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[heroto]

Looking for a short cut to a plusher ride
I weigh 190. Anyone have a recipe they like that smooths the ride, especially the rear?
* I know how shock adjustments work, no lectures please. Just hoping someone else has done the trial and error thing and found something they like they can share.

[vinceherman]

There is a road I ride occasionally.  It passes through a heavy industrial park.  Big cement trucks and triple axle trailers full of gravel.
The road is cement and most of the sections have shifted up or down a small amount under the massive loads.

The first time I went down the road was jarring.  I was surprised how stiff the suspensions was and how uncomfortable it was.
I literally lifted myself off the seat to reduce the pain.

Fast forward a thousand miles or so.  I went down the same road.  There was a distinct difference in the ride.  Much softer.  Oh, I still felt every bump, it just did not hurt like it did when the bike was new.

Other riders have noted that it takes time to break in the suspension.  This matches my experience exactly.

[heroto]

Yes, I'm at about 1700 miles. I would expect the stiction to be gone by now. Maybe I'm wrong. Fiddling with the rear shock settings, so far I've only made it worse on small bumps. Big bumps not bad. Sag is good. Hopefully my experience won't match the reviews which say: too harsh Zero, we're not riding on a track.

[Richard230]

Recently I have noticed some of my new motorcycles with premium suspension components (such as what the SR/F and SR/S use) have been set up pretty stiff from the factory and they don't seem to get much better after many miles, unlike the cheap stuff (like Fast Ace?) which do seem to become looser after not too many miles.

In particular, I am still not happy with the expensive computer-controlled "semi