I went for a ride a couple of days ago with my wife as pillion. Was a lovely day for a ramble through our back country lanes on the AT.
However, all was not well. I kept thinking the bike felt funny. That was odd because a few months ago I had played with the suspension to set it up for my weight plus my wife. I kept thinking it feels like it was sagging at the back.
About half way through the ride when accelerating away the front wheel lifted. That's odd I'm thinking. I've never lifted the front wheel on the AT and never on any bike two. I stopped soon after and found that my pre-load was on the lowest setting. Not amused was I, as the only person who would have changed that was my local Honda shop where the bike had been for a week.
I wound the pre-load all the way up and then backed off five clicks. What a difference.
I've had words with my local shop!
I've done the same thing on my VFR in the past. Two up and pull a wheelie to start off – easy way to get significant other to pay attention, right? Haha.
It's amazing what a difference the preload and damping settings make, especially two-up.
It does.
I've played with my settings today.
On the rear I have put 20 clicks up from no preload, 1 click softer on rebound and 2 clicks firmer on compression.
On the front I have turned the preload up one from factory setting, made rebound firmer by one click and no change to compression. I'll take that for a good ride this weekend and see how the turns out.
I took the bike out for a ride tonight and the revised settings I dialed in a couple of days ago have transformed the bikes handling, for the better.
Quite unbelievable how much improvement i've managed to make.
Sorry my bad English, are the setting above the ones you found good for single or two-up?
Sorry my bad English, are the setting above the ones you found good for single or two-up?
At the moment, I have tested for one up. I will adjust for two up, mostly rear pre-load. However, I have not yet tested the theory in practice on that one yet.