Speaking of sidestands...

[ddaniels]

Mine seems like it's too long. When the bike is on the sidestand, it is almost vertical....not much lean at all, which makes me nervous. Any ideas of what to look at?

 

[tkent02]

Your suspension.

 

[Dogma]

After making sure the shocks are standard length (13.3"), I'd start looking for funny business in the mounting of the side stand. Some people have these come loose, and the method of repair varies in technique and quality. Who knows, it might not even be the right side stand. After that, I'd go back to looking for things like fork springs shorter than spec, shortened spacers over the fork springs, tired springs on the shocks, wheels the right size, forks correct to that model... If you lift the bike above the usual static sag, does it come into a more normal stance on the stand? When the side stand is up, does it lay along side the exhaust in a tidy fashion?

 

[Agemax]

get an inch cut out of it and shorten it. you are obviously happy with riding it so everything else must be good

 

[ddaniels]

The rear shocks are adjusted to the lowest setting on the bottom. So, if I raise them up a couple notches, maybe that would help?

 

[BassCliff]

Hi,

Are they the original shocks? If so, they are probably sagging pretty good. I like my cheap MDI shocks. They made my bike steer a little quicker too.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[ddaniels]

Yep, they are the originals. I adjusted them up a couple notches and it is better. I'm not so nervous about it anymore. I think that eventually, I'd like to upgrade the suspension, both front and rear, but I'll save that for next winter. For now, I'm ridin' it.

 

[kinnet]

Yep, they are the originals. I adjusted them up a couple notches and it is better. I'm not so nervous about it anymore. I think that eventually, I'd like to upgrade the suspension, both front and rear, but I'll save that for next winter. For now, I'm ridin' it.

Thats pretty fool hardy brother. Those shocks were junk when they left the factory. the fork springs werent much better, and now they've had 500+ pounds sitting on them for 27 years... You really want to chance your life to that? I can tell you I made that mistake once on one of those big shafties.. (1000G actually) and it nearly caused me to low side the bike when the suspension wallowed in a corner.. THAT TIME, i saved it.. Wasnt so lucky this weekend, and I have excellent suspension on the ES..

 

[tkent02]

Thats pretty fool hardy brother. Those shocks were junk when they left the factory. the fork springs werent much better, and now they've had 500+ pounds sitting on them for 27 years... You really want to chance your life to that? I can tell you I made that mistake once on one of those big shafties.. (1000G actually) and it nearly caused me to low side the bike when the suspension wallowed in a corner.. THAT TIME, i saved it.. Wasnt so lucky this weekend, and I have excellent suspension on the ES..

Rose, you've been hanging with Josh too much, you are starting to sound like him.

 

[kinnet]

Rose, you've been hanging with Josh too much, you are starting to sound like him.

Guess I should start logging off the GSR properly...

I hope he makes me sound smart. Ha.

 

[jwhelan65]

I would agree it is somewhere in the suspension setting. My 1100 has the same issue but than again it is far from stock so I expect things to be a little off here in there...

 

[Dogma]

Thats pretty fool hardy brother. Those shocks were junk when they left the factory. the fork springs werent much better, and now they've had 500+ pounds sitting on them for 27 years... You really want to chance your life to that? I can tell you I made that mistake once on one of those big shafties.. (1000G actually) and it nearly caused me to low side the bike when the suspension wallowed in a corner.. THAT TIME, i saved it.. Wasnt so lucky this weekend, and I have excellent suspension on the ES..

I'll add to uh, Josh's comments here... Money is the only obstacle to performance upgrades, and it's not much. Progressive fork springs and MDI shocks are both comfortably less than $100 each. Installation of either is maybe a rainy afternoon if you've never done it. You could get both done if you have experienced help.

I think most old bikes can be ridden with some reasonable degree of safety on stock suspension, if it's working well. If you have enough sag to affect how the side stand works, you may have a real safety issue affecting the ability to stop or evade quickly.

 

[Guest]

Probably worth measuring them to check if they are standard length. I doubt they are, bec. they would have been set at the highest preload if they are truly that sacked out.... the PO might have done a lowering mod with shorter shocks, if he was inseam-challenged.:-k

 

[ddaniels]

Wow, you folks are worry warts. To be honest, I'm not sure how "bad" suspension would feel while riding, but it feels just fine to me. As I said before, the shocks were set at the lowest height setting on the notches at the bottom. I adjusted them up a couple notches. My last bike before the 1100L was a '95 GPZ1100 which was rock solid in the suspension department. I expected these older bikes to not feel as planted, which it doesn't. But, still, it doesn't feel that bad to me.

So, help me out with some links for upgrades then.