1200GSA Suspension

[david]

Greetings all, i know suspension settings are personal thing,any advice on rear suspension set up,at the momemt i have the suspension set as standard, which i find a bit bouncy do i need to adjust the preload as well as damping....I am 15.5 stone and most of my riding is on bumpy B roads and single track roads and i ride quite briskly, any advice or micky taking most appreciated many thanks..dave,,

 

[JayGee]

Greetings all, i know suspension settings are personal thing,any advice on rear suspension set up,at the momemt i have the suspension set as standard, which i find a bit bouncy do i need to adjust the preload as well as damping....I am 15.5 stone and most of my riding is on bumpy B roads and single track roads and i ride quite briskly, any advice or micky taking most appreciated many thanks..dave,,

Adjusting the preload won't affect the bouncy-ness, the damping adjuster will do this. The preload affects the ride hieght and if badly adjusted will cause the suspension to either bottom out (you'll feel it after hitting a big dip/bump etc) or hit the end of its travel (this will tend to throw you out of the seat), usually you need to adjust the preload to get the correct amount of static sag, usually so the suspension is about 1/3 compressed.

 

[TunturiSport]

Settings

Hello, David. I also have a 12 GSA and also feel that the suspension is a bit bouncy; especially large bumps hit rather hard.

Usually I have preload setting three in the front (=one step more than standard) and 1 step or "line" more preload in the back, due to my preference to rough gravel roads.

Yesterday I returned from a 3000 kms trip in Norge (I live in Finland) and had about 15-20 kgs luggage with me. To compensate this I further increased the rear suspension preload. The result was a "swinging" movement of the back after big hits. To handle that I had to increase the rebound damping to maximal "hard". As the manual says, you must increase the rebound damping if you increase the preload.

To your original question, I cannot give a good advice. In my understanding the increase in preload does slightly affect the compression damping: by increasing the preload you actually "stretch" the damper. All shock absorbers, and BMW rear absorber especially, increase the compression damping when shortened (it is logical and purposeful) and decrease the compression damping when stretched. I may be wrong and indeed, I have not noticed much difference in the absorber function between different preload adjustments. Maybe someone else could tell us more about this?

I have now considered to by new shock absorbers to my 12GSA. Has anyone experience about Öhlins?

Cheers,
TunturiSport

 

[Schwarz Baron]

Greetings all, i know suspension settings are personal thing,any advice on rear suspension set up,at the momemt i have the suspension set as standard, which i find a bit bouncy do i need to adjust the preload as well as damping....I am 15.5 stone and most of my riding is on bumpy B roads and single track roads and i ride quite briskly, any advice or micky taking most appreciated many thanks..dave,,

Personally I wouldn't touch it. This is my second ADV, and I think if you've never run one before, it's just the extra travel. You will get used with it. I am 16 1/2 Stone, and love the set up. I think its perfect, but as you say personal choice...

 

[Deleted account W]

Personally I wouldn't touch it. This is my second ADV, and I think if you've never run one before, it's just the extra travel. You will get used with it. I am 16 1/2 Stone, and love the set up. I think its perfect, but as you say personal choice...

You can say that again, and again, and again

 

[Schwarz Baron]

Puter stuck!