1050 Rs Fork Springs

1050r, which I believe has similar Ohlins front forks to the rs.

Before I found no matter what preload settings I had, the front had a jarring ride, or with such little rebound it would bounce up and feel unstable.

Went one step harder springs, which allowed for less preload.
Smaller clamp shim, which overall reduced high speed compression.
Fresh fork oil too.

Overall way more comfortable - it reacts quickly to potholes (extend forks quickly) and bumps (compression), while there's enough low-speed compression and rebound damping control to stop the pogo effect.

 

Doesn't preload adjustment simply alter the ride height and so . . . . jarring more likely down to damping settings and spring rate. Would seem to support your findings

 

Other than going by the settings listed in the manual, have you had the suspension tuned to your weight / riding style? I would go that route before spending money on hard parts.

I thought the same thing about the front (and rear) suspension. But spent some time fiddling around and actually got it to be quite comfortable. Went a step further and had a local suspension guy dial it in, no complaints at this point.

 

A small business that's sadly folded earlier this year. I'm looking to service the shock now, probably going with MCT.

 

Agreed - I had suspension tuning first which helped a lot, I'm lightweight so it still needed further work.

 

Preload is the amount of tension on the spring (fork and/or shock).
More tension = less travel
Less tension = more travel
A good starting point at least for street riding is 30 to 40mm of sag (static + rider) front and rear.

 

True - but only because the ride height has changed!!
The spring rate is unchanged, regardless of how much preload is dialled in.
It’s a common misconception that increasing spring preload makes the ride stiffer

 

The point I was making is that spring preload is used to adjust suspension travel, not ride height. "Ride height" in the classic sense of the term would be adjusted by moving where the forks sit in the triples (if we are talking about front suspension specifically)

If you have a softer spring, is the bike going to sit lower? Yes because putting the same amount of weight from the bike and rider on a softer spring will create more sag.

That said, regardless of ride height, the amount of sag you're looking for for street riding is still going to be 30 to 40mm. If this cant be attained by preload adjustment alone, at that point a different spring rate should be entertained to get you in the right sag range (you can adjust preload in from there to fine tune it)

As far as the stiff / harsh ride, there are a multitude of things that could be the culprit.

Too much preload / not enough sag - won't let the fork travel as much as it needs to to soak up bumps in the road

Not enough preload / not enough rider sag - allowing too much fork travel and bottoming out the fork

Too much rebound damping - the fork won't have time to full extend after hitting a bump and when you hit the next one there will be less suspension travel to soak it up.

Too much compression damping - Fork won't compress quick enough when hitting a bump and it will transfer that energy up in to the rider.

The trick is to find what is actually causing the harsh feeling ride and work on mitigating that. But like I said before, you have to start with getting the proper amount of sag before you move on to the other stuff.

 

Please don't think I'm being contrary for the sake of it . . I'm genuinely interested and want to ensure I have understood the situation correctly but I'm struggling with your explanation . . . . .
I agree that increased/too much preload will result in too little/a reduced degree of sag. You state this will not allow the fork to travel as much as it needs to soak up bumps in the road but surely, the opposite is actually true.
Let's say that a fork has an arbitrary range of travel of 50mm from full extension to full compression and at which point, it reaches its mechanical stops, regardless of preload/damping adjustments etc. If you dial in preload so that the fork sits at only 10mm from full travel when the rider is sat on the bike, the suspension travel will only be 10mm in compression. If you now dial in more preload so that sag (with rider) is 10mm from full extension, the available suspension travel in compression will now be 40mm - more not less!!!
Obviously, the same argument applies to your argumenht for "Not enough Preload"
In each case, surely changes in preload just change the range of travel available in compression and offset against the range available for rebound BUT for all levels of preload, the available range of suspension travel will remain identical.
The spring rate is a quality of the spring itself and remains fixed, regardless of the amount of preload dialled in and so if you take a rider of fixed weight, reducing preload will lower the bike slightly on its suspension (increase sag) and as such REDUCE the range of suspension available in compression but increase the range in rebound.
If you take the same rider, and now increase the preload, sag will decrease and the suspension travel available in compression will increase and conversely, the range available in rebound. In each case, the total range of suspension travel remains the same but is not dictated by preload settings which merely dictate ride height or sag (same thing in this instance). In each case, because the spring rate is the same, regardless of preload, the ride qualities would be the same but clearly, with incorrect settings, there is a risk of bottoming or topping out the suspension which is arguably the main objective of getting the sag correct and optimising the preload.
In cases where a rider is either too heavy or too light, a spring with a different rate would be needed to achieve the ideal sag and/or compliancy of ride.
That's my take on it any way??

 

Sounds like good progress. Have you measured your sag yet? It’s a good baseline to start with

 

Instead of going with hypothetical situations, I would suggest going out in the garage and winding your preload all the way in and taking some measurements and then all the way out and measuring travel again and see if there is a difference.

 

No need . . .there clearly will be.
If I wind the preload in the bike will sit higher than if I wind it all the way out. The suspension will bottom out in the same position regardless and so of course there will be more "compression" travel with preload wound on . . . not sure what this proves tbh.

 

I'm still not sure exactly where the disconnect is between what we are both trying to explain, but if it's a conversation you'd like to continue, feel free to send me a PM on here. I don't want to muddy Linx's thread any further.

That said, when it comes to ride comfort / properly tuning suspension the important points (some of which I think we agree on) are

Set your sag properly 30 to 40mm front and rear
If this can't be attained by using the available preload adjustment then look into alternate spring rates
Set rebound damping properly
And last set compression damping.

If you are in the right weight range for the springs, this should sort the harsh suspension for the speed triple RS.