2003 R1150R rear suspension setting?

[kantuckid]

I am 215# and have tank bag, full side cases, top case and a Roadgear bag on the rear seat-what setting to use? The rider manual is pretty vague , as is the dial thingy itself and I have been turning it up all the way ...

[mika]

I donÔÇÖt have my manuals handy and my response has a couple of assumptions that I donÔÇÖt remember the basis for right now so this is off the top of my head. Also the bike is not with me right now so I can not tell you what I have things set at.

I think they assume a solo rider is about 180lbs in gear and the second rider is about 140 in gear.

Dial it up and down based on your weight and what you are carrying.

I strongly urge you not to dial it all the way up for daily riding. The rear end becomes light under braking without a load. In hard braking for an emergency your rear wheel can come off the ground. Not at all good and a major contributing factor to a solo accident when I forgot to dial back my suspension after an extended trip fully loaded.

If you are sport riding you may not notice this as much because you are loading the suspension because of use and you may want the stiffer suspension for handling reasons. But even in this case keep in mind your rear end will become light under hard braking.

[bikerfish1100]

1st- there is no "correct" setting. there is correct for you, for your bike, in its current state of wear. you'll need to figure it out via attentive trial and error. however, there are guidelines you should follow.
i Googled "motorcycle suspension setup", and came up with a number of good starting points. you can too.
here's one of the results that seemed promising... http://www.sportrider.com/tech/motor...ion/index.html
take yourself to "school"- it's really the best way to figure this out.

[jlaban]

Thanks Mr. Fish. That is a very informative series of articles.

John

[kantuckid]

I counted the clicks-there are 40 total and I am going to start my experiment @ #20.