Shock Adjustment Question

[Prees77]

Has anyone got experience with riding an R18 with the shock set on the lowest tension? Any problems??

 

[Rufus]

When first released back in 2020 many of the bikes and press bikes were sent out on ‘transport setting’ or words to that effect. Shock was set to minimum and didn’t ride terribly well (dragging pegs, harsh over bumps). Dealers and new owners didn’t know to set the pre-load to the correct setting for your weight. It’s all in the manual and I’ve seen it on the forum somewhere in the past.

Yes, the shock pre-load makes a big difference when set correctly. I was more than happy with my FE, think it was 7 turns clockwise from memory, however some owners have gone aftermarket and replaced it. Depends what you want to achieve really.

 

[Prees77]

Thanks man I think I’ll turn it 8 revolutions clockwise, that’s where mine was originally set, I haven’t really noticed much difference by turning it counterclockwise til stop, just worried about squirreliness in curves at high speed

 

[Ulrich]

Has anyone got experience with riding an R18 with the shock set on the lowest tension? Any problems??

I have mine set on the lowest .. just past where the bolt slackens off and the 2 turns back ... I have never had any issues ... feels comfortable for me (6-3 @ 250) ... but I always ride 1up only.

 

[Rufus]

Thanks man I think I’ll turn it 8 revolutions clockwise, that’s where mine was originally set, I haven’t really noticed much difference by turning it counterclockwise til stop, just worried about squirreliness in curves at high speed

Yea, persevere with it, I thought the adjustment table was good tbh. So use your 8 turns as starting point, take a marker pen or pencil and put a ‘dot’ on the adjuster bolt. Then, Find a stretch of road or choose a stretch of road where you live thats got some issues on it. Like undulations, corners, ridges or whatever and really notice what the bikes doing under you at the same sort of speed when you ride over it, pull over, then get the spanner out of your pocket and make small adjustments clockwise/anti clockwise (say one full turn at a time and because you’ve marked your bolt now you can always get back to your base point without getting ‘lost’, so it’s easy as pie). ride that same road back & forth at the same speed again, repeat until you find that ‘sweet’ spot on the shock. I’ve done this same thing with my Roctane to set it up and it rides really well, plush. Half an hour messing about and you’re done then you can forget about it.

When I did this years ago with my first FE I found fully backed off was quite soggy feeling and the tail end felt soft, when I put too much preload on (too many clockwise turns) the bike was better/ felt stiffer but on sharp ridges literally launched me out of the seat. So I used that table in the manual, marked the bolt, backed it on & off, turn at a time until I found the point where the bike felt taut, felt nicely balanced but didn’t launch me over that ridge (which I still ride over all the time btw!). I’m 112kg.

On an arrow straight flat well surfaced road or motorway I doubt you would notice a lot of difference but on the roads over here (UK) you really do. Good luck with it

 

[Skippy69]

 

[Jgraf0107]

When first released back in 2020 many of the bikes and press bikes were sent out on ‘transport setting’ or words to that effect. Shock was set to minimum and didn’t ride terribly well (dragging pegs, harsh over bumps). Dealers and new owners didn’t know to set the pre-load to the correct setting for your weight. It’s all in the manual and I’ve seen it on the forum somewhere in the past.

Yes, the shock pre-load makes a big difference when set correctly. I was more than happy with my FE, think it was 7 turns clockwise from memory, however some owners have gone aftermarket and replaced it. Depends what you want to achieve really.

If people follow the steps for setting the suspension it works very nice.
But if they don't read and do it properly it will fel like crapola.