| Author | Message | ||
     Nevar |
Just took my first longish ride (65 miles) and noticed that the suspension, both front and rear, is very stiff - almost punishingly hard. I adjusted both front and rear by the owners manual according to my weight (210). Is the suspension very stiff purposely? Set up like a race bike? I'm planning to back-off some of the settings to see if it will soften-up a bit. Comments? Tim | ||
| Fran_dog |
There are recommendations in the owner's manual to soften the ride. Follow those recommendations. They'll help some smooth out your ride. If the road is rough, you will feel it. I like the ride of my bike (XB9S), and I have set mine up on the aggressive side. The roads here are in pretty good shape. Good Luck and Ride Safe | ||
| Nevar |
I'll check out "softening" in the owners manual. Thanks. | ||
| Opto |
Nevar, If your bike is new then it will be harsh, my rear spring never broke in 'til I got my girlfriend to ride on the back for a few rides, then it got softer and softer until it broke in. Then I cranked up the preload to something like what the manual states. | ||
| Ingemar |
I see you got the 2003 xb9? Its funny because most people think the rear spring is too soft. I weight about 195 pounds and I have it set to 6 (one down from stiffest). My front was set to 2 lines showing, recently changed that to 2 1/2 lines. Even at two lines, it bottomed out occasionally (I know because it has to for the steering damper to hit the fender). I softened it not because I thought it was too stiff, but to see if it would help steering in or help prevent running wide. I'm going back to 2 soon to see the difference. So yeah, it's kinda stiff, but it ain't no cruiser  Seriously though, try the 'comfort' setting from the user manual but I reckon it won't be ideal for a really sporting ride. But if you're happy with it that's what counts. | ||
| Vikingdave |
Nevar, I found the same, too stiff, I'm about 200#. I think most hi-po bikes today are set too stiff from factory. If your a racer it's one thing, I perfer a good amount of travel. I have the front set as soft as possible and the rear about 3/4 hard, she turns better and feels much more confortable to me. The XB is very sensitive to set changes, do one thing at a time. | ||
| Bake |
After my first ride on a xb9r .....I backed the rear suspension off to the softest setting. As it breaks in I readjusting it. bake | ||
| Nevar |
My 03 was purchased used a couple of weeks ago with 6500 miles. It's great on smooth roads and I do understand that it is NOT a cruiser - don't want one of those! I will try to soften it up before next ride. I'm not a hard-core rider (gettin too old) but I don't want to sacrifice stability for rider comfort. Got it up to 100 MPH (indicated) and it felt very stable. Thanks guys! Tim | ||
| Nevar |
Went for a 60-mile ride this morning, up Mt. Lemmon to Windy Point - all twisties. I think I'll leave the current suspension settings the way they are - the bike handled superb! I can see that, given equivalent riders and a race course without long straights, the XB9S could hold its own with other sport bikes. It's a Blast to ride! Er..Uh.. It's a Lightning to ride! Tim | ||
| M1combat |
Adjusting preload will not affect the stiffness of the front end. If I were being jarred over bumps I would crank down the bump damping a little. Be careful though, having the bump damping very low and the rebound damping high can cause the suspension to jack downwards to the bottom of it's travel. This is bad  . | ||
| Ingemar |
I have the front set as soft as possible When I do that it will bottom out on the first bump. When I had the front set according to the manual for sporty riding I got 3 concerned comments from other riders about the soft front end. |
