Suspension setup - for a complete newbie...

[Rosbif]

Hi all,

I have had my new GTR 2010 model for about a month and a half now, and I am about to embark on a tour de France - well at the end of August anyway - with my girlfriend and, probably a load of luggage (hairdryers, makeup, kitchen sink etc.)

The problem is, that I have never ever set up the suspension on a bike before. Now, I think it's kinda necessary on this monster, but i'm scared!

Last night I went out for a ride with my better half and around a roundabout, my foot touched down. I wasn't going particularly hard - just normal riding. But it made me think, when we set off on a beeeeg tour, I think it'd be worth setting up the suspension properly. I started reading the handbook, and this forum, and a French forum to try and figure out how to do it.

In all, I can read a lot about adding 2 clicks here, softening it there, increasing pretension on this, etc. etc. etc. It is totally confusing to someone who just likes riding, but can't get his head around the technicalities.

The "problem" is that the bike comes set up for a 68Kg weed.... I am 95Kg, plus clothing, helmet etc. My GF is 79 odd kg plus clothing, helmet etc. Add to that about 30Kg of hair care accessories in the luggage and that's WAY over the standard suspension settings.

My money is on the first person to respond to this is "get it sorted for a ton and it'll be all good" but here in the land of frogs, I wouldn't know where to start looking for someone to do that for me - apart from going back to my Kawa dealer (which I will do on Saturday anyway). In the meantime, does anyone know of anywhere where there might be some standard setting ideas based on weight of payload (ie. for 100Kg +2 clicks on the back +3 clicks on the front, with such and such a rebound setting...) ?

Has anyone got any ideas for me to try who has similar payloads on their bike?

Having never tweaked anything suspension wise, does it really click?? Should I just have a go? Maybe I should lose some weight...

I would just have a go myself, but I'm a bit concerned about screwing it all up and making the machine completely unridable......

Thanks folks

Ros

[Boomer]

Do a search on the web for setting up static sag.

I've done all my bikes that way and it works for me.
See here for how to measure it.
http://www.racetech.com/page.aspx?id=30&menuid=93#3
Then just adjust the preload to get it in range (30-35mm).
Finally, set the damping to suit yourself.
Probably 2 should be fine on the rear.

I can't advise on settings as I'm 160Kg and like a bike setup hard.
That said I run 10 clicks from fully in and #2 on damping for the rear.
Can't remember the front settings.

[Rosbif]

Thanks very much for that link! An excellent read.

I actually tried cranking up the rear suspension bu 6 notches earlier... But i'm heading out with the GF this afternoon to the dealer to see if the ycan help me set it all up properly.

I'll let you know what the results are (if any!)

Many thanks again

Ros