Front Suspension settings

[MarkyBoy]

Having riden my K5 for a couple of weeks I now find that the suspension is quite hard, I also see the fork adjusters are set in the middle to 3. I would like to make the suspension a little more springy, do I need to turn the adjusters down into the fork or raise them up to go softer??

[Carsick]

You find them too hard? How much do you weight?
Wind them out to reduce the preload.

[MarkyBoy]

currently 17 stone, so wind them right out to 5?

[Carsick]

currently 17 stone, so wind them right out to 5?
Wind them as far as it takes to make them soft enough for you, though I personally find it hard to believe that they're too hard.
I'm not even 14stone fully kitted up and they're far too soft for me. Are you sure that you don't just need more damping in the forks?

[MarkyBoy]

and how would I get more damping in the forks?

I thought thats what this setting did?

[Carsick]

and how would I get more damping in the forks?

I thought thats what this setting did?
I can't go into a full explanation of the various characteristic of suspension here (cos I don't understand it) but here is a short version.
You have spring rate, which determines how much force is required to compress the springs, you buy the appropriate ones for your weight.
You have damping which controls how quickly the suspension can compress or rebound. This is done by the oil in the fork.
You have preload which you use to fine tune the suspension once everything else is as you need it.

On a modern SV all you can only adjust the preload without buying stuff and taking the forks apart.

[Sid Squid]

As you weigh seventeen stones are you sure that what you're feeling from the front fork isn't bottoming out? The SV fork springs are comparatively soft, I'd be surprised if you needed less spring.

Bear in mind that the preload setting can neither harden or soften the suspension, it merely dictates what part of the available travel the suspension is in at any given load, I suspect what is happening in this circumstance is that the suspension is near compressed at the preload setting used, the harshness felt is when the forks bottom out, that is; use up all their travel and stop moving, which of course feels very hard.

Try turning the preload up a bit, well, quite a bit as you are definatley at the upper end of the 'average-rider-weight-scale', I think this quite likely to help you as the fork will still be operating in many more situations rather than running out of travel, although in your specific situation I suspect you will really need heavier springs to get the fork working something like right.

[wheelnut]

Being a bloater myself, I did try to faff about, Im back at factory settings and it works ok. I have only ever bottomed it out once that I knew about and that was me being a bit adventurous past donington park in the dip.

I did mess about with rear preload too and it tried to toss me off, (which was nice) :P

[Cloggsy]

I had my fork adjusters wound right down (level with the tops of the forks) - The springs & oil in an SV's forks are set up for someone about 8 stone - the only way to improve them is new uprated springs & heavier fork oil... Elmerfud will explain :wink:

[elmerfud]

At 17st it's more likely that your forks are becoming fully compressed, hence the hard feeling.

Screw the preload adjusters in as far as they will go, this raises the front ride height and gives more available suspension travel.

You should also increase the rear shock's preload to max in an attempt to keep things level.

Something else that gets overlooked when suspenders are adjusted is chain tension, there must be free play with you on the bike.