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Desert Sled suspension settings.

52K views 85 replies 16 participants last post by  Javerhammar 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi all.

Has anyone else tweaked their suspension settings?

OK I have not had the DS long and not that many miles but straight off I have found the front forks really hard and not compliant or confidence inspiring at all.

So after two days riding I thought that it was time to read the manual and start to play with the adjustable suspension...

Firstly, I am no expert.
The rear is pretty soft, not too much sag but nicely sprung and damped so I have left it alone for now. No "chicken strips" on the rear tyre so it must be doing its job ok. I was surprised to see this when I looked at the rear with so few miles on the clock and me taking it easy. ;)
The front.... Every bump, pot hole, drain cover was a torture. The roads around Surrey are sh1te so I can't avoid every little imperfection. It was actually a big reason for choosing this bike.
There was negligible sag on the front so I started by turning the front preload off a half turn which equals half a mm of preload, I will probably try another half turn in time. I think that it has helped but not a huge difference. Little steps work best...
I softened the compression two clicks and the rebound by one click during today's ride. Overall these changes have made a huge difference, it doesn't feel like riding a piece of 2 by 4 with no front springs anymore.
Anyway, it's great to be able to adjust it. For the record I weigh about 90kg (198 lb).

Oh, nearly forgot, I love this bike, great fun and a little bit of character. I must take some photos too but I just keep riding it.....
 
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#34 ·
It does give it purpose for sure.

Some of these new manuals are crazy thick with endless config/setting options etc.

As you may have read, I needed to go back to the manual and even then ask for a bit of assistance from the good folks here about turning the ABS on/off. It's not too hard once you wade through it a couple times and realize the dwell time for pressing a button might vary.
 
#37 · (Edited)
Thank you, Pmedina. I read the manual and the pics helped. Winding clockwise is making it more tight so it gets shorter. going anticlockwise it expands...I will check the test ride bike rear preload and I will set it accordingly. I guess the special tool that is used to set it must be underneath the seat in the small tool bag.
 
#39 ·
After riding the bike for a while in different conditions and trying different settings here are what I've pretty much settled on for solo riding with minimal luggage, maybe just a tail bag with day ride stuff.
I've tried this in the dirt and various pavement conditions and it's about the best compromise I've found and seems to work well overall, at least for my tastes which leans towards the suspension working more not less, ie on the softer side vs stiffer. Obviously preload and the rest will change if running luggage or a passenger etc.

For reference I'm about 210 or so geared up.The bike has a little over 1,500 miles on it now.


Forks;
Preload ~5.5 lines showing
Compression 13 clicks out
Rebound 13 clicks out

Rear shock
Preload measured from the shock body to the top ring 0.200" (~5mm)
Rebound 1.0 turns out.
 
#40 ·
Thank you danketchpel for sharing your infos.
I tried your settings, and although the fork seems now softer when braking strong, the bike feels much more comfortable, and that is noticable at all speeds.
The homogeneity of front and rear is much better. When I "jump" on the seat, both react accordingly, whereas before the front would react with a delay, and not give in as much as the rear.
My settings were untouched, but way off yours, since I had 5 clicks out on both compression and rebound.
I'm probably taller than you, and 250 instead of your 210, so may be I'll try a little harder setting, since I mostly drive onroad.
 
#41 ·
Thank you danketchpel for sharing your infos.
I tried your settings, and although the fork seems now softer when braking strong, the bike feels much more comfortable, and that is noticable at all speeds.
The homogeneity of front and rear is much better. When I "jump" on the seat, both react accordingly, whereas before the front would react with a delay, and not give in as much as the rear.
My settings were untouched, but way off yours, since I had 5 clicks out on both compression and rebound.
I'm probably taller than you, and 250 instead of your 210, so may be I'll try a little harder setting, since I mostly drive onroad.
I'm glad it is working better for you. Ya, my forks were stupid stiff as delivered.

In the end everybody needs to find that sweet spot for their own total weight (gear, luggage, etc.), riding type, and of course preference. Some like a stiffer ride others softer. I also make some slight changes if I'm riding more off-road than pure street.

I'm finding though I adjust the rear shock more than the forks to compensate for different riding conditions/loads. I found for us to ride two up I need to crank in another 0.1" of spring preload and stiffen rebound about 1/8-1/4 turn. I tried adding a tad of preload and 1 click of compression dampening for two up and didn't like, I went back to my solo setting for the forks and it worked fine.
 
#42 ·
You're right.
So if I want to soften the rear a bit more, how far do you think i could go with the rebound ?
I initially tried to decompress the spring, but it did not improve softness, it just made the bike lower in the rear, the side stand holding the bike very vertical in some situations.
So I put it back to normal.
 
#43 ·
If you've reached the point of "too little" preload on the spring and gone back the next thing that needs adjusting is what isn't available, compression dampening. The rebound should be set to control the "spring back" after compression and is needs to be adjusted in concert with preload, which is why they at least gave us that.

Less rebound dampening will allow the rear suspension to return to it's decompressed state faster and more will slow the return. If the rebound dampening is too much it will return very slow and the suspension will "pack up" under rapidly succeeding bumps and not give you full travel. It will also feel sort of sluggish and unresponsive. If there is too little rebound it will feel more "springy" and tend to "pogo stick" when you go over bumps instead of dampening out the cycle. For rebound you want the return rate to be such that the wheel can follow bumpy surfaces well keeping it in contact but not return so fast as to create another compression cycle (think pogo stick).

