Seat and Suspension

[Waldo Jeffers]

31 minutes ago, Salish900 said:

Yeah, I'd like one of those just to look at! I keep wanting to upgrade my rear shock since I'm 200lbs and with gear and cases on trips easily top 250. Throw on the old wife, and though she's a sprite, and we are at 350. But then I see the price, and my hand pulls back from my wallet in a convulsive spasm of shock...

You’re only looking at ~$4.00/lb. 

[Ddog gt]

In sales that is call the reduction to the absurd.

[Wintersdark]

8 hours ago, Salish900 said:

I've been meaning to post this. The spanners that came with my 19 for the rear preload adjustment are literally useless. From either side, you can't get it on the cogs and even if you do, it turns so little that you achieve nothing. There is so little space, and hoses and stuff are in the way. I've taken to using a long blade screw driver and just whacking on the cogs to get it to move. So hearing you say your spanner isn't hard to use means you either have some approach I haven't figured out or your year of bike is different. Fortunately, I don't change it much, and for my size and weight have it pretty much maxed out, whether pillion or not. 

My 19 came with a remote adjuster.  I've used shocks with spanners and the dogged collars before, however, and have always found them easy to use.  

How does yours not have a remote adjuster?  Is it aftermarket?  What brand?

[Salish900]

19 minutes ago, Wintersdark said:

My 19 came with a remote adjuster.  I've used shocks with spanners and the dogged collars before, however, and have always found them easy to use.  

How does yours not have a remote adjuster?  Is it aftermarket?  What brand?

I don't have the GT. The non-GT does not have remote adjustment. The wrench they include has no room to operate and is useless. I hear folks say the investment in suspension makes an enormous difference. I did already upgrade my front springs and oil. I guess I'm somewhat insensitive to my rear shock and have never ridden a bike with aftermarket. My Aprilia Caponord Rally had ADD dynamic suspension and that was truly a magic carpet ride, but I don't find the Tracer so different that I don't ride it normally. I guess I would have to do a before and after ride, or ride a buddy's bike with a nice rear shock and be blown away before I could drop $1,200 on it. That's a whole lot of gas, pizza, football tickets and ice cream. 

[Wintersdark]

Oh! Sorry, I didn't realize the base model didn't have the remote preload.

 

I hear you, though.  I'm really reluctant to drop over a thousand dollars on a replacement shock without really knowing what a difference it'd make.  And not to disparage anyone here, but my experience has been when people spend 4 digits on an upgraded they feel that upgrade was transformative regardless if it acruay was or not.  

I mean, ask people what they think about their full exhaust system change in regards to bike performance.  Then do dyno runs (particularly with a flashed but stock exhaust vs flashed aftermarket exhaust) and see that it did practically nothing.  

Not to say that's the case here, but... It's a lot to invest in an unknown

 

I just finished installing a new spring on my rear shock, gonna go take a ride and see what the difference is between grossly undersprung and sprung for my weight, albeit with the stock shock.

 

[betoney]

3 hours ago, Wintersdark said:

I hear you, though.  I'm really reluctant to drop over a thousand dollars on a replacement shock without really knowing what a difference it'd make.  And not to disparage anyone here, but my experience has been when people spend 4 digits on an upgraded they feel that upgrade was transformative regardless if it acruay was or not. 

Not to make comparisons but I have a buddy who is a huge 'nay sayer', I told him forever how much I love my suspension and he would always brush it off as frivolous spending... until we went on a road trip and swapped bikes for an hour on some amazing twisty canyon roads.  I had a hard time getting my bike back from him, when we finally stopped and swapped back he looked like he had seen a ghost, stumbling with words and shaking his head like he was in shock.  The next day after we returned from that road trip he ordered new suspension.

If you get the chance, you really owe it to yourself to ride your stock bike back-to-back with one with aftermarket parts, just to see for yourself.  Don't take anyone's word for it, you have to feel it first hand.

[Skidood]

If anyone in Canada has a stock seat for a 2019, I'd be willing to buy it.

[PhotoAl]

Ive not had too many problems with the stock suspension on my 2020 Tracer GT.  I do have the remote preload adjustment and I think they did a little better job on the newer GTs than earlier bikes.  I don't ride 2 up (wife refuses) I weight 175 wo gear so IMO at the top end of stock spring capability.  For a long trip I do carry full side cases and a 58 liter duffle on the rear seat - I like to have it as far forward as possible for weight distribution.  I am very aware the suspension is budget and could be a lot better but it is working OK for me and at the moment there are other priorities.  I'm leaving later in the week for a 5 day 2,000 mile trip and will see how well the suspension works.  My plan is to increase preload particularly at the rear and bump compression up a bit.  I put over 1,000 miles on the bike with the suspension totally stock including the settings and I was running with loaded side cases and a duffle on the rear seat.  Didnt have any issues but then again mostly flat and straight roads in South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.

@Wintersdark eagerly waiting on what you found out by changing the spring.

