Riding Double Suspension Settings

[rtbmrgl]

Hello from Roseville Ca
First I want to say thanks for the invite, this is my second post and have gotten great and nice responses on the first one.

.My question is just a general rear suspension setting rinding double.
With gear I’m 195, wife 145.
Coming off GL1800, and never an issue.
We use to do a lot of touring but now go to campgrounds with truck camper and trailer in tow.
From the campsite we do loops, usually no more than 200 miles.

.thanks, Mark

 

[Larry Fine]

If the question is whether you should raise the rear suspension when carrying a passenger: yes.

 

[dduelin]

You two will need all the preload travel the mechanism is able to provide and it still won’t be enough for optimal results but you can’t afford to lose any of it. Quite often the preload mechanism doesn’t do anything for 10 clicks or more of the 36 available but it is easy to service and regain the lost travel.

Article [13] - ST1300 - Pre-load Fluid Replacement | ST1300 Articles

Here are some pictures I took when I serviced the preload adjuster on a spare shock I have. I bought this off the forum with 9,000 miles on it. 10,000 miles later it took 12 clicks for the adjuster to start working. In the first pic the preload is completely screwed in or to the Hard setting and...

www.st-owners.com

 

[rtbmrgl]

If the question is whether you should raise the rear suspension when carrying a passenger: yes.

Was also wondering about the dampening adjustment,

You two will need all the preload travel the mechanism is able to provide and it still won’t be enough for optimal results but you can’t afford to lose any of it. Quite often the preload mechanism doesn’t do anything for 10 clicks or more of the 36 available but it is easy to service and regain the lost travel.

Article [13] - ST1300 - Pre-load Fluid Replacement | ST1300 Articles

Here are some pictures I took when I serviced the preload adjuster on a spare shock I have. I bought this off the forum with 9,000 miles on it. 10,000 miles later it took 12 clicks for the adjuster to start working. In the first pic the preload is completely screwed in or to the Hard setting and...

www.st-owners.com

.
just checked mine, it gets tight at one turn in, so that good.
thanks

 

[Catmandu2]

Make sure your pre-loader is fully charged,,, crank the rear suspension fully up,,, and leave it there. Learn to ride it like that, all the time, if you enjoy any performance riding at all. The stock 17kg rear spring is barely enough, imho. Make sure you have appropriate rebound dampening too. Consider a A-spec/hwm/GT 2-ply carcass rear tire. Give some thought to your front spring rates as well,,, to prevent brake dive. Otherwise,,, take it easy,,, cheers,, CAt'

 

[dduelin]

Was also wondering about the dampening adjustment,


.
just checked mine, it gets tight at one turn in, so that good.
thanks

That is good to hear. The “standard” damping adjustment is 1 turn clockwise from full soft or fully counter clockwise. That is the starting point for a light solo rider. You will need more of course. If I recall the range is little more than 3 turns. It’s easy to overdo damping, maybe try 1.25 or 1.5 turns to start.