Is there any benefit to better suspension on the road?

Upgrading the front and rear shocks for normal road riding?

Obviously beneficial for racing but what if any benefit would there be for just normal commuting?

[yorkie_chris]

YES!

IMO, there is more benefit to having good suspension on the road than on the track. (Sounds mental, but hear me out...). On the track you're taking the exact same corners over and over again. You can be perfectly smooth (if you're any good) in removing the braking force into a corner at the same rate as adding cornering force to keep the bike perfectly settled.
On the way out of corners, you know it's going to wobble, weave and slip, so you take that into account. And if you get it wrong... you're just going to slide on some grass.

On the road, you've got rapidly developing situations on bumpy roads that you've never seen before. You may have to go rapidly from one state to another (like that corner that tightens up) and if the suspension is unsettled that can create the panic that puts you through a hedge... or the shock simply pogo'ing you into a ditch!

[Luckypants]

YES

Having done it on both my SV and VFR I have to say the improvement in comfort on bumpy roads is great. As Chris points out, when getting a move on or reacting to a suddenly developing situation, having suspension that don't tie itself in knots allows you to concentrate in dealing with the road and not on the fact your bike is trying to kick you out the saddle.

[yorkie_chris]

When you're in the right mood you have to ride at least 50% harder to get it to try kick you out of the saddle too!

On a smooth road (like kinlochleven bit this year ) there is no way a well set up bike will do anything out of place that isn't rider caused.
I can't really describe the difference between a bike with stock shocks and aftermarket. It's like riding a different bike entirely.

In fact just come and have a go on mine, you break it, you fix it... when you get back we'll talk figures about some fork internals and a shock aye

Tbh I just like the bling of upside down gold forks the rest of it is an after thought for me.

So just out of interest do u guys prefer to mod your sv rather than buy a more powerful bike with the nice bits already fitted from stock?

[yorkie_chris]

I went down the road of modding the SV. A stock GSXR isn't as good as an SV with revalved GSXR forks and decent aftermarket shock.

You have to mod any bike to get it perfect for you, a GSXR just starts a bit higher up the ladder as stock.

[dizzyblonde]

I quite like the feeling of sitting on a circus ride when the suspensions buggered. Front end teeth chatter and rear end bouncy castle

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by cringer

So just out of interest do u guys prefer to mod your sv rather than buy a more powerful bike with the nice bits already fitted from stock?

I modded the SV because I liked the the bike so much. The suspension was not up to bumpy Welsh roads (two up my local road overheated the standard shock in a few miles) and after reading on here how easy it was modify I thought I would do that - at the time I did not want more power.

When I bought the viffer it is marginally better power/weight ration than the SV, but I bought it to be able to tour and have a bit of fun on. I found the limits of the standard suspension while two up, but again, because I liked the bike, I modified the suspension - well TBH Maxton modified it for me! The setup works very well and I'm very happy with the bike as a result. So much so, I've bought a newer VFR and will be transferring the Maxton magic bits over to it this winter.

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

On a smooth road (like kinlochleven bit this year ) there is no way a well set up bike will do anything out of place that isn't rider caused.

Story to tell Chris?