xlxr Posted May 22, 2016 Share Posted May 22, 2016 I weigh 270 lbs in gear. I have been riding for decades and have had many custom suspensions on street and dirt bikes. You would think at my weight, the stock shock would feel soft. Nope, it feels harsh. You would think Race Tech Gold valve fork mod and G3-S shock with spring upgrades would be good. Nope, better, but still harsh, even after 4 re-valves. I loosened up the rear shock linkage, a bit better, but still harsh. I am now on my 3rd brand fork/shock/spring mods. Better, but still harsh over small (square edge) bumps that cause high shock shaft speeds. I have tried spring rates so soft that the shock bounces off the rubber bumper under normal street riding. Still too harsh in high speed compression damping. Is it possible to get a smooth ride on bumpy concrete sectioned highway with FJ 09? I am beginning to wonder if the motion ratio of the shock linkage just will not allow the shock to compress over small bumps. What do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docsimple Posted May 22, 2016 Share Posted May 22, 2016 my Penske shock seems to be handling just fine. The front forks have been unimpressive with the Andreani cartridges though. I think they just need a little more love to get right. Maybe the extra padding in the, umm, rear helps smooth out the harshness? 2015 Red FJ 09 2013 WR250R - little boy blue - sold 2012 DL650 V Strom - sold 2007 FZ6 - sold 1986 FJ600 - sold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member wessie Posted May 22, 2016 Premium Member Share Posted May 22, 2016 this is the biggest weakness for me with the stock suspension. Any rippled surface, whether by design like the concrete slab you mention which has ridges for grip or like I encountered in Belgium due to poor maintenance, overwhelms the crude suspension components. Fortunately, after a few decades, most of our concrete roads are gone as we could never get them right, so I don't experience this very often. This signature is left blank as the poster writes enough pretentious bollocks as it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2ballde Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 I weigh 240lb. I was unable to get the stock suspension harshness on 1 to 2" bumps to go away. I noticed a double bump effect especially in the rear over larger bumps. I reduced the rebound way down( 4 or5 Turns from full soft) and it eliminated the buh, bump over the sharp edges. The larger bumps did have a too fast rebound but my back wasn't getting hammered. I bit the bullet and used the bucks I saved from the blowout purchase price to buy a full Traxxion set up. No more harshness on any bump type. Still dialing in but way improved. One new development; A head shake slowing down no hands in the 30 to 20 mph range . I know, don' ride no hands. Just an observation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xlxr Posted May 30, 2016 Author Share Posted May 30, 2016 I measured motion ratio of shock linkage at 2:1, fairly consistent throughout the range of travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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