- Joined
- Feb 11, 2006
- Messages
- 9,705
- Location
- Jacksonville
- Bike
- GL1800 R1200RT NC700
- 2024 Miles
- 010688
- STOC #
- 6651
Raising the fork tubes in the triple clamps does what, boys and girls?
That's right! It effectively decreases the rake angle and decreases the trail. While both make the bike turn in quicker, the downside is a decrease in forward stability. Raising the rear by increasing preload has the same effect.
I noted in another post earlier today that I cured a case of wander by adjusting my preload lower on the fly going down the road yesterday.
To clarify, are you talking about the light steering "wander" or happy feet at fast highway speeds or the weave the ST1300 can exhibit at speeds in excess of 110 mph? Lowering preload if the bike is going to be ridden to top speeds is the opposite of what you want to do. Excess sag with standard damping settings leads to the rear suspension moving up and down in a less controlled or uncontrolled manner at very fast speeds. Speaking in generalities we increase suspension preload and damping when riding motorcycles very fast, we don't want the bike wallowing up and down on soft suspensions at very high speeds. By changing springs or adding spacers some ST1300s are running much less front sag than the bike comes with stock and reducing sag alters the frame geometry to slow down the steering so sliding the fork tubes up 5 mm or less doesn't even began to make up for the rake and trail changes the sag reduction made.