And for my next question - suspension

[AJB]

As members here will have gathered by now, I am a complete ignoramus about bikes. Although I have ridden quite a lot, I have never actually owned one of my own until now - and people who have lent me bikes, even for several months, have never explained to me how they are set up and I have never fiddled with them.

So, the R1100SS has a twiddly knob in front of the tank, and further twiddly knobs under the seat. To explain the state of my ignorance, I do not even really understand what pre-load means.

I would like to achieve a sharper turn in but I am wary of experimenting with the settings because I don't know what I am doing really and don't want to make the bike dangerous.

How can I tell what is the "default" setting, if there is any such thing, and what would be a good system for making appropriate experimental changes.

Thanks in advance.

[JoeC]

Preload is how much movement there is in the spring so the more preload the harder the spring is compressed thus giving a firmer ride. There are more technical words to use but have used the simple ones.

There are no standard settings - just twiddle your knob until it suits you

I like a fairly hard front end with semi hard rear - I weigh 14.5 stone (rounded to the nearest half!)

[AJB]

So...does turning the knob to the left soften it and to the right stiffen the spring. I can't feel anything at all just turning the adjuster in the garage.

Would stiffening the springs tend to result in sharper handling?

[POB]

I tend to have my front shock all the way to soft (any skipping from the front scares me witless) and fairly hard on the rear. On the sport shocks I could not feel a massive range of adjustment on the front when I experimented.

[AJB]

Hmm. I thought that the sport shock was only on the rear?

I am a bit confused about this, actually, as the bike was sold as a sport model, and certainly has the wider rear wheel and tyre, but the rear spring is blue and I thought it should be yellow if the bike is a sport?

Since it seems that there is no real risk with playing with the settings, I will experiment a bit next time I am out - and when it has stopped raining.

[JoeC]

Try the settings loosened off (soft) front and rear and ride. Then do same stretch of road with both settings fully wound up and you will feel a difference. Then it's just a case of fiddling in between.
Sometimes the knobs have a habit of turning but doing nothing. sometimes they are seized. In these cases then it could be a new shock required but take a good look at them first i.e. clean them, WD40 etc.

If you really want to sharpen up the front end then look at getting a GS torque arm - they are shorten so raise the rear end. Not sure of what the length is but do a search as it is out there somewhere - there was a recent post.

[AJB]

The knobs turn easily, and the bike is so clean it is like new. I will try out the range of settings as from just twiddling I cannot tell if they are doing anything.

[doghouse]

ok, here we go.
you have 3 possible adjustments, 1 on the front and 2 for the rear.

The knob for the front just forward of the fuel tank. Standard setting is: turn knob fully clockwise until it stops. Then back anti clockwise 6 clicks. this is for solo riding. Basically the more clockwise the harder the front end, the more anti clockwise the softer it is. In practise however if you have standard suspension the front adjuster makes little perseptable difference.
The Rear
The preload knob
Basic setting: solo
All the way anti clockwise, then (and this is straight from the hand book)
" a few turns clockwise".
What your actualling doing here is compressing the spring. If you actually look at the rear shock during adjustment you will see the piston at the top of the shock gradually compress the spring.
The more you preload the spring the harder it becomes to compress it

At the base of the rear shock there is what looks like a flat head screw, It is marked "Tension"
Basic setting: solo
Turn screw fully clockwise, then back off 1 half turn anti clockwise.

again a lot will depend on the condition of your rear shock, tired shocks just aren't going to perform well.

Before you fiddle with suspension Your tyres should be in good nick AND check your tyre pressures, Solo: Front 2.2bar(31psi) Rear 2.5bar(35.5psi).

In practise you would be hard pushed to make the bike dangerous with the adjustments you've got, nasty handling tho maybe.

If you jack up the back end you will increase the weight to the front end and this will have the effect of sharpening up the steering.

For your homework read "Tyre Compounds and their relationship to grip"