[Bibio]

the standard suspension on the SV is shizz.. no it really is. good news is it can be vastly improved but at a cost.

lets set a few misconceptions about suspension right:
the spring of a shock or inside forks is for preload, its to set the ride height so the suspension is sitting at the correct height to do its job properly. this is called sag settings.

when setting up your sag you set the static sag e.g. the weight of the bike upright. its when you check the rider sag that you then find out if you need to change the spring rate for the rider.

preload is not to make suspension stiffer or softer, it cant its a spring it has a rate and that rate never changes yes even on "dual rate" springs, with these there are two rates that never change. only when you wind the preload up that much the damper is topping out does it "stiffen" suspension. problem is that you no longer have suspension with the proper sag to take care of chassis movement while braking/accelerating and going over bumps.

you dont adjust preload to "lower" the seat height of a bike. you need to use either a modified shock or lowering links. adjusting the sag via the spring to lower it sets the damper higher so gives less travel before it bottoms out which will lead to a harsher ride.

believe this or not but at 10st your overweight for the bikes standard front suspension but pretty much bang on for the rear.

go and google "bike sag settings" this usually returns settings for race setups so add 3-5mm rear and 7-10mm front e.g. increase.