Premium Member Brick Posted November 18, 2016 Premium Member Share Posted November 18, 2016 I bought this 2015 beautiful red FJ-08 not long ago and really like it. But the suspension actually scared me. I read here that things needed changing. I played with it a bit with the help of another forum member who after a year and a half just upgraded his suspension. It still was scary to me. I'm not a suspension person by any stretch and thought that the forks needed work. The bike would stand up in corners and "push" wide. I contacted Rick Tannembaum owner of Cogent Dynamics. Cogent has up graded suspension on at least 4 bike I owned before this FJ. Rick told me that he had not upgraded any FJ-09's but had developed a shock and fork internals for an FZ-09. He invited me to bring my bike over to see if this shock would fit and work on my FJ. So I did so today. The results without doing anything to the forks is simply amazing! I'm going to ride it again tomorrow and see if I still feel this way. Here is the information on this fantastic shock and Cogent Dynamics. Our double adjustable, custom built to order shock is $639 in the same form as you have it. It is fully designed and built by us with all the parts made in the USA by motorcyclists. The shock carries a lifetime, non-transferable warranty that includes wear parts providing it is sent to us for service evert two years or 20,000 miles ( whichever comes first). Our flat rate service is $89 at this time. I think that is a unique warranty that is unmatched in the industry. We have several customers who have changed the bikes connected to our shock and are still covered and riding on great shocks. As is the shock has preload and rebound damping adjustments. The internals are custom made for each individual. They also have a remote reservoir if the customer wants that. I weigh 174 plus my riding gear and they put a 600lb spring on and set the rebound dampening at 16 clicks out. There are 30 clicks available. A shock that works this well is a hell of a deal! Cogent Dynamics 33 Meadow Brook Dr. Fletcher NC 28732 United States http://www.motocd.com (828) 628-9025 Talk to Rick. Brick 2015 Yamaha FJ-09 "Red Molly" 2014 Yamaha Super Tenere' ES 1999 Suzuki SV650 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duhs10 Posted November 18, 2016 Share Posted November 18, 2016 Scared you? That's pretty dramatic... I ride on the stock suspension every day. Could be improved but definitely not "scary". '15 FJ-09 w/ lots of extras... Fayetteville, GA, USA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattonme Posted November 18, 2016 Share Posted November 18, 2016 interesting choice offering compression and not rebound. He needs a webpage for Yamahas. I'll add the reference to the big shock page: http://fj-09.org/thread/2028/shock-upgrades-compatible-swaps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xlxr Posted November 18, 2016 Share Posted November 18, 2016 Scared you? That's pretty dramatic... I ride on the stock suspension every day. Could be improved but definitely not "scary".The stock shock on my 2015 was so stiff and harsh I couldn't ride it fast enough to even get to scary, even though I weigh 270 lbs in gear. I highly suspect Yamaha, or whoever built the stock shock, had some significant manufacturing defects and/or inconsistencies. Way better with Ohlins front and rear revalved by Norwest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Brick Posted November 18, 2016 Author Premium Member Share Posted November 18, 2016 interesting choice offering compression and not rebound. He needs a webpage for Yamahas. I'll add the reference to the big shock page: http://fj-09.org/thread/2028/shock-upgrades-compatible-swaps Oops... sir you are right it is rebound damping not compression damping. Sorry! Brick 2015 Yamaha FJ-09 "Red Molly" 2014 Yamaha Super Tenere' ES 1999 Suzuki SV650 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Brick Posted November 18, 2016 Author Premium Member Share Posted November 18, 2016 Scared you? That's pretty dramatic... I ride on the stock suspension every day. Could be improved but definitely not "scary".The stock shock on my 2015 was so stiff and harsh I couldn't ride it fast enough to even get to scary, even though I weigh 270 lbs in gear. I highly suspect Yamaha, or whoever built the stock shock, had some significant manufacturing defects and/or inconsistencies. Way better with Ohlins front and rear revalved by Norwest. Cogent also sells installs Ohlins too. I think they do suspension very well just not good at PR. Word of mouth has served them well on other bike suspension upgrades. SC650, KLR650, KLX. Lots of Ducati applications. Brick 2015 Yamaha FJ-09 "Red Molly" 2014 Yamaha Super Tenere' ES 1999 Suzuki SV650 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamalv Posted November 18, 2016 Share Posted November 18, 2016 I am really interested to hear the details and your feedback about the fork internals. And also, like @duhs10 said, "scary" seems a bit over-the-top. With your weight range, I would imagine the stocker should have worked pretty decently, unless you got a lemon in the suspension parts. With that