Neal at 135 unfortunately the bike going to feel like a rock for you, and probably unsafe too ride at speed. I’m 195 with riding gear and the rear shock spring is almost too stiff for me. The front fork springs are not an issue at all, as I have 7 turns of preload on the springs. Neal, if you have a motorcycle suspension specialist in your area, it will be an decision as to which springs will be right for your weight and an easy swap out as well. At your weight any motorcycle will have too stiff of springs off the showroom floor. It will be essential for you to go to a suspension specialist for proper set up. Good luck.
My2019 model was firm when new but the shocks settled in a bit I find it comfortable now it has miles on (80kg) . For a bike of this value its got to be worth investing in springs - maybe ask the dealer for a discount to cover, as it is not suitable as sold ?
My RS went in Feb in favour of an RSV4. The discount was too good to miss even tough I fancied a Tuono. Now it's been setup I'm going to run the V4 for the summer and then maybe look at the springs if I'm still not happy.
I had the outgoing RS model. I had a softer rear spring fitted and it didn't help at all. Not one bit. The problem is way too much compression damping at both ends, and it seems from the reviews that Truimph have made the new bike even harder to the point that even the journalists are starting to remark on it.
I had already turned the compression damping adjuster knob on the rear damper, and screws on the forks to their minimums. I then asked a local Ohlins specialist if they could fit a softer spring. The standard one is 100N/mm, and they could only supply a 95N/mm spring as this was the only alternative that would maintain the same spring length. But I thought 5% softer has got to help a bit, right? Well it made no difference to the jolt you get when you hit a bump because in this instance the force is transmitted principally through the damper rather than the spring (i.e the damping resistance is so large that the shock is barely able to compress). No work was done on the internals of the shock to change shims (if this is what you mean), and this is where I believe the problem lies. My experience is that there is no point softening springs when the problem is excessive compression damping.
How much do you weigh? With riding gear I weigh 195 lbs and find the front suspension very compliant and easy to adjust firmer or softer. I have 7 turns of preload on the fork springs. The rear spring is almost too firm, but with preload all the way out I find it to be compliant as well and can adjust it to be firmer or sofer. If the ride is that harsh it leads me to believe that rider sag might be an issue. What are your sag settings?
I weigh about 187 lbs (85kg) plus gear. So not a featherweight! I didn't go so far as to measure static and dynamic sag, but I did check that the forks and shock decompressed a little when I tried to lift the bike, and that they compressed a little when I sat on it. They did, so I was satisfied that preload was not excessive. It was not bottoming out either, and I was not riding with suspension crushed to its maximum limit, which would also be a problem, clearly! The bike is supplied with preload on the rear spring at minimum (or vitually minimum, anyway), and I didn't change this. At the front, I did wind the adjusters out a bit, but with no noticeable effect. I did a three trackdays while I had the bike. Pembrey is pretty much smooth everywhere, and the quality of the suspension and electronics really shone there. Bedford Autodrome has bumps on a couple of the apexes, and I just had to brace myself as I hit them.
I would suggest you focus on sag settings first as this does sound like the issue here, especially if you’re not even aware of what they are. That spring is plenty soft enough for your weigh. It sounds like the preload is wound on too much resulting in that harsh ride. You weigh about 10 pounds more than I do and on the bumpy harsh roads we have here mine is compliant over the bumps. I have my rider sag to 30 mm front and back which is comfortable. I’m still able to adjust compression for more support for those aggressive rides as well. Good luck and I hope you can work out the issue.
Preload at the rear was set as light as it's possible to go (as was compression damping), but it would still kick off of bumps. Front was also wound out to below what the manual described as 'comfort settings'. But thanks for the suggestions. I'm not just picking at this issue to knock the bike, because in all other respects it was brilliant. And if it were just a case of a few bumps being a bit uncomfortable I wouldn't have minded too much. I just can't believe that Triumph are taking things even further in this direction on a bike that is supposed to be principally a road bike (I would have thought), and when the press are starting to note this as a Triumph design trait, and one that they draw attention to as an implied negative.
I'm hoping Triumph realise they're missing a trick by not putting out an S or an R version. Something more road biased with cheaper suspenders to compete at the £12/13k mark, with 170 hp would sell like hot cakes surely?
I agree, if RS basically means race track, R means you get all the bells and whistles and quality parts of the RS, but with suspension firmness that's still good on B roads (this is the one I want), and S that can have a few cost savings.
Not sure how I feel about releasing a "cheapo" s version. Maybe they should to what Aprilia did recently and make the "cheaper" version stand out a bit more. The latest Tuono has a bigger windsdscreen and so on.
I'm seeing words like lackluster being used in these reviews, that and hard suspension. I thought my 16 speed was too hard for the road and was unable to adjust it out! Looks like a great track toy, but not a practical road bike. Will still ride one for the craic but most deffently will not be buying one, I've already bought my perfect supernaked!
I don't think £12/13k would make for "cheapo" version. I picked my RS up for £11.6k new last year and they must have had some margin in it. There are plenty of other manufacturers out there making decent bikes for that cash as an RRP. Drop the gold and carbon bling and fit some Showas/Sachs.
With your weight something doesn’t sound right. Your bike should be more than compliant enough for the road with preload backed all the way off. Anyway, I agree it seems like they’re going in the wrong direction with the bike being less road oriented.
Rtasker, I thought I would try a little experiment with the compression adjustments on the front and rear suspension today. I wanted to see how soft the suspension would be with no compression added, so I completely unscrewed the compression front and back, but left the rebound untouched. I then went for a four hour ride through some great canyon roads, with some spots being a little rough at speed. First thing I noticed was the ride was much more compliant on uneven or rough pavement. Railroad crossings were much smoother as well. When hitting 2-3 inch deep potholes at approximately 80 km per hour it was not nearly as jarring as before. Even with this setup it still handled brilliantly in the corners when riding very aggressively. The front end didn’t overly compress with heavy braking into corners, nor did the rear squat much on corner exit under hard acceleration. “But” even though it was much more compliant, I agree that it still wasn’t a soft ride. I guess it’s still a sport bike after all with a sport suspension. My brothers bikes are much softer by comparison. One has a MT 09 and the other has a GSX-S1000. The MT is really soft and not a good handling bike, and the GSX-S is better but still easy to unsettle the suspension with aggressive riding. So I guess maybe that’s the trade off for having a very capable bike.
Plenty of oomph but unless the agricultural gearbox is vastly improved wouldn’t but one even if it was cheap as chips
