Suspension - Heads up for all you who have never touched it.
 

Do it.
Now.
Give it a go. Honestly.

I've never touched the suspension on any of my bikes, but I just stiffened up the front + rear and oh my. The bike corners better, feels soooo much better under braking so much more confidence in the bike it's unreal. (SV650 k9 sport by the way)

Full 5 click on front and up to 5/7 on the back. Beautiful now.

That is all. :)

Re: Suspension - Heads up for all you who have never touched it...
 

Of course the other side of *that* coin is that when you go to adjust it you find the adjusters have all seized up...

Druid

Re: Suspension - Heads up for all you who have never touched it...
 

Standard springs and gubbins?

Interestingly, I adjusted the back shock softer about a month after buying t'bike. Much nicer for me, but we have too many undulating roads in this tractor-sodden neck o' t' woods.

Re: Suspension - Heads up for all you who have never touched it...
 

Standard everything. Bike is 6 months old and not had any suspension mods.

Re: Suspension - Heads up for all you who have never touched it...
 

Maybe I need to grow to full size then! I was up East Anglia last September, on a very tatty Kawasaki ZL600 with pogo-sticks on both ends. It seemed smoother, not hard compared to Wurzelland though! Had some very good riding, once I got past the caravans.

Out of interest, how do you normally ride? Are you fairly smooth, or do you wring the bike's neck a bit?

Re: Suspension - Heads up for all you who have never touched it...
 

:smt077 lol
i have the same bike but bought it in oct08 (yes somehow its a k9 acording to the main dealer) with stock suspension & last week after a very helpfull chap sugested i adjusted fork setting by increasing the preload i was stunned by the change :smt120 it always used to feel like u would lean so far nice & smooth then feel like it was washing out i thought it was square tyres till i got new ones then i just thought it was the 60profile tyres :smt013 now am well happy !!!
b4 this all i had done was 2 clicks up on the rear :confused: but now the better weathers due im going to find the time to set it up to wot feels best :smt077

Re: Suspension - Heads up for all you who have never touched it...
 

Have already adjusted the rear two days after purchase, with the front you said 5 clicks Dave? sorry to be a bit personal but how heavy are you? just to give me an idea how far to tighten mine up. I am about 15 stone and ride the poor little bugger a bit hard around the bends! Obviously its different depending on the individual but would be good to have a starting point!

Re: Suspension - Heads up for all you who have never touched it...
 

I'm 13 and a half stone mate. But sometimes I enjoy having a good thrash and when braking hard it makes the front sooooo much firmer.

I sometimes ride progressively and smooth and other times I will wring it's neck. Depends what I'm doing, where and how I'm feeling.

Re: Suspension - Heads up for all you who have never touched it...
 

A K9 has clicks?

Re: Suspension - Heads up for all you who have never touched it...
 

Whatever you want to call it :)

Re: Suspension - Heads up for all you who have never touched it.
 

i think any one above 10 stone shoud just wind the adjuster to the max, the stock stuf is so soft its almost un true

Re: Suspension - Heads up for all you who have never touched it.
 

I've adjusted the rear on my K6 to 6/7, but haven't touched the front. Might have to give it a go.

Re: Suspension - Heads up for all you who have never touched it.
 

i thought SVs only had preload adjustment?

Re: Suspension - Heads up for all you who have never touched it.
 

They do.

Re: Suspension - Heads up for all you who have never touched it.
 

I used a guide to set my preload, I'm 10.5 stone and had to turn it up to max on the front.

Re: Suspension - Heads up for all you who have never touched it.
 

So how does preload make the front firmer?

Re: Suspension - Heads up for all you who have never touched it.
 

Only in the head.

We know adding pre load is not going to change the spring rate or damping characteristics.

Re: Suspension - Heads up for all you who have never touched it.
 

It doesn't, just change where you are in stroke for a particular situation.

On stock forks you generally have choice of "bottomed out" and "nearly bottomed out"