suspension Settings for 2-up riding?

[RyNo24]

I was wondering if anyone knew how to make the bike to lean forward instead of back while 2-up riding? When my girl rides on my FZ1, the front end comes up and does not feel right while going through curves. The FZ1 has fully adjustable front and rear with pre-load and dampening.

I am going to have a pro set up my bike sometime, but I was wondering for a temporary fix for my suspension.

[455bird]

Increasing your rear preload would be the easiest way. Raising the forks or increasing shock length would help too, but you might want to leave that stuff to the tuner.

[D Berns R6]

Even easier......ditch the girl!

[455bird]

That's true. quick blip of the throttle and drop the clutch...problem solved.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe4gqN3ip8I

[rybo]

Increasing your rear preload would be the easiest way. Raising the forks or increasing shock length would help too, but you might want to leave that stuff to the tuner.

Not really the best solution, as it doesn't increase the spring rate any. To do it right you really need to change the springs on both your rear shock and in the front fork. You may also need to change the oil weight in both to handle the extra weight.

If you go the pre-load route, you also will need to increase the rebound damping on the rear shock quite a bit to keep the thing from trying to pogo you off the bike after a good bump. I've spent a lot of time "at pace" with a passenger on and caution you that it's not something to take lightly. The responsibility is huge, and while I totally enjoy it, I also know that it's not the right time for going "all out".

As usual I'll highly recommend you get in touch with Dave at www.fixmybike.com and have him work with you to get the right springs and oil in place for your application. It is nearly impossible to set up a bike that rides well 2 up and solo without other changes, but you may be able to make a compromise set up that works OK in both configurations.

Best of luck

Scott

[RyNo24]

I have my rear shock really hard now with the pre-load, and it seemed to help. I do want to get my bike over to Dave and have him set it up properly, and have him show me how to adjust to both settings. I like the hard rear for solo riding too, it delivers more power to the road when I gun it.

I don't go "all out" with my girl on the back, the bike just seems to turn funny compared to when I am solo.

[irdave]

Yeah, a stiffer spring is the correct solution- along with more high speed rebound damping.

The added preload will help to keep the geometry from becoming too choppered out, but exactly as Scott said, it's really a stop-gap measure. And if it does get a little bouncy in the back, add some rebound damping (it's the one at the bottom of the shock- I'd do it in half turn increments until it doesn't feel too bouncy anymore... Until other stuff starts to happen- like the back end gets floaty on the brakes, or when the back end starts to spin up and slide because of too much preload, or...)