Posting this for the benefit of others coming from 'normal' front suspension bikes.
I got my GS earlier this year and when I picked it up I was surprised at the amount of extension/movement of the font suspension when rolling on and off the throttle, it also didn't appear to be as 'different' under braking as I was expecting (coming from many years of conventional sports bike suspension).
So I had a look around at some of the threads on here and there were plenty of comments about tweaking the few settings to get the best from the standard units (when I picked it up the front was one of max pre-load and the rear was near zero pre-load!).
So after duly resetting to the book settings I tried again and there was an improvement (mainly reduced understeer), but it still felt wrong. The only directly relevant thread I managed to find was one that someone mentioned the same on some new RTs (OK not directly, but as near as). So I started to think that perhaps I was being overly critical and perhaps my weight was to blame. Or the other option was that with longer suspension travel and a higher riding position I was simply being over sensitive.
And the point of this post...well after 3,000 miles I decided to try a secondhand lower mileage front shock, which has transformed the handling, there is a little 'nodding' when rolling on and off the throttle, but nothing excessive and now under braking the bike stays relatively flat. I am guessing that the damping on the old unit was completely FUBAR.
So, if you experience the same symptoms as me and you are new to GS's consider replacing your front shock, preferably without waiting 3,000 miles!
I got my GS earlier this year and when I picked it up I was surprised at the amount of extension/movement of the font suspension when rolling on and off the throttle, it also didn't appear to be as 'different' under braking as I was expecting (coming from many years of conventional sports bike suspension).
So I had a look around at some of the threads on here and there were plenty of comments about tweaking the few settings to get the best from the standard units (when I picked it up the front was one of max pre-load and the rear was near zero pre-load!).
So after duly resetting to the book settings I tried again and there was an improvement (mainly reduced understeer), but it still felt wrong. The only directly relevant thread I managed to find was one that someone mentioned the same on some new RTs (OK not directly, but as near as). So I started to think that perhaps I was being overly critical and perhaps my weight was to blame. Or the other option was that with longer suspension travel and a higher riding position I was simply being over sensitive.
And the point of this post...well after 3,000 miles I decided to try a secondhand lower mileage front shock, which has transformed the handling, there is a little 'nodding' when rolling on and off the throttle, but nothing excessive and now under braking the bike stays relatively flat. I am guessing that the damping on the old unit was completely FUBAR.
So, if you experience the same symptoms as me and you are new to GS's consider replacing your front shock, preferably without waiting 3,000 miles!
