What ESA settings do you use?

[Beemerman59]

Now I have Wilburs WESA I do notice the difference on the road and being able to adjust damping settings on the fly can make a difference to the ride and over a long day that might be a factor for some people. I could rarely tell the difference with the OEM shock. If I had a non-ESA shock I wouldn't be bothering with changing the settings on the fly as it would mean stopping all the time to make the adjustment - I would just put up with it and maybe find the ride not so quite comfortable at times. I don't have ESA on my K1100RS - I have the shock set quite hard and put up with it being too hard at times. As the Wilburs utilises the OEM electronic adjustment, it can only be the Wilburs shock itself that I'm finding superior to the OEM shock. So in this respect, the ride quality is purely down to the shock and has nothing to do with its adjustment (ESA). I would guess that most riders don't change the pre-load very often so a few turns of a knob is no real problem, so my feeling is that the convenience of ESA is really of benefit in relation to only damping.

Is the ESA a toy or a real benefit? That's subjective and purely down to an individuals own interpretation of whats important to them and if they feel able to justify the cost. Mine came with the bike when I bought it and I didn't know what I know now. If I was buying new, I doubt I would specify it, primarily because if I buy new I plan to keep for 6 years plus and as with my current bike, it would be expensive to replace when the OEM shock dies a death - typically under 30K miles. Now I realise how much better an aftermarket shock can be I would be getting rid of the OEM version as soon as I could.

 

[Cooky]

+1

The bike shakes its head under hard acceleration on a 1200 with the standard set up.

This stopped for me when i changed the tyres from Anakees to Roadsmarts

 

[cyril]

Could do a lot worse. Comfort setting mostly

 

[Wilsdorf]

My rides vary from one up to two up on a regular basis, I notice the difference quite easily, I also change to comfort from Ginger Hall to Ramsey and the back to sport for the mountain - it's not a huge difference but it is noticeable.

I wouldn't want to go for a quick lap two up on the single rider setting.

 

[Beemerman59]

I wouldn't want to go for a quick lap two up on the single rider setting.

So you have a choice of stopping and putting a few turns on a manual adjuster or stopping and pressing a button for a few seconds

I like my ESA system for the damping adjustments but lets get real here, its not really a solution to a problem is it?

 

[Wilsdorf]

Without the ESA I probably wouldn't bother changing settings, and I'd probably just take a sports bike out when riding solo, but I'm enjoying riding the GS at full throttle as much as possible.

 

[Nutty]

I used to ride mainly on Sport, rider no pillion, unless on motorway then normal

 

[littleredrooster]

...ESA is a load of rubbish...

Reminds me of BMW indicators; those who have never owned a bike thus equipped are the biggest critics...

 

[Dellis]

ESA - have I missed the point? Isn't the idea of easy adjustment easy adjustment to what suits you and the load?

Fiddle and find what you like for yourself

Dave

p.s. didn't have ESA on any of my GS's but did on my K1200r

 

[littleredrooster]

ESA - have I missed the point? Isn't the idea of easy adjustment easy adjustment to what suits you and the load?

Yes - and that's the main point. ESA allows you to set the suspension quickly and without fuss to suit the prevailing circumstances.

On holiday for example, I can go from two-up fully loaded to solo settings in the blink of an eye. As SWMBO (and luggage) gets on or off, or as I go to 'investigate' local roads where we're staying, this load can change up to 4 or 5 times in a day. ESA is wonderful for this.

It would, of course, be much less useful if the loading rarely changed, or the roads were all the same.

 

[Wrinkly]

I do not ride off road and almost always solo so those settings speak for themselves.
Most of my riding is on country roads in East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire and North Yorkshire coast, moors and Dales. I weigh 15st.
If I'm on main roads I generally leave the suspension on NORM, country roads (unless they are really rough) on SPORT. If I am on a motorway for a long stretch and I remember I change it to COMFORT but hardly notice the difference.
What do other riders do?

Personally I think ESA is a fantastic bit of kit,I'm on my second bike with it fitted and wouldn't consider buying a bike without it now.

The secret to getting the most from it is to spend some time really getting to know the settings and how they perform for you.

It's like many other things in life you've got to make the time to understand it to get the best from it.

I'm of a similar weight to you,so the next time you're up in the North york moors go to Egdon, stick the ESA in "single rider normal",then ride to Rosedale turn around stick the ESA in "minor offroad comfort"and ride back to Egdon.the difference is incredible.

Steve

 

[Dellis]

Yes - and that's the main point. ESA allows you to set the suspension quickly and without fuss to suit the prevailing circumstances.

