Suspension training day - Offered by Atlantic Motorrad

Definitely do not want to miss this one.  Thanks.

Please count me in, Tx.

Please put my name up , thanks Geoff , and he can use my bike as the demo if he wants to

Hi Geoff,  Please count me in.  Thanks.  Chris (Bolander) Rawsonville

e-mail: rgauto@breede.co.za

All on the list.

Hi Geoff

Keen to attend suspension set-up day.

Chris Grinton. info@themanorcottage.co.za

thanks!

Hi Geoff,

Please put me down for this session.

Thank you,

Tertius Kruger

Hi Geoff, please put my name down for the session as well.

Many thanks

Graham Montgomery

Count me in too, please.

Jeremy

Hi Geoff,

Please put my name on for this one

Pls put my name on the list

Thanks
Richard

Please add me as well :)

Please note that this training is full.

We will arrange a second and third training session in due course.

Here is the list of the first 20 to book!

PLEASE don't just pitch if your name is not on the list as the lecture area can only fit 20 people.

Erica Korb

Stephan Hall

Charles Oertel

Rene Verhulp

Renette Rauch

Hamid Khan

Chris (rawsonville)

Derrick Geary

Geoffrey Kite

Vernon Bosch

Richard Carolin

Tony Heath

Kevin Morris

Terry Bartholomew

Byron Coetzee

Frans Coetzee

Tian Van Heerden

Phillip Horstman

Davide Cade

any chance of going on a waiting list just in case someone can not make it

I would also like to go on stand-by if possible

Dennis 

There were so many responses that I did not have the time to make a waiting list..........................

I will inform you should there be cancellations.

Thanks Wayne and Atlantic Motorrad for putting this on, and thanks to Geoff for organizing it.  I enjoyed it thoroughly, and finally feel I understand suspension a bit.

For those that do not have the physics background and might still be wondering why we have springs and dampers and why they must be set just so, here are some extreme cases I find useful in understanding the why:

1. A bike without springs or dampers is like a bicycle.  The extreme case is a bicycle with no tyres, only steel rims covered with a thin solid rubber strip for traction.  Almost like the plastic BP bikes for toddlers.  Imagine your bum after a short ride on that - not to mention taking a corner at speed on a bumpy road.
2. A bike with just springs and no dampers, would be like those springy rocking chairs that just keep going up and down.  In a perfect world, the spring would bounce forever (no damping or friction).  The first speed bump you hit would set you bouncing up and down all the way to Joburg, and if you are riding a sharp corner just as the bike reaches the top of a bounce, you would have less traction on the tyres and lose it.
3. A bike with dampers and no springs, would sink down as you sat on it, until the dampers bottomed out.  Then it would be like having no shocks at all.

Hard vs Soft springs

1. An infinitely hard spring means the bike does not even go down a bit as you sit on it, and every little bump hits you - exactly like no spring at all.
2. An infinitely soft spring means the bike sinks down until the dampers bottom out - exactly like no spring at all.
3. So yes, you need the 'Baby Bear' of springs, that is just right:  strong enough to hold you and the bike up off the bottom of the dampers, and weak enough to give when you hit a bump.

Fast vs Slow damping

• With your damping set fully to F (fast), it is closest to having no damping.  When you go over a bump the bike might bounce a bit afterward.  Infinitely fast damping means no damping and a nauseous ride to Joburg after the speedbump in Muizenberg.
• Infinitely slow damping is like an solid iron rod instead of a suspension - like no suspension at all.  There is no give when you sit on the bike and no give when you hit a bump.  A hard ride with little control.  Setting your damping fully to S (slow) is close to this.

Setting your Preload

The aim of the preload is to let you adjust your bike to ride with the suspension somewhere in the middle of its travel when on a level road.  From the graphs Wayne showed, it is typically not the exact middle, more like 20% compressed.  The 20% is there to let the wheels go down into dips (potholes), and the remaining 80% available is for handling bumps and hard landings after jumping cattle-grids.

The preload setting depends on the weight you are putting on the bike for that particular trip.  Here are extreme cases to make the point:

1. Preload to minimum - bike heavily loaded: you load the bike with panniers, a pillion who has won the war against anoroxia, and you were a province lock before you put on weight.  When you are all on, the bike is so low your pillion is scraping her knuckles on the pavement.  Let's say the suspension is 95% compressed.  This means that the slightest bump will cause the suspension to bottom out - you will feel a hard knock as you go over the slightest bump.  Going around a corner the bike will be bottomed out and you will have little traction and no control or comfort.
2. Preload to maximum - bike light: you were told that for extreme offroad you must crank the preload to maximum.  You weigh 55kg.  When you get on the bike it is high and doesn't come down at all when you get on.  The suspension during normal riding is at 0% compression.  This means that when you go over a dip, the wheels cannot extend further down into the dip and so the whole bike goes down into it.  Ordinary gravel is bone-shaking.  Yes, you can jump that motocross table-top without bottoming out, but getting to Zone 7 was painfull.

So, to be just right, adjust the preload according to what your load is for that trip, so that the bike is riding with the suspension about 15% compressed.

Adjusting your rebound damping

We were shown how to feel the rebound damping when you press the back of the bike down and let it come up again.  From my experience, do not err on the side of 'more is better'.  For years I had a hard ride and bits would rattle off the bike.  Rather start from the F (fast) side, with minimal damping, and adjust it to have more damping (towards the S) if you find the bike too bouncy.

A while ago I decided to adjust my damping, and on a whim started the experiment with almost no damping (almost full F).  Then I forgot to experiment further, and on the way to Joburg was amazed at how smoothly Mr.Badger was sailing over the rough roads under construction at 150km/hr!  Then I remembered that my last damping setting was to minimal damping.

Since I haven't noticed Mr.Badger bouncing around, and since with his age he probably already has a lot of frictional damping, that setting is working for me.

HTH

Yes I must agree with Charles. It was fantastic to see a person so passionate about his work.

Wayne ; Geoff and everyone else involve ( can not remember everyone's name) - Thank you.

Thanks to Auto Atlantic and Wayne for this very interesting presentation.

Thanks Auto Atlantic and Wayne, for the great informative day . I learnt a lot about suspension, or at least learnt how much I don't know   Thanks for using my bike as the demo, so I can test the new more moderate setting at cabc this week-end 

I will also irritate some people at cabc and ask more questions to try and learn more ( do you hear that Charles   )

Oh and thanks for the yummy vanilla and peppermint tea in the nice aircon lecture room

Tx. to Wayne and Atlantic for giving us the opportunity to become more aquainted with the more intricate aspects of our bikes. The presentation was first class, thank you.

René

For this interesting workshop , most interesting and much appreciated. Thank you also Geoff for co-ordinating this for the club. Regards H

After the training I wanted to setup my suspension on my F650GS (single) and realised that I need the measurements for sag! Anyone got an idea of what the sag should be, and thus what preload I need to adjust for a F650GS... I guess it would help if I had a manual!