I am new to dealing with motorcycle suspensions so forgive me if my questions are dumb.
First off my suspension is feeling really sloppy. When I initially sit on the bike it sags pretty bad. Both the front and rear. When I bought the bike the previous owner and I are identical builds and weight. So the bike was setup well for me. I have changed no settings. The rear is set at 6 on the spring but I dont know about the dampening. The front I am unsure on as to how it is set up. The But as time goes on it seems like my suspension is getting weaker.

So should I just have the forks serviced along with the rear. Or should I look into some aftermarket suspension parts?

I do mostly street riding (pretty agressive street riding) and a little bit of track. (would do more track if it wasnt 300 miles away). Bike has just shy of 40k miles.

Any input would be great.
Thanks

 

I wouldn't suggest going with aftermarket parts, they can be quite pricey. I would recommend changing out the oil in the forks, and then try playing with the damper and preload to find a good feel for you. If your willing to drop a some more cash on it you can replace the fork internals, eg. valves and springs. That would be the cheaper alternative to aftermarket suspension parts.

 

Thanks for the advice. On the fork internals are you talking about replacing them with OEM parts? And are the forks something you can do yourself or should you have them done professionally?

 

Stock front springs are .68kg/mm, so unless your under 110lbs they will never give you correct sag. I highly suggest aftermarket parts, namely springs and rebound valves for the forks, I woulnd't recommend changing the fork oil weight unless you go the aftermarket internals route.As for install, if you have to ask you probably can't do it yourself. Not trying to be mean. Lots of youtube videos to show you how to setup the 2 basic things: sag [preload] and rebound. Compression is more of a feel thing while riding.

 

LINK

 

My appologies for being vague on the aftermarket parts thing. I ment as in aftermarket forks as a whole, internals go for it. I havent personally replaced my internals but i hear good things. Thank you for clarrifying that boredandstroked. and yes working with the fork internals is not for the novice. I've never done it myself and wouldn't tackle that project without a hand from someone who has. I haven't had the need to do it yet, since i found a good setting with the preload and damper that im comfortable with.

 

I'm 150lbs w/ no preload lines showing on my front forks and there is still way to much sag up front. I had my fork seals and oil serviced on 10/10 and that didn't help out at all w/ my front sag issues. Like boredandstroked said your best bet is to do springs and rebound valves for your front forks, if you have the extra $'s on hand.

Moses

 

I just changed fork fluid and seals for the first time. There are SOOO many "how to fork" videos online you can't mess it up. F4i's have one of the easiest fork setups too. Swapping internals would be cake while it's all apart. But it does get pricey.

 

What do you weigh?
If you're a flyweight I recommend just changing your fork oil, and if the rear shock is toast, get a new one or have it rebuilt to your specs.

If you're heavier, you can get heavier springs front and back but you could run into the issue of not having enough dampening for the heavier fork springs in which case you would need different valving/shim stack.

Also I dunno how much track you do but it could be that as you push the bike harder you're starting to notice the deficiencies in the stock suspension, especially if it needs freshening up.

 

Well it looks like its time to check into some after market internals. I have had the sag set and it still squats way to much for me. I have also had front and rear suspensions bottom out quite a few times. Thanks for all the info, I will start researching internals.