SuzukiSavage.com - Shocking advice.

arteacher Serious Thumper Offline Ride as if your naked and invisable! Posts: 2581 London ontario Gender:	Shocking advice. 02/20/11 at 05:15:53 I love the bike but the roads around here are awful. So I began thinking about better shocks. I then did a search on this forum and became totally confused. Could someone please tell me what to buy, and where to buy? I tip the scales at 240lb, and ride solo almost all the time. I do not want to jack the rear end up more than an inch, if at all. Thanks.
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Re: Shocking advice.
Reply #1 - 02/20/11 at 08:05:02

I weigh about 240 and ride solo most of the time.

Stock shocks are 10 1/2" long and have 1 1/2" of travel.
I choose 11" with 2" because I didn't want to change the stance either.
But going with a longer shock with more travel means you don't have to worry about preloading the shock at all. And you'd sit at the same height while riding, it would just settle more when you sat on it.

My daily commute down the superslab consists of a number of bumps, jumps and obstacles that the stock shocks where about as useful as a hardtail. Let me see if I can recall the old set of calisthenics I used to do... One set of bumps give me a short sharp tug that wants to separate my head from body. I found that if I tighten my jaw, my head stayed put. And there was a number of bumps that I just had to get out of the saddle to endure. Or lay my belly on the tank. My back hasn't acted up in a number of years, but when it did, that's how I got thru many of the bumps. And finally one bump I kinda miss cause it gave me air time.

My 1st choice was progressive shocks and since sportster shocks 412-4005 are very common at fleabay, I went with a set of those. Not bad, I can sit thru all the common bumps, but head knocker and air time were still there. And the preload was maxed out. So no additional loads with those. Being worried about needing some extra spring for additional load, I started looking for replacement springs or another set of shocks and low and behold a set of 440's came up. For a few dollars more than I paid for the 412's I won them. Now I sit thru the entire commute grinning all the way.

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MotoBuddha

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Re: Shocking advice.
Reply #2 - 02/20/11 at 09:31:05

How much are you willing to spend?

There are two problems with the stock Savage shocks. One is really short travel, which is a byproduct of the low cruiser look. The other is spring rate. The Japanese idea of "average rider" is smaller than the reality in the US. So the springs aren't stiff enough for those of us over about 175lbs.

Just yesterday I was stopped at a light when a guy on an S40 pulled up in the next lane. After stopping, he rolled forward a few inches and stopped again. At like 1mph, the front end dove about 4 inches. That's ridiculously undersprung. The rear is similarly too soft.

One way to get stiffer shock springs cheaply for the Savage is to get shocks from heavier bikes. Heavier bike + average rider means a greater total weight and therefore a stiffer spring than lighter bike + average rider. So look for shocks from Intruders. I don't know if Virago, Sportster or Dyna shocks will bolt up to the Savage, but if they do, there's some extra mass for ya.

But to make sure you have the correct spring rate for your weight, you'll probably need to order shocks from the manufacturer. It's a lot more money than used shocks off eBay, but they'll be right.

I went to the Progressive site, and they don't include the Savage in their What Fits Your Bike listings. However, they say they have standard and stiffer spring options on some shocks. "Stiffer" is kind of vague, not useful. Maybe one could find the necessary info by actually talking to someone there.

Meanwhile, some other shock makers, like Works and YSS ask your bike and weight so they can give you the best spring rate for you. We're talking $300-600, depending on your options (oooo, chrome). And then, so things don't get squirrelly, you should get new, stiffer springs for the front -- again, matched to the weight of you and your bike. Sonic is a good source for those. About $125.

As far as shock travel goes, you have to decide how cool you need to look. Short shocks mean short travel. Longer shocks mean higher ride height. Your butt and spine can't see how cool you look when you're on the bike. They just know whether you bottom out.

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« Last Edit: 02/20/11 at 13:03:31 by MotoBuddha »

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engineer

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Re: Shocking advice.
Reply #3 - 02/20/11 at 14:12:27

Great name for your thread and a topic I am interested in!

