S
SPARKSS
Guest
In an effort to fine tune my suspension to suit generally handling, the rough roads here, my fairing and 190lbs of excess baggage I made a mod to the front forks of my 79 GS1000. As built the air fills are seperate for each fork tube (corrected in later models) so, using a pair of valve extender hoses (used for dual wheels) and a made up tee/valve assy I connected them. Though my Clymers book gives tables for suspension setup, it never says under what conditions - I've assumed likely no person, upright and balanced on the wheels.
Filling is a delicate operation as many of you know. Recently I added an air pressure gauge to this tee to assist filling and to monitor pressure excursions while on the road - quite interesting. I soon found that my trying to run with 14 psig wasn't near enough and my 15 psig gauge was pinning regularly. Changed that for a 0-100 psi gauge and have worked the air up to 22 psi now which is a point where the ride seems to be where it's working well. It's quite amazing to see that 22 psi work through a 10 psi arc over moderate bumps and very often spiking to just over 40 psi on a sharp bump OR during moderate braking from even slow speeds. Moderate acceleration, moving my feet to a highway peg position or standing into the airstream behind the windshield can make a 4 psi change negative for example.
By the way, the rear suspension (stock) settings have been changed upwards and downwards from published table data in an attempt to give enough resistance for my particular setup vs roads and with the above front air I've found that rear springs set on 4 with dampener on 4 seem to be the best compromise so far.
Just some observations that I thought I'd share.
Filling is a delicate operation as many of you know. Recently I added an air pressure gauge to this tee to assist filling and to monitor pressure excursions while on the road - quite interesting. I soon found that my trying to run with 14 psig wasn't near enough and my 15 psig gauge was pinning regularly. Changed that for a 0-100 psi gauge and have worked the air up to 22 psi now which is a point where the ride seems to be where it's working well. It's quite amazing to see that 22 psi work through a 10 psi arc over moderate bumps and very often spiking to just over 40 psi on a sharp bump OR during moderate braking from even slow speeds. Moderate acceleration, moving my feet to a highway peg position or standing into the airstream behind the windshield can make a 4 psi change negative for example.
By the way, the rear suspension (stock) settings have been changed upwards and downwards from published table data in an attempt to give enough resistance for my particular setup vs roads and with the above front air I've found that rear springs set on 4 with dampener on 4 seem to be the best compromise so far.
Just some observations that I thought I'd share.