[johnmark101]

Good suspension is the best upgrade you can do for this bike, or most any bike for that matter.  Yes it can be expensive but it makes such a big difference!!  Quality suspension done right provides much better bump absorption and more confidence in handling.

You don't have to spend for top shelf components to get noticeable improvements.  I have a Kawasaki Ninja 1000 for which I had Traxxion Dynamics rebuild the stock shock and forks with new springs and valving set up for my weight and riding style.  It was a little more than half what it would cost for a Penske shock and AK-20's.  Very good bang for the buck!!

For the Tracer I went with the Penske 8983 and AK-20's which was almost twice the price of a rebuild of stock components.  While it is definitely better than just doing springs and valves, the basic rebuild was, in my opinion, better bang for the buck.  So, you don't have to spend a lot of money to get better suspension. 

There upside to spending more for the good stuff verses a rebuild is that you can remove it and reinstall your stock bits when selling the bike.  The AK-20's, in many cases can be used again on your next bike, as they are somewhat universal cartridges!!   Then you can sell your rear shock and use the money for a new one for your next bike!!   

Edited April 5, 2021 by johnmark101

[Ride365]

The suspension on my GT is heads and tails better than all 3 of the V-Stroms I owned previously, and on par if not better than the Concours 1400 I had as well. I will for in time upgrade to the appropriate front springs and for sure a rear unit eventually, but so far at me weighing 200 without gear and who rides fairly aggressive …..zero issues. Sag has been correctly set of course, so no question that helps things.

[Warchild]

Update to the original post:

My suspension doctor is off all this week, but the research he did prior to departure indicates we aren't going to do anything to the stock shock, not even re-spring it, because the effort isn't worth it. We will just replace it with a proper rebuildable shock, spring it accordingly. So the hunt is on for that.

Forks are another matter. He is still researching that to some degree, but the choices basically come down to these two: perform a rebuild using all Race-Tech components, or go with the drop-in cartridge solution,  Ohlins or AK-20 cartridges from Traxxion Dynamics. The drop-in cartridge solution will be more $$$, so I need to do a CBA on going that way.  I am leaning toward the Race Tech solution, but we'll see how it goes.

[LaFartessa]

(Hi Basket! It's BJ from STN/Slimey Crud)  I put a Wilbers shock on my former V-Strom and it transformed the bike. As others have said, the earlier FJs shock and adjuster design are certainly lacking...definitely teeth-gnashing work to change the preload. I thought the longer swingarm and spring rate changes on the GT were said to be an improvement?

My FJ 'hops' when I'm well leaned-over on bad pavement. 'Twas an eye-opener the first few times but I've become accustomed to dealing with having to correct my line. Have been unable to dial it out and fix the issue. I just don't know if I want to spend the $$$ for another shock- does there even exist a 'perfect' solution for someone who weighs 155 with gear and topcase, then adds sidecases, camping gear and kitchen sink and goes on 6k-8k rides?

[PhotoAl]

if your are not satisfied with the stock suspension IMO aftermarket would be perfect for you.  With the right springs and preload I would expect you can get a great "not stuff" setup and then add preload and maybe up compression and rebound for those long rides.  Just got back from a 1,800 mile "short" trip.  Had full sidecases and duffle bag was a bit light as I bought a seat and brought the old ones home.  I probably stiffened the front a bit too much but still did very nicely.  I sipped around am exit ramp yesterday at a pretty good lean.  LOL it was one of these tight 270degree ramps where you have to struggle with traffic getting on the interstate while you are trying to exit.  Some SUV came up and squeezed in front of a car getting on the interstate behind me.  Exit ramp was 20 mph,  haha everyone on the interstate was running 80MPH.  I was slow enough so just leaned it over aggressively and went on.  Meanwhile I didnt hear sliding tires but know the SUV had a moment when the realized what their speed was relative to what the ramp was.  At the end of the ramp they were waaaaaay back.  My tracer did perfectly fine even though had a pretty good load including me, my gear, my stuff and my COVID 19 pounds.  SUV actually concerned me a bit as they were exiting in a prettify aggressive fashion and I don't trust others abilities anywhere near as much as they seem to.

[Warchild]

On 4/13/2021 at 5:18 PM, PhotoAl said:

 My tracer did perfectly fine even though had a pretty good load including me, my gear, my stuff and my COVID 19 pounds. 

 😆  😆  😆 

Oh, I do know what you mean there! 

 

[petshark]

I have the heated comfort seat as it came with the bike and while I have some issues with the Tracer, the seat is not one of them. It's certainly the best seat I ever had and I can't see myself ever changing it.

The suspension is another thing. This week I suddenly got the itch to do something about it and I've been in contact with a few local tuners.

I would be very interested to know if the Ohlins shock is in fact easily accessible with a tool of not. Adding the hydraulic adjuster and external reservoir doubles the price and is just too expensive for me. The shock alone is actually not that expensive.

I don't ride two-up but have the three Yamaha cases with the big top case so I will want to make occasional adjustments when going on tours.