On holiday for example, I can go from two-up fully loaded to solo settings in the blink of an eye. As SWMBO (and luggage) gets on or off, or as I go to 'investigate' local roads where we're staying, this load can change up to 4 or 5 times in a day. ESA is wonderful for this.

It would, of course, be much less useful if the loading rarely changed, or the roads were all the same.

The point I was making was that it's easy to adjust so go and find the settings that best fit for any given load or conditions. I had ESA on my K1200r and enjoyed the ease of adjustment for example being able have a plush ride on the motorway and change settings on the fly when you exit onto more interesting roads where you may want firmer settings.

Dave

 

[Bendy toy]

My bike came with ESA and it seems any middle age GSA without it is well down in value. Usefulness of ESA? Of course I'd be ok without, but its nice to have especially the comfort setting on the M-way. Lately however I have noticed less difference between the three damper settings so one or both shocks are probably heading south.

I will be going for a Wilbers WESA which uses the BMW stepper motors but they say gives a wider adjustment range. Ohlins are all very well but Im not enough of a riding god to benefit from the difference (if there is any) from a Wilbers.

 

[Beemerman59]

I will be going for a Wilbers WESA which uses the BMW stepper motors but they say gives a wider adjustment range. Ohlins are all very well but Im not enough of a riding god to benefit from the difference (if there is any) from a Wilbers.

Its much more noticeable on the WESA shocks. As an example, I can stand alongside the bike, ignition on and change the damping settings and I can feel the difference simply by putting weight on the seat. You can even tell if you're in comfort mode or sport when you take the bike off the centre stand. I could never tell the difference when I had the OEM ESA shocks fitted. I can only assume that because the ESA motors came off the OEM shocks in the first place that the Wilburs shocks have a greater amount of adjustment between the three settings.

 

[pitternator]

Setting aside the benefits of aftermarket shocks compared to OEM, which beemerman has so elegantly enlightened us with, lets discuss the OEM ESA option. I like it , not as a gadget but as a practical aid. I have measured the difference in preload as approx 5mm using the ESA settings.Which is quite a lot of difference TBH... That alone is worth its weight in gold for the simple flexibility of altering preload for riding solo/ with pillion / with luggage. It does make a significant difference to ride height and steering.If you dont have ESA you probably wont stop and alter preload manually , so end up riding the bike with slow steering fully loaded, or have over firm preload when solo. Which is fine if you are bimbling, but in the alps its very convenient to be able to do this on the fly ( actually have to stop the bike for preload) to get the best from the OEM sussies. Damping wise its also significant changes and its down to taste. On our horrible roads, its often a choice to try comfort at lower speeds or firmer damping at higher speeds. Personally I like ESA, and am keen to see how the LC semi active sussies work. Interestingly the new Caponord has active suspension a league ahead of the new LC ....
I have a full Ktech set up on my fazer 1000, all weightmatched springs and superb damping etc. BUT its not something I can alter on the move at all or easily at rest , and so put up with a setting to cover all speeds and terrain...but ultimately its a static setting so isnt optimal.
So I dont see it as a gadget , but a useful aid for advanced riding.

 

[fusionpaul]

Being relatively new to my GSA & coming from a harley touring bike i can only comment positively on the ESA, a vast improvement over the crap stock harley suspension. First couple of rides i did feel that the bike was quite tall & not able to get both feet firmly on the deck & i'm not short at 6'1". However after playing around with the ESA settings i realised the bike was on 2 up with luggage & after changing it to 1 up i was a bit sceptical as to what difference there would be, but was pleasantly surprised at the difference in ride height & now got both feet flat on the deck

 

[Black Dog]

This stopped for me when i changed the tyres from Anakees to Roadsmarts

+1

Roadsmart II's even better.

Best value upgrade for your quid guvnor.

Can't get 'em for LC yet though.

 

[pitternator]

I have recently moved from tourance to pilot road 3, and yes it does improve the road holding and steering , but have to say the tourance exp I had on my bike as OE performed very well over a broad spread of use = why bm fit them. As my GS is primarily a road bike, I am trying a road option to see what I think . I wouldnt knock the tourance per se, they are a still cheap good allrounder.

 

[paulhull]

Thanks for the comments, not that I understood all of them. I'd not thought of using the preload settings to compensate for the permanent extra weight I carry round with me but having been out this afternoon and used the solo plus luggage setting but riding on my own the bike certainly seemed more settled. I'll carry on experimenting. Cheers!

 

[Bendy toy]

On of the sales blokes at Benham BMW told me it's best to use the correct setting for the load on the bike. The shocks have an ideal travel range so running too much or too little preloaded is not good for them.

Mine spends 95% of the time on rider only so I can't vouch for this personally. TBH I'm a little surprised the shock needs to keep within a sweet spot.