Brendan W
Registered user
Coming from a line of 70's and 80's UJMs I never gave too much thought to front sag. The odd oil change and a spring length check was about all. I was disappointed with the R1100 coming from a Suzuki GS850G but there were lots of other things to do. Sometimes it felt like riding on a washboard on fairly even surfaces.
The Hagon shocks looked almost new and I mistakenly assumed they had been done right.
I get round to measuring front sag and get 50mm rider sag of which 35mm is static. The damper screw is fully in. My target is 40mm rider.
The web is full of take off the tank and take out the shock and why do Hagon have the preload thing at the top end, impossible to get at etc etc..
The tank does not have to come off. Removing the front and left side plastic trim ( it fouls the air intake) and the bolt at the back allows the tank to slide back enough to get at the shock. On second thoughts I had a look at access to the adjuster collar. By removing the horn and it's support bracket there is enough room to get a C spanner in there and wind on load without an extension to the spanner. It was necessary to counter-hold the nut at the top and this can be done with an open spanner with the tank in it's normal position. Only need to remove the saddle shaped plastic trim at the front of the tank. Please leave the lock screw facing forward for the next poor sod.
Three full turns of the collar took the sag to 40mm from 50mm. I opened the damper screw a full turn.
I imagine I don't have to tell you what the result was. Total transformation is an understatement. Ride, cornering and response to power input exiting turns.
Back end is next.
Question. Those damper setscrews. What is the usable number of turns and if you keep unscrewing does it fall out and is there a start point like x turns from fully in?
The Hagon shocks looked almost new and I mistakenly assumed they had been done right.
I get round to measuring front sag and get 50mm rider sag of which 35mm is static. The damper screw is fully in. My target is 40mm rider.
The web is full of take off the tank and take out the shock and why do Hagon have the preload thing at the top end, impossible to get at etc etc..
The tank does not have to come off. Removing the front and left side plastic trim ( it fouls the air intake) and the bolt at the back allows the tank to slide back enough to get at the shock. On second thoughts I had a look at access to the adjuster collar. By removing the horn and it's support bracket there is enough room to get a C spanner in there and wind on load without an extension to the spanner. It was necessary to counter-hold the nut at the top and this can be done with an open spanner with the tank in it's normal position. Only need to remove the saddle shaped plastic trim at the front of the tank. Please leave the lock screw facing forward for the next poor sod.
Three full turns of the collar took the sag to 40mm from 50mm. I opened the damper screw a full turn.
I imagine I don't have to tell you what the result was. Total transformation is an understatement. Ride, cornering and response to power input exiting turns.
Back end is next.
Question. Those damper setscrews. What is the usable number of turns and if you keep unscrewing does it fall out and is there a start point like x turns from fully in?
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