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There’s a reason why a motorcycle’s suspension is adjustable (whereas your car’s suspension is not).  No one suspension setting can fit the wide range of body weights and types of riding.  Whenever anyone says something like, “I love the way that bike handles!”  What they’re often (really) saying is ‘that suspension setting fit my weight and riding style better than the other one…’  But the truth is ANY bike with an adjustable suspension can be adjusted to handle better – if it’s set to your weight and riding style…

How a bike handles is due to its suspension + your weight and riding style…period.  It’s impossible to jump on a bike and have it handle amazingly UNLESS it’s set up for you.  And if you’re smart enough to ride a motorcycle safely on public roads, you’re actually more-than-smart enough to set and experiment with different suspension settings!

Now there are lots of good resources to show you how to adjust your suspension… This one from Sport Rider is one of the better ones with clear pictures.  Don’t let the terminology put you off, it’s simpler than it sounds – and once you do it, you’ll realize how basic this is to riding a motorcycle.

Some Common Excuses

“But what if I mess something up and ruin my bike’s settings?”  Fear not!  According to Motorcyclist.com, the settings on your street bike can’t be changed drastically enough to make it “dangerous” to ride.   And you can make a note of current settings before you change anything (by tightening or loosening the adjustment screw or nut all the way while counting the number of turns or clicks) so that you can always return the settings to the way they were before you changed anything.

“But I don’t have the tools to do this right.”  If your bike came with a tool kit, then everything you need to adjust the suspension on the bike is in the tool kit.  And unlike some other maintenance items, the adjustments on most shocks take very little effort to turn.  The only other things you’ll need are pen and paper (to keep track of settings), a tape measure, and a friend to help hold up the bike while you sit on the bike or take measurements…

“What if I can’t find anyone to help?”  You can actually set the sag and adjust the suspension solo.  That’s how I do it.  I just tape a coin to the end of my tape measure to measure sag in the rear, and tie a zip tie around the front forks to measure sag up front.  So you can read up on the tutorials, and then apply a little ingenuity to do it single handedly…  Of course, you can still invite some friends to come hold your drinks.

Where to start?

If you’ve never adjusted your suspension before, the first thing that you absolutely NEED to do is adjust the “sag” or “preload.”  “Sag” is the distance that your front and rear shocks compress (measured in mm)  when you sit on it compared to when the shock is fully extended (the way it is when you put it on its side stand and lift each wheel until it’s almost off the ground).  Why is this important?  In order for the suspension to be able to do its job in keeping the wheel on the ground, it needs to be slightly compressed (sag) in riding position so that it can extend for bumps.  But if it is compressed too much in riding position it won’t be able to compress as much to absorb bumps.  The recommended sag is between 25-40mm.  Most people prefer something like 30mm for a sporty ride on the street.

Until you set the sag for your weight, the suspension is not able to really do its job.  You’ll be amazed at what this adjustment will do for the handling of your bike!

Here’s a video from Keith Code to walk you through setting sag – the video quality is not so good, but I think the tutorial is the most straightforward.

What next?

Once you’re able to set a proper sag for your bike, you can begin experimenting…  Where to begin?  Rebound damping.  You can read about what the rebound adjustment does (the flat head screw adjustments on the bottom of the rear shock and on top of the front forks) – but once you do you need to go try out how it feels.  Try taking out all the rebound (remember to make a note of how many turns to zero so you can return it to the original) and sit on the bike… Then try dialing it in a few turns.  THAT’s how you learn how to tune your suspension!  If you have the brains to ride well, you have the brains to figure this out – trust me.

Have a good resource?  Share the wealth in the comments section!

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