Assuming a person bought a pair of Progressive shocks, about 115/150 spring rate which is what they recommend for the Intruder 800, what would be the longest shock you could use before the drive belt would start rubbing on the belt guard? And if you go long enough for the belt to rub how much do you have to trim off? Quarter inch, half its' length, more? (I'm not considering anything over 12 1/2, Intruder lenght)
I notice that in a lot of the pictures the belt guard is missing, maybe some don't like it or is it because it rubs on the belt to such an extent that it must be discarded? Personally I would like to keep the guard to help deflect any road debri that might damage the belt or sprocket.

Simple measurements won't give me the answer becasue as you guys have pointed out the long shocks with no preload are going to sink down nicely once a rider is on it so the interference with the guard won't be as bad as a person might calculate using frame, shock, and swing arm dimensions.

I can't examine the belt guard to see if it can be mounted at a slightly different angle to avoid the rubbing because my bike still hasn't been delivered and another snow storm will probably mean more delays. But I am buying and bidding on parts parts almost daily, can't wait to get started.

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2005 S40, Intruder shocks, Dyna, 52.5/150, 3 washers, 2 turns, modified seat, Raptor

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arteacher Serious Thumper Offline Ride as if your naked and invisable! Posts: 2581 London ontario Gender:	Re: Shocking advice. Reply #4 - 02/20/11 at 14:19:25 Verslagen-which 440's did you wind up with?
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Re: Shocking advice.
Reply #5 - 02/20/11 at 14:48:35

engineer wrote on 02/20/11 at 14:12:27:

what would be the longest shock you could use before the drive belt would start rubbing on the belt guard?

This is a photo of a Ryca bike. They use 12.5" shocks. As you can see, there's still plenty of clearance at the swingarm.

Since it's a cafe style bike, they ditched the big chrome belt guards and replaced them with a small one of their own.

If there's going to be a clearance issue, it would be with the bottom belt guard. So just remove it. It's not really needed.

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bill67 Serious Thumper Offline old tired Posts: 8517 genoa city wisconsin Gender:	Re: Shocking advice. Reply #6 - 02/20/11 at 15:05:55 I was 165 pounds and the stocks shock were way to stiff,Stiffest shock I every had on a bike.They had to use stiff springs because the travel was so short.
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Re: Shocking advice.
Reply #7 - 02/20/11 at 15:56:50

engineer wrote on 02/20/11 at 14:12:27:

Assuming a person bought a pair of Progressive shocks, about 115/150 spring rate which is what they recommend for the Intruder 800, what would be the longest shock you could use before the drive belt would start rubbing on the belt guard? [b]And if you go long enough for the belt to rub how much do you have to trim off? Quarter inch, half its' length, more?

With the Intruder shocks on my bike, I got contact at full extension rebound at the very front of the guard, and had the belt just touching one small bolt head up there too...
The spot I ground off was about a quarter inch deep by one inch long, plus I put a flatter head bolt in place of the original. The bolt is under the front pulley cover plate at the bottom inside edge of the belt, just as it leaves the front pulley... and it might not even happen to another bike. It wasn't dangerous anyway,... I'm just particular.

The clearance is not a big deal... or a huge amount, just install, and observe at the front end with that plate off.
I ended up tossing the guard for cosmetics... no issues with debris damage in 20k miles...

Hope that allays any fears for you...
PS,.. 12 1/2" of shock is a heavenly ride... Wink

...

EDIT... a pic is worth a thousand words...
Top one is modded for clearance.
Bottom is stock.
(2 minutes with a hand file, or 30 secs. on a bench grinder)...

here's a pic of the bolt... I replaced the hexhead bolt with a roundhead allen... (bottom side of belt, just as the belt leaves the front pulley)...

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« Last Edit: 02/20/11 at 17:11:27 by Serowbot »

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engineer Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 872 Gender:	Re: Shocking advice. Reply #8 - 02/20/11 at 19:12:01 Great answers, and pictures too! OK, I think the shock issue is finally clear to me. Thanks for all the assistance from everyone. I hope I can contribute something to this forum once I gain a little experience with this bike.
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