wallowy suspension

 

I ride a '98 R1100GS. It's an enduro, which means it's pretty tall as
bikes go and has a big 19" front wheel. I recently put Michelin Pilot
Road tires on it, and I like them a lot. The bike is smooth and quite
stable in turns. It does what I want it  to do; it's up to me to learn
how to tell it. Over the years I've become quite confident with it.

About a year ago I installed a set of Fox shocks. I was satisfied with
the bike's ride, but the shocks were at a good price and everybody says
the stock shocks suck. Besides, the bike needed some more farkles. I
dialed in the correct spring preload, then adjusted the rebound damping
until it was the way I liked it. I was a little disappointed that I
didn't immediately notice a huge difference in the ride. I figured that
my milquetoast riding style hid all the terrible defects of the stock
shocks from me. Recently I noticed the clutch slipping, so I took the
bike in for to get a new one installed.

The dealership lent me an old R850R to use until I get my GS back. It
has roughly 30,000 miles on it, which is not much for a bike as old as
mine (which has almost 60,000 miles). The handling is surprisingly
different from the R1100GS. The CG is lower, so it's easier to handle
while pushing it around, but once at speed, it's a different matter
entirely. It has this weird instability when turning in that I don't
completely get; it's like the handle bars kind of flop into the
direction I'm turning, so I have to keep the pressure on the bar. But I
did not get the sense that it wanted to stand up by itself. And the
shocks completely suck. The ride is fluffy and wallowy. Squooshy, not
the tight control that my GS has. I just don't like it. :p

I guess I can tell the difference between good and sucky shocks after
all. :-)

(Oh, the brakes felt a little squishier, even though the R850R does not
have the extra plumbing for ABS. My GS has steel-braided lines, which
make the brakes feel firmer and stronger.)

I am glad to be reminded that my bike is the best one. I don't need to
test-ride an R1150GS or an R120GS. :-)

--
Timberwoof <me at timberwoof dot com>
faq:  http://www.timberwoof.com/motorcycle/faq.shtml
It's easy to say a war is so important your neighbor should go fight it for you.

 




That's usually a sign that the tires are getting worn out. The front one in
particular. I was having the same problem on my VFR until I recently changed
the tires: Kaboom! Instant original handling.

The odd part was that this was somewhere around the tenth set of new tires
I've put on this bike, and I've never had that falling-into-the-turn thing
happen before!

 


That's happened to me on a couple pairs of Dunlops after a lot of front
wear.
I like the Bridgestone profiles, so I tend to stick with them.
Lately I've been running Pirelli's at the track.

--
Andrew
00 Daytona
00 Speed Triple
71 Kawi H1
05 Infant

 

 It has this weird instability when turning in that I don't

Different wear pattern ?

 




Dunno, I wondered about that myself. But I haven't changed my riding style,
the tires didn't seem to *look* any different than their predecessors did at
that point in their lifetimes, and they were the last of a series of
Bridgestone 010s that I had on the bike.

I wonder if perhaps Bridgestone changed something towards the end of their
010 production run? A different rubber compound, perhaps?