Just recently,,, I had a Race Tech 21.4kg spring (oem is 17kg) installed on my least used oem shock (35k km's). This was on my 2012 ST13, ThunderSTruck, which I use mostly for solo longer rides. I found that I was running the preloader at max,,, all the time, whether loaded or empty. Now that I have about %24 more spring in there,,, I can ride empty with no preload. And,, can add preload for fuller bags,, and/or a passenger. I am 172lbs,,, and so far,, the 21.4kg spring seems appropriate. The still stock shock,, seems to be able to handle this much spring,, although I am getting up quite high in it's dampening range. Anyway,, so far so good. I have not found the need for a gold valve upgrade as yet. Both ends of the bike have responded well to more spring and less dampening. A fresh set of hwm/gt tires and some final adjustments to the rear dampening will be completed by mid-July. Cheers,,, and thx to Dave D. for the video on dampening adjustment,,,, CAt'
