Front Sag Setting

["Tom Brown" <tbrown@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tom and list:

Tom is right again about the front preload affecting the bike's geometry.
This is about the only way to adjust front end height on Telelever bikes
because you can't really raise the front fork tubes like on a sport bike with
normal forks.  You'd raise them up (lower the front of the bike) for turn-in,
or drop them down (raise the bike up) for straight line stability.

There are a couple of side effects to increasing front sag too much:

You're decreasing the effective amount of suspension travel you have left in
the front, so it becomes easier to bottom the front end.   This doesn't happen
when you simply move the shock tubes on a standard bike...preload and travel
stay the same.

You're decreasing the amount of cornering clearance when you lower the front.
This can be an issue on RTs where you can scrape the lower front of the
fairing panels during gonzo maneuvers, which can be a bit unsettling....Ask me
how I know.  ---but it's cool when people see the scrape marks on your
fairings...kind of like wearing worn out knee pucks at the track, if you're
into that sort of thing.

Wilbers set both the front and rear of my bike quite firmly when I got shocks
for my R1200RT.  I told them I ride "on the sporty side of sport touring."   I
ended up softening the rear a lot and the front just a little.  (about 3
clicks less rebound damping with no spring changes).  Here in Chicago, the
hard settings just don't work on our pot-holes very well.   I don't do corners
well when my bike is bouncing all over and my kidneys are getting bruised.   I
like control and comfort if I can get it.   If I lived out west where the
roads seem to be smoother for the most part, I'd probably go back to something
like what came on these shocks.

- -TB


Tom Cutter writes:

>Take the sag setting from the stock setup, and set up  for MORE sag for
quicker steering, LESS sag for improved high-speed stability.  With the proper
sag
dialed in, the correct spring choice will give you the  correct preload and
spring rate. Then it is just a matter of setting your  rebound damping. I like
to set the front a little firmer than the Wilbes  engineers recommend, but
most
guys find the recommended settign to be  fine.

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