DragBikeMike
Serious Thumper
Offline
SuzukiSavage.com Rocks!
Posts: 4406
Honolulu
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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.
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