does not make the preload adjustment until after you ride off. If you were previously riding solo and then on your next outing you have a pillion on board, the rear of the bike sags badly and is underdamped for the new load, and you have to ride off in that state until the system adjusts, which is not comfortable and arguably not safe. Also, as I found, if you don't retract the sidestand before the pillion gets on it can then be impossible to do so.

I thought a workaround for this might be to start off in MAX and change to AUTO later, but you can only do this if stopped, and then it just appears to drop the bike down to some default setting and only adjusts properly for the actual load once you start riding again.

 

[CPJS]

I don't know who thought that this new version of the ESA was an improvement and signed it off, I imagine that the marketing dept wanted to push a 'bling' item through and, as usual, let the customer pay for the R&D
If the bike has 2 damping settings, there is no reason that it cannot have 3 settings as before. Med damping is the setting I used to use 90% of the time and would change from that for bumpy tracks or fast hooning.
I must admit that this bike with dynamic damping set and the Hilltop remap is a stunning piece of kit on med speed smooth surface roads.
My Bike is the low chassis version and I weigh 11.5 st.

 

[ChazzyB]

The mode setting - It appears to change the suspension setting along with the throttle response just like the 2015 bike.

My 2015 bike didn't change damping mode with the throttle mode - but then I had the coding plug installed. Which reminds me, I must install it on the new one. It gives me so many more modes to cycle through to select one of the only two I use (road and dynamic - throttle that is; not damping...)

 

[Engineer]

My 2015 bike didn't change damping mode with the throttle mode - but then I had the coding plug installed. Which reminds me, I must install it on the new one. It gives me so many more modes to cycle through to select one of the only two I use (road and dynamic - throttle that is; not damping...)

I don't have the coding plug in - mode Rain = gentle throttle and soft damping. Road = normal throttle and normal damping. Dynamic = sharp throttle and hard damping. These are the 3 default options, in any of these three modes it is possible to then select soft, normal or hard damping.

Preload is then of course seperately adjustable using the rider only, rider with luggage and two rider selections using the little graphics on the screen. This arrangement is ideal for me and works very well indeed - the dynamic adjustment as one rides a long in any of these modes is very good - especially good when fully loaded two-up.

I will reserve judgment on the new suspension but it didn't feel like an advancement to me. I guess BMW wanted to automate the pre-load because they thought most people don't know what they are doing - they were probably right but for me this could well be a backward step.

 

[fred_jb]

I suspect the rationale for only two settings is that the damping is now highly dynamic, adjusting for the selected riding style, the preload in use (be it fixed or automatic), and the amount of suspension movement it detects. Thus each setting is presumably just a nominal value about which the actual settings are varied automatically, with ROAD biased to the lower end and DYNA to the higher end, but both having a dynamically adjusted range of damping values. If the ranges of these two settings already overlap to a significant extent, then that might explain why there is now no middle setting. It could be that the previous dynamic ESA had less inputs, and a more limited range of dynamic adjustment, which might explain why it had three settings.

 

[ChazzyB]

The previous preload was little use unless you were Mr Joe Average. For me, riding solo, one helmet setting was too low, 1+luggage, too high.

 

[Byronavitch]

Does anyone else think that the new auto-preload/levelling ESA on the 2017 Exclusive is awfully soft? The initial travel is very soft to my mind.

I road a loan bike and even in dynamic mode it 'wallowed' a bit on fast sweeping bends. My 2015 TE feels much 'sportier' all round.

I intend 'upgrading' my GS next April but at the moment I am reserving judgement on this new suspension - it needs to work well fully loaded two up too - the 2015 bike is superb in this respect.

What's the general consensus on the new suzzies?

Totally agree,what I cant get my head around is I have sports suspension and normally when I come to a stop I am on the balls of my feet, last night without changing anything I could put feet flat on the floor feels as though suspension hasn't caught up properly

 

[CPJS]

If the ranges of these two settings already overlap to a significant extent, then that might explain why there is now no middle setting. It could be that the previous dynamic ESA had less inputs, and a more limited range of dynamic adjustment, which might explain why it had three settings.

That is the problem they don't overlap, there is a noticable 'hole' between the two.
I the esa was properly dynamic there would be no need for various settings, when you sit on the bike and the suspension depresses the sensors measure it and should give the correct preload back to the correct ride height and the damping to match.
Aprillia did a good job of it on the Caponord , it can be done.