I'd suggest keeping within the 1 1/8 turn out (pretty light rebound) and 3/4 turn out (heavier rebound). That seems to be the working range in general. I tried as far out as 1 1/2 turns and it will pogo on the faster stuff and below 3/4 turns it starts to feel sluggish and the wheel won't return fast enough. I do use around 3/4 turns out for 2 up riding with more preload on pavement. There are no clicks so you have visually approximate the turns out.

What I would suggest is starting with less rebound (say 1 1/2 turns out) and see how much it pogo sticks over bumps, then progressively increase the rebound damping turning in about 1/8 of a turn until you stop the pogo action and it feels neutral, not springy or sluggish. You can get a very rough estimate when you bounce on the seat and see how it returns in comparison to the forks. But I've found the forks need a little less dampening than the rear to balance out in actual riding.

What myself and others wish for is adjustable compression dampening which controls the rate of compression when you hit bumps. I'd like to be able to back off the compression dampening (allowing the suspension to soak up the bump faster) for off-road some depending on terrain and even be able to increase it a bit for 2 up riding on pavement which helps from bottoming out.

I am working with a local suspension tuner to see about adding adjustable dampening to the stock shock. All that is needed is an adjustable orifice at the end of the hose where the oil enters the remote reservoir. My challenge is I haven't found another KYB remote reservoir shock I can source an adjustable compression dampening reservoir from. Virtually every other KYB shock I've looked at has a built-in reservoir but I have not exhaust the search at all.

Most of the aftermarket shocks that have hose connected remote reservoirs have the compression adjustment built into the reservoir. I am also considering placing a valving block in between the hose and reservoir or possibly machining in the required needle valve but that's sort of the last resort in my book. Another option might be to source a reservoir from a different brand shock. I'd really prefer to keep the OEM KYB shock body as I really like how it's mounted vs all of the aftermarket shocks that reverse the position putting the shock body on the bottom.
 
#44 ·
Wouaouh, interesting !
That would make a great improvment on the rear suspension indeed.
I read somewhere that some guys had their rear shock "prepared" by a shocks specialist, but don't know where.Will see if I find it again...
I checked my rear rebound, it was actually more than 4 turns out :-O
Did'nt drive much since, but with 1 turn out, it seems softer indeed.
 
#46 ·
Just a little help with the terms since my manual is not well translated. When rebound or compression (either front or rear) are at position 0 which means fully clockwise the rebound and dampening is @ maximum. when you start rotating the screw anti-clockwise we reduce the compression or the dampening. when you say 1 turn out does it mean 1 turn anti-clockwise from fully closed position? this way you reduce the compression or rebound by 1 turn from the maximum setting.
for the spring preload when the spring is fully extended you have to screw to add preload or unscrew to reduce the preload.
 
#48 ·
Yes, your understanding of dampening adjustment is correct. Fully closed (clockwise) will result in maximum dampening as you are restricting the oil flow. As you turn the adjuster counter (anti) clockwise you will open up the restriction to allow the oil to flow more freely resulting in less dampening.

For the forks both the compression and rebound have "clickers" on the adjusters so you will feel a click approximately every 20 degrees or so as you open. Open it slowly and count the clicks you feel as you turn the adjuster.

For the rear shock rebound there are no clicks (I wish there were) so you have estimate the amount of turns, or fractions of a turn in this case, by the position of the slot.

Correct also on the spring preload. Rotating the rings counter clockwise (as viewed from the top of the shock) will release pressure on the spring reducing preload. Turning the rings clockwise will compress the spring increasing preload. I found it easiest to measure from the machine flat to the top of the highest ring, but it's a rather small distance so you need a precision rule to record it. I use a machinist rule but I realize most people don't have one. Any means of measuring the change in distance will help you to record changes. In the end I adjust preload by feel/ride/handing then attempt to record the setting so I can get back to it.

I hope that helps, it not just ask more questions.
 
#49 ·
In the coming week I plan to take measurements with the help of a friend. I will reset both front and rear to the default settings and then measure sag. If I find the difference between fully extended rear shock and riders sag to be about 50mm I am ok for the rear shock as preload is concerned. Should I seek the same number -50mm- for the front as well? I read in the users manual that for on road the rear preload should be 14mm on the rear shock and 7mm at the front. What I fear is not ending with an aligned front and rear axle...Then I will play with the rest of the settings.
 
#52 ·
Well, if you turn the screw completely in, then sit on the bike, the supension will come down, and stay down !
Normal, you turned the return of oil completely off.
It is not until you start re-opening the rebound screw that the oil will be allowed back, and allow the spring to push the rear up again. So the amount of turning the screw out will make the ease of the rebound.
Closed : no rebound
1 turn open : little rebound, the spring movements are slowed by the hydraulics.
2, 3 or more turns open : easy to very easy rebound, the spring is hardly slowed, could even come into a permanent vibration.
 
#54 ·
Would be great with a video that describes how to adjust the front and rear suspension.

I try to set my rear suspension so that it is more stiff. It almost lowers 5-10 cm just by sitting on it. My weight is 105 kilo so I guess I need to adjust a bit before Its hard enough ... As far as the rebound is not too fast I hope that it isnt too risky making the suspension stiffer ...
 
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