Time for a test ride.  I took it out for a double loop.  Hit every pothole I could find, then looped around and hit it again at the highest speed I could safely manage in the prevailing traffic.  Did some major panic stops.  The ride out front was very good.  Absolutely no hard impacts transmitted through the bars.  Good control.  No pogo stick action.  Fork action was smooth and predictable.  No wobbling around in corners.  Is this what good suspension is supposed to feel like?  I don’t know, but it’s a helluva lot better than what I started out with.

Back home, the zip tie showed that the forks were now using 3.50” of travel (69%).  Well shy of the hydraulic-stop zone (85%).  I think this is the way to go.  Excellent recommendation on those Progressive 11-1153 springs Gary.

Am I on the right track here?  The front feels great.  I’m thinkin the back will enjoy the heavier springs just as much as the front did.

Any merit to revisiting fork oil weight & level if the forks are behaving?  I have noticed that changes on the front end affect the behavior of the back end, and vice versa.  Once I dial in the rear shocks, if the forks still work as good as they do now, is there any reason why I shouldn’t leave the 10W oil as-is at 180mm?

One other tidbit.  My biggest complaint about the Savage has been slow-speed handling.  I have always hated it’s slow-speed manners.  Getting caught in heavy traffic sucks.  As you crawl along you just can’t keep it going straight.  Constantly overcorrecting, flopping right & left.  Well, those one-inch longer shocks completely eliminated that little irritant.  Now, as I crawl along, it’s straight as an arrow.   That improvement alone makes this project worthwhile.

More to come.  

Hiko I’m glad your belt is silent.  I’ve got well over 10000 miles on the duplex bearing and it’s holding up great.

I received the 115/155 springs, Progressive part number 03-1375C.  I also purchased their tool for installing the springs, part number 35-5508.  It works great.

The heavier springs were not the solution I was hoping for.  With the 115/155 springs, the closest I could come to the target sag was at the #2 preload setting.  At that setting, race sag was 28mm but there was like zero static sag???  BTW, Progressive doesn’t specify any sort of static sag value.  They just recommend you set race sag at one-third of travel (in this case 30mm).  So, 28mm is right in the zone between Gary’s recommendation of .30 and Progressive’s recommendation of .33.

With the heavier springs the rear end was now very harsh over all the minor irregularities, and it still bottomed out.  Jeeeeeeeez.   I tried the softest setting (#1).   Really couldn’t tell much difference.

To make a long story short, I feel that the most comfortable ride was achieved with the 90/130 springs set at the #3 preload position.   It seemed to be the best compromise.  The sag wasn’t right, but the ride felt best at this preload.  It was obvious that I was not going to eliminate the bottoming.  Unlike the front forks, the rear shocks seem to use up all of their travel with any spring of reasonable stiffness.  I suppose I could have tried an even heavier set of springs, but the 115/155 springs were already way too harsh under normal riding conditions.

With the Progressive front fork springs, Progressive 412 shocks, and 90/130 shock springs it’s half decent (meaning the front end is good and the rear end is decent).  If I ride the thing as intended (i.e. not intentionally trying to hit every pothole), its pretty good.  Steering is much better, and the ride is fairly comfy.

Is it reasonable to expect that one can achieve a "plush" ride with a chassis that positions the rider directly on top of the rear shock absorbers?  Like I’m sitting right on top of the shocks.

The S40 has a very heavy rear section. While I didn’t weigh it, I would believe that I removed close to 50 pounds from the rear section when I modified my bike. Having the rider sitting right above the shocks probably isn’t helpful.

One of the limitations of the shocks is the 2 inches of travel. You are asking for a lot to happen in a very short amount of travel.

The problem you are running into here Dave is that you are trying to solve two parameters at the same time, with only your ass as a gauge. The spring only has one job, support the bike and rider. Get the sag numbers as close as you can to where you like them, and then tackle the other parameter - damping. Damping determines ride comfort and handling. If the ride is too harsh (and the sag is correct) then the problem is too much compression damping. If the ride feels very “busy”, then it’s the rebound.

That was an odd slip

What is your opinion on the front end?  Does it seem reasonable that I ended up with the oil level at 180mm?  Progressive cautions against going less than 150mm and I can see why given the thickness of the wire and extreme number of coils.  Do you see the 10W oil as a problem?  Does the preload at 5mm seem OK?  Under normal riding conditions it’s only using about 69% of available travel.  I haven’t tried any serious panic stops yet. Should I do that, and if so, should I try to do it over rough sections of road?

Am I correct in assuming that the front end should start going into hydraulic deceleration and lock at about 85% travel where it starts overlapping the “oil Lock” (Pc 11)?  If so, is that the amount of travel I should shoot for under panic braking/extreme conditions.  For instance, if I use like 90 to 100% travel under extreme conditions,  should I raise the oil level a bit?  Try and get the max travel used down to 80 to 85%?

I appreciate the help.        

I guess I missed it, but what front brake and rotor are you using?
I found the stock brake was so weak it would turn most stops into a panic!
I'm running a dual piston caliper from a sv650 and a 295mm rotor on a 100/90 16 up front and have renewed confidnce when it comes to stopping.
I always thought improving a bikes stopping should go hand-in-hand with increased power.

Badwolf, at the risk of being run out of town on a rail, I don't find the stock front brake to be all that bad.  I spent twenty-five years riding a Harley Softail.  Now that's a motorcycle that sorely needs a front brake.  It was heavily modified and would routinely run about 135 mph through the traps at our local drag strip.  My buddies used to say that "Mike's ride didn't start until the end of the race".  Needless to say, it was a real challenge to get that sled down to a reasonable speed by the last turn-out.

The stock caliper and rotor work fine for me.  I'm retired and confine my riding to those times when traffic is at a minimum.  I'm not a canyon carver and I don't feel the need to show off.  All my WOT stuff is reserved for wide open roads in a straight line.

I am always open for improvement.  Tell me more about your brake setup.  Given the tire size, I assume you have changed your front wheel.  I have noted that new brake rotors for the Savage are very expensive so I have been searching for replacements.  Anyone know if there are any other rotors that will bolt on.  As I recall, someone has a kit to upgrade to a R1 rotor and caliper.  Any links to that?

BTW, I recall reading some sort of astronomical odometer data on one of your posts.  I'm very curious about that.  Do you think you could do a post with a picture or two.  Maybe give us a little background info on your ride.  I assume it's your daily driver.  Logging over 100K on one of these little LS650s is worthy of praise.  I'd like to get a look at Badwolf's Badboy.