rear suspension adjustment(how much?)

[sharrock]

my rear suspension is to stiff. I put a race tech spring on a few months ago and thought i had adjusted the spring length to stock E settings but today I just checked and it was at 255mm in stead of the 258mm my manual suggests. I have adjusted it to 261mm is this too much or too little? It was definatly too stiff my rear tire would kick my ass end up in the air when hitting obsticals. my dampining screws i have set at one click past stock. I dont want to put it all back together to find out i need to adjust more or less but i guess that could be the case as only i cant tell exactly how it feels. Any body know how much of a diferance 6mm makes?

[William1]

you need to instead set the sag. Static sag and race sag.

Static sag is now much the bike settles on the suspension when no one is sitting on the bike, it is the difference between a fully extended suspension (rear tire raised) and at rest, on the ground.

Race sag is the difference between fully extended and then with you sitting on the bike with all your gear on. Typically, this is about 4"

Now, the spring you have may be correct, the two sag numbers may be correct, if so it is time to, play with the compression and rebound adjusters. Move one of the two adjusters, four clicks, ride it. If worse move it back four.

If after the first change it is If better, move that clicker four more, repeat back and forth till it feels good and then do the same with the other adjuster.

The reason you move it four clicks to make the change very noticable. Once you find the range you think it feels close, then move the clickers in single steps.

Setting suspensiojn right is much more difficult to do than jetting a carb. Takes patience, keeping good, unbiased notes. Just because 'joe' says to 'Crank it up' means nothing, it is what suits you. It is subjective.

[sharrock]

thanks. ill put her back together set the sag and see how she feels

[RetroRanger]

It was definatly too stiff my rear tire would kick my ass end up in the air when hitting obsticals. my dampining screws i have set at one click past stock.

some manuals had the high speed setting for the rear shock incorrect the manual states 1 1/4 turns out from fully in when mine was set like that the rear kicked up bad....I changed it to 1 1/4 turns in from fully out and it soaks the bumps up

the high speed setting is the blue nut on the rear shock

[Noble]

Need to know year to know if you have hi speed compresion. Yes you need to set sag first. Yes 6mm is a hell of a lot. Spring rate can ony be changed by changing the spring. Sag sets preload only. Indirectly preload affets rate because of the linkage ratio, so that is why you set sag first. What do you weigh? What spring rate? What model and year bike?

[DRZ04]

You definately want to set up the sag first. Do a search for setting the sag. If you can't find it here check any of the major dirt magazines for setting the sag. It is easy, just follow the directions like William1 gave.

[sharrock]

i weigh 180 pounds, the bike is a 2004 klx400s. i installed race tech springs front and rear last winter. dont know what the spring rate is though. its a pretty heavy bike though as i have a fair amount of armour on it and i do beleive the manual i have is for a 2002 drz400e/s so this could be one of my mistakes.

[Noble]

* *

04 S I believe has low speed & hi speed compression and rebound damping adjustments. 180 plus gear on an S sounds like higher rate springs were a good choice, but it really would be nice to know the actual spring rates. Sag is the place to start. If static sag and race sag can be set to spec, then spring rate is ok. If you set static and race is too much travel, spring rate is too soft. If static is OK and race is too little, spring rate is too high. Then play with damping. Start with adjusters all the way in, then back out about 1/2 way. This is just a starting point. A heavy guy with heavy springs, the damping needs to be set fairly hard. That may sound like the wrong way to go but if the damping is too soft, it will rebound too fast and kick. Don't be afraid to make major adjustments until you can feel the changes.