said, still curious if you like the Cogent stuff. If you do, proportionately that could imply it will feel like a magic carpet to me then . I have debated many times about trying their suspension stuff, but always settled on something else. Might take a chance on the fork if the feedback is really good. Or else I was planning @pattonme sometime next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Brick Posted November 18, 2016 Author Premium Member Share Posted November 18, 2016 Well I had a GREAT ride today here in western North Carolina. Went up in the mtns and rode the Snake. It had "crap" all over it "But" many of our back roads up to the Snake 421... are better anyway IMHO. Really the stock suspension was driving me WIDE in corners. THAT is scary especially when a car is in the other lane! Now I'm riding pretty hard for that... I know I know everyone tells how fast they are well I currently have no chicken strips and touching the hero balls down. But I've been riding for 50 years too. Anyway after today I'm even more sold. I love this shock and well do foresee that in the spring I will want to get the forks done. Regarding what he will do to the forks. Basically he is a custom suspension builder. He came up with the idea that he wanted to make a package for the FZ/FJ including this shock and fork interals for $1,000. That does not include shipping or installation. I think that is a SMOKIN deal! He will do what you want. Call Rick. Brick 2015 Yamaha FJ-09 "Red Molly" 2014 Yamaha Super Tenere' ES 1999 Suzuki SV650 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattonme Posted November 18, 2016 Share Posted November 18, 2016 > including this shock and fork interals for $1,000. That does not include shipping or installation. I think that is a SMOKIN deal! Indeed, not bad. Though he might not know he has some competition already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamalv Posted November 18, 2016 Share Posted November 18, 2016 Ah, you don't have the fork stuff done yet. I thought you might have tried that DDC thing they have. Hard to get much reliable feedback on it, but it is intriguing. Almost did it for a previous Vstrom 650. If you are riding that hard on the streets, I can understand going wide . That used to happen to me on the stock tires now that I think about it. On the (current) Metzeler Roadtec 01s, zero movement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member clint Posted November 19, 2016 Premium Member Share Posted November 19, 2016 Rick is a top suspension engineer! He rebuilt both of the OEM shocks on my GTS1000 a couple of years ago, and the results were fantastic! Great pricing, full analysis and feedback regarding what he found and recommended. I can't say enough good things about this guy! Here's a picture from yesterday's ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Piedmont of NC '15 FJ-09 '94 GTS-1000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamalv Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 Any updates? Waiting eagerly to know what they have cooked up ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member betoney Posted December 24, 2016 Supporting Member Share Posted December 24, 2016 Rick is a top suspension engineer! He rebuilt both of the OEM shocks on my GTS1000 a couple of years ago, and the results were fantastic! Great pricing, full analysis and feedback regarding what he found and recommended. I can't say enough good things about this guy! Here's a picture from yesterday's ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I have never even heard of a GTS1000 before. I just researched it and wow, that is a unique and intriguing motorcycle. ***2015 Candy Red FJ-09*** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Brick Posted December 24, 2016 Author Premium Member Share Posted December 24, 2016 Any updates? Waiting eagerly to know what they have cooked up ?? No updates yet. Rick has family in for Christmas so I don't expect anything until after. He said he was going to either order a part he wanted to try or machine it. We will see what he comes up with. ?? Brick 2015 Yamaha FJ-09 "Red Molly" 2014 Yamaha Super Tenere' ES 1999 Suzuki SV650 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fj09chris Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 Scared you? That's pretty dramatic... I ride on the stock suspension every day. Could be improved but definitely not "scary".I have some track experience and ride moderately fast in the canyons and would describe the complete lack of confidence inspired by the harsh front end as scary. I replaced the shock first, and noticed ride quality was greatly improved, but the front was still very harsh. The front cartridges fixed that. In order to carry speed into a corner I need to have confidence the front end will allow the wheel and tire to track over bumps and hold a line. Stock, the bike was so harsh the front would chatter and hop over bumps. This action when leaned over is in fact, scary to me. /rant P.S. Clint, beautiful example of an iconic bike. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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