Scott from Progressive Suspension in Hesperia, CA contacted me and asked if they could borrow the FTR 1200 for a couple days. They wanted to take measurements and figure out what improvements could be made.
I said sure and dropped it off right before going on vacation. Scott was great to work with and kept me updated on their progress.
When I picked it up, he went over what they discovered. The manual called out for 8mm of preload on the shock for my weight and I had it set at about 8.5. Scott said 17mm would be much better for a 200lb rider. I was a little skeptical but I have found that anytime a professional suspension tech sets my bike up it works well. Scott also backed the compression damping all the way out. The rebound was set to 5 clicks out.
Here is a photo of the shock preload collar set at 17mm. You can see a big difference from the stock setting.
Scott also set the fork preload to the maximum. The preload adjuster has 10 turns of preload. I had set it to 5 turns in and was sure it needed more. Scott thought a higher rate spring will probably work better. Once I get a few more miles on it I will probably replace the stock spring.
The preload is set by turning the 19mm hex nut on the fork cap. Here is a photo:
Just like on the shock, Scott set the compression damping all the way out and said he would have gone further if possible. The rebound was set to 8 clicks out.
Progressive Suspension's shop is about 25 miles from my house and is mostly surface streets and the I15 south. I could tell immediately that the shock preload was working much better. I hadn't really noticed how low the rear was at 8.5mm but I had noticed that it bottomed in quite a few situations. Setting the preload to 17mm raised the shock up in the stroke and actually made it feel plusher.
After I got home I grabbed my backpack and headed to work. The road I take runs east/west and crosses several north/south roads. At several of the intersections, the east/west road is higher and the north/south road is heavily crowned. On the Ducati these are jumps! On the Indian, I had noticed it would bottom and wallow at 8.5mm of preload but it was much better at 17mm. No bottoming and no wallowing.
The forks also felt better, just like the shock, they were sitting higher in the stroke to begin with. The reduced compression damping made them feel plusher.
We discussed re-valving but I think I will try varying the fork oil weight and height since the rebound is about in the middle. One advantage of the Indian's forks is that compression is on the left fork and rebound is on the right fork so I could actually use a different weight for compression than rebound. On my Ducati, I had very good results by changing oil weight and oil height.
I finally got a chance to hit some mountain roads with the new settings and am pretty happy. One of the roads didn't fare too well over the winter and had a lot of cracks and unevenness. The suspension wasn't perfect but the bike is very planted and once you set up for a turn it is rock solid. The only drawback is that it did raise the seat height noticeably and my 29" inseam makes it challenging to reach the ground!
Note: I did have to re-aim the headlight after the changes Scott made.
Check out the Progressive Suspension website.
I said sure and dropped it off right before going on vacation. Scott was great to work with and kept me updated on their progress.
When I picked it up, he went over what they discovered. The manual called out for 8mm of preload on the shock for my weight and I had it set at about 8.5. Scott said 17mm would be much better for a 200lb rider. I was a little skeptical but I have found that anytime a professional suspension tech sets my bike up it works well. Scott also backed the compression damping all the way out. The rebound was set to 5 clicks out.
Here is a photo of the shock preload collar set at 17mm. You can see a big difference from the stock setting.
Scott also set the fork preload to the maximum. The preload adjuster has 10 turns of preload. I had set it to 5 turns in and was sure it needed more. Scott thought a higher rate spring will probably work better. Once I get a few more miles on it I will probably replace the stock spring.
The preload is set by turning the 19mm hex nut on the fork cap. Here is a photo:
Just like on the shock, Scott set the compression damping all the way out and said he would have gone further if possible. The rebound was set to 8 clicks out.
Progressive Suspension's shop is about 25 miles from my house and is mostly surface streets and the I15 south. I could tell immediately that the shock preload was working much better. I hadn't really noticed how low the rear was at 8.5mm but I had noticed that it bottomed in quite a few situations. Setting the preload to 17mm raised the shock up in the stroke and actually made it feel plusher.
After I got home I grabbed my backpack and headed to work. The road I take runs east/west and crosses several north/south roads. At several of the intersections, the east/west road is higher and the north/south road is heavily crowned. On the Ducati these are jumps! On the Indian, I had noticed it would bottom and wallow at 8.5mm of preload but it was much better at 17mm. No bottoming and no wallowing.
The forks also felt better, just like the shock, they were sitting higher in the stroke to begin with. The reduced compression damping made them feel plusher.
We discussed re-valving but I think I will try varying the fork oil weight and height since the rebound is about in the middle. One advantage of the Indian's forks is that compression is on the left fork and rebound is on the right fork so I could actually use a different weight for compression than rebound. On my Ducati, I had very good results by changing oil weight and oil height.
I finally got a chance to hit some mountain roads with the new settings and am pretty happy. One of the roads didn't fare too well over the winter and had a lot of cracks and unevenness. The suspension wasn't perfect but the bike is very planted and once you set up for a turn it is rock solid. The only drawback is that it did raise the seat height noticeably and my 29" inseam makes it challenging to reach the ground!
Note: I did have to re-aim the headlight after the changes Scott made.
What about the Non-S model FTR 1200?
Scott told me that they got all they needed to start developing a custom shock for the Non-S models. It will be fully adjustable and rebuildable. Based on their experience make shocks for dual sport/adventure bikes and cruisers I have no doubt it will be a great upgrade.Check out the Progressive Suspension website.
Hey thank you for the write up on this. I am about 205/210 lbs without gear. I am looking forward to giving your settings a try. Did you ever end up changing the weight of the oil for either the fork or shock? Also, did you ever change the spring for either? Many thanks as this is extremely helpful !!
ReplyDelete-Ryan
Interesting reading...I found this site after doing a search regarding suspension settings as i noticed that the rear shock is using all its travel....I have started winding up the rear pre load while keeping an eye on the static sag as experience of no static sag lends its self to other problems… Great guidance and I'll take a look at the progressive site..
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