First ride on new Penske / AK-20

[johnmark101]

The wife wanted to go along but does not like riding the motorcycle so I loaded the GT into the back of my truck and made the roughly five and a half hour drive down to Traxxion Dynamics.  They installed a Penske rear shock and AK-20 cartridges the next day while the wife and I checked out the local area together.  I lost the remote rear preload adjuster in the deal but gained compression damping and height adjustment with the new shock.  Good trade off if you ask me.

Went for the first ride this morning with the base set up they provided at the shop.  Before I had gone a mile I could tell right away that bump absorption was much better.  The harsh feeling from the forks over anything less than smooth pavement was gone.  I would not describe the ride as plush but it is definitely much smoother.  A short 25 mile run up the interstate to some of my favorite roads confirmed the better ride quality. Great so far.  Arrived at one of my favorite curvy roads, let the tires warm up a bit and slowly ramped up the pace.  Here is where the new suspension really shined.  Bike feels so planted in the corners now and I can carry more corner entry speed with way more confidence.  I found myself going faster and faster with each few turns to the point that I had to tell myself to slow down.  So much easier to put the bike right where I want in the corners, and with less effort.  I actually said "Wow!" inside my helmet more than once.  Since I really don't need to ride that fast on the street I am thinking I might dial back the compression damping a bit to make the ride even more smooth.  The bike feels so planted now that I don't think it will affect handling one bit to do so.  But before I start fooling with the adjustments I am going to get some more miles in on the new components just to be sure they are settled and seated , in a manner of speaking.  I will eventually experiment with the rear shock length adjustment after any fine tuning I might do with damping, but I think their base set up is excellent!!  The bike is now much better for both ends of the sport touring spectrum!

About three years ago I had Traxxion do a basic rebuild (spring and valves) on my Ninja 1000.  The results were very good and the cost was about half of the Penske / AK-20 setup.  I would say for about half price I got almost 70 percent of the handling improvement, but little if any improvement in bump absorption.  The Ninja is a bit stiff over bumps but handles very well.  But it still lacks rear compression damping and height adjustment by comparison.  Even if I had known this going in, I still would have spent the extra money for what I did on the Tracer.  The suspension is remarkably good and I have yet to do any fine tuning.         

Edited August 7, 2020 by johnmark101

[betoney]

@johnmark101 - Glad you finally got it done and thanks for the excellent review.  Traxxion built my Penske and I LOVE it, I am seriously considering the AK-20's but we'll have to see how the rest of the year plays out, lots of unknowns still.

[Manxkiwi]

I knew you wouldn't regret it. 😉

[SKYFLIX]

How is your remote reservoir mounted? I couldn't do anything at all with the z bracket provided by Penske, and ended up using the stock preload bracket and a piece of aluminum.

[johnmark101]

1 hour ago, SKYFLIX said:

How is your remote reservoir mounted? I couldn't do anything at all with the z bracket provided by Penske, and ended up using the stock preload bracket and a piece of aluminum.

Mine is mounted similar to yours only the bracket supplied with the shock was useable.  Used zip ties around the screw clamps as the ends were sticking out.

[3sum]

On 8/7/2020 at 5:28 PM, johnmark101 said:

The wife wanted to go along but does not like riding the motorcycle so I loaded the GT into the back of my truck and made the roughly five and a half hour drive down to Traxxion Dynamics.  They installed a Penske rear shock and AK-20 cartridges the next day while the wife and I checked out the local area together.  I lost the remote rear preload adjuster in the deal but gained compression damping and height adjustment with the new shock.  Good trade off if you ask me.

 

This is perfect timing.  I'm ready for suspension and have done a drive-in with  Traxxion before (living in metro Atlanta can sometimes be a good thing).  I want to do everything at once, but I'll probably just have the shock done first before going all in with the front.

Which Penske did you go with?

[betoney]

20 minutes ago, 3sum said:

This is perfect timing.  I'm ready for suspension and have done a drive-in with  Traxxion before (living in metro Atlanta can sometimes be a good thing).  I want to do everything at once, but I'll probably just have the shock done first before going all in with the front.

Which Penske did you go with?

Their double clicker is the 8983 model.  VERY nice shock, spring preload, rebound and compression damping and ride height adjustment.

[SKYFLIX]

Indeed. I went with the 8983 as well. Other than mounting the remote reservoir, the installation was a breeze. Removing the gas tank wasn't nearly as involved as I initially thought it was going to be. Mine was setup spot on by Traxxion. Haven't adjusted it at all. I did the AK20 cartridge installs a few weeks prior, and if I'm honest I didn't find that as much of an upgrade over the stock GT KYB gear. But the rear? Absolutely a great investment.

[johnmark101]

13 hours ago, 3sum said:

This is perfect timing.  I'm ready for suspension and have done a drive-in with  Traxxion before (living in metro Atlanta can sometimes be a good thing).  I want to do everything at once, but I'll probably just have the shock done first before going all in with the front.

Which Penske did you go with?

As the others mentioned, the 8983.

 

[johnmark101]

11 hours ago, SKYFLIX said:

Indeed. I went with the 8983 as well. Other than mounting the remote reservoir, the installation was a breeze. Removing the gas tank wasn't nearly as involved as I initially thought it was going to be. Mine was setup spot on by Traxxion. Haven't adjusted it at all. I did the AK20 cartridge installs a few weeks prior, and if I'm honest I didn't find that as much of an upgrade over the stock GT KYB gear. But the rear? Absolutely a great investment.

I agree with your assessment that the shock upgrade was the biggest difference.  I hated the harshness I felt in the stock forks.      

[texscottyd]

On 8/7/2020 at 4:28 PM, johnmark101 said:

Arrived at one of my favorite curvy roads, let the tires warm up a bit and slowly ramped up the pace.  Here is where the new suspension really shined.  Bike feels so planted in the corners now and I can carry more corner entry speed with way more confidence... So much easier to put the bike right where I want in the corners, and with less effort.     

Exactly my experience with suspension upgrades on the FJ...  for me, it really transformed the entire character of the bike.   It’s much more competent as a sport bike than I ever anticipated, and I’ve found I ride it with more intent and focus... it’s just so eager & buttoned-down now.  

Glad you’re happy with the investment.  Get the final set up dialed in, and enjoy!