help with front suspension.

edgelett

edgelett

Well-known member
Full disclosure - the FTR is the first bike I've ever owned with any kind of adjustable suspension, and while the rear was easy for me to work out and adjust to my weight, the front is confusing the hell out of me.

my front suspension feels pretty damn stiff and I'm trying to work out how to soften it up a little. Reading my owners manual I can see the suspension has adjustable rebound, compression and pre load. but I can only see 1 'nob' for lack of a better word on each fork to adjust?
does the one nob adjust everything I.e. rebound, preloaded and compression? how do you change WHAT it is adjusting? the manual makes a reference to the right side and left side screw slots but I'm not sure what screw slots they're talking about.
the letters R and C are on the right and left fork does that mean the nob on the right fork adjusts the rebound and the left adjusts compression?
how is preloaded adjusted?

again sorry for the complete noob question but these new fancy adjustable forks are very different to my Hornet where the forks are adjusted by changing the springs or oil lol.
 
Breto

Breto

Well-known member
Yep one is compression and the other rebound…I had a look at the factory settings in the manual and went way below what they said. My rebound was kicking the hell out of me so back that off and same with the comp…take each one down say three clicks and then take it for a run…if it’s still bucking back at you over small bumps then go down a few more on the rebound. When you compress the front forks they should come back to you in a nice steady motion. So what I mean is if you grab the front brake and push down, then let it up it should be nice and progressive and not feel like a pogo stick. I can’t actually tell you how many clicks I went down on each. I may have written it in my manual. Actually I’ll check for you to see if I did but for me it was just back it off and ride it and I found a nice happy medium so that it still handles fast riding…I’ll get back to you on that Tash…👍😎
 
Breto

Breto

Well-known member
No I didn’t rite them down…the other thing is your spring preload…so the big 19 mm nut on the top of the forks. You can back them off equally say one or two turns out, so anti clockwise…that will give you less spring compression…so maybe back them off first say two turns and then play with the dampening and the comp screws. Just remember where you started from and do it a bit at a time. Ride it and see how it feels…hope this helps a bit Tash. I weigh in at about 87 kilos so mines set pretty well now for my weight. I also backed off the rear as well. So now it’s way better. Still a little stiff but that goes out of it when it’s working hard.
 
Breto

Breto

Well-known member
Spring preload is the big 19mm nut, rebound and comp are controlled by the small flat blade screw in each leg. Turning those screws in will increase and turning them out will decrease.
 
Breto

Breto

Well-known member
I always raise the front end off the ground when I change spring preload settings Tash. Just takes the load off the forks and the adjusters. Just make sure you adjust both legs equally with preload. So whatever you do to the left do the same to the right. For preload that is.
 
Breto

Breto

Well-known member
Yep so that big nut is your spring preload. Back that off say one or two turns on each leg and then play with the rebound screw and the compression screw on the other leg.
 
Breto

Breto

Well-known member
That plus minus sign gives you an indication of more and less. So backing the big nut out one or two turns anticlockwise will give you less preload on your spring and backing the screw out will give you less dampening and on the other leg less compression. Like I said it’s a bit of trial to find your happy spot but to start I’d back the big nut out two and then take it for a run. It will probably feel really kicky until you back off the rebound and compression screws but you’ll get what I mean when you take it for a run. It’s because your spring had less load on it but the dampening hasn’t changed yet. So it will be dampening the same if you get me? When you back the dampening off it will be more compliant and not so stiff on the up stroke. The compression leg governs the down stroke.
 
Max Kool

Max Kool

Well-known member
^^this.

Preload: both legs at the same time.
Rebound on the FTR is relatively soft, focus on the compression damping.

Btw, more preload does not make the spring stiffer (and vice versa), it changes the “working height” of the forks. Adjust them so the rider sag is between 25 and 30% of the full stroke. Measure the exposed chrome on the bottom legs with you on it. Subtract 26mm, which is what is still visible with the forks fully collapsed. Should be around 125-140mm

And unfortunately, high speed compression damping is not adjustable on the “S” forks (or on any humanly affordable forks for that matter). That’s often the cause of the harshness we feel and controlled by the shim stack inside the left cartridge.

Hmu if you want to talk about thinner oil in the compression leg…
 
edgelett

edgelett

Well-known member
thanks all - and the screw inside that big nut THAT is what you turn to adjust rebound and compression?
 
edgelett

edgelett

Well-known member
thank you both. I spent like an hour trying to fund out WHAT I need to adjust lol. couldn't work it out. didn't realise it was the screw inside the nut!
now to work out how to actually reach it....
cause its a damn tight fit!
20210606_154621.jpg
 
Breto

Breto

Well-known member
Yeah I thought you’d like that...no probs. Good karma helping people. 👍😎
Hope you find a nicer feel Tash.
 
edgelett

edgelett

Well-known member
Max Kool said:
I had to mod my preload wrench to get it between the fork cap and the bars.

(once a ring spanner)
Click to expand...
I can probably get to the preload ok, but that screw inside the nut on the top of the forks - no idea how to get to that.

I'll try to work something out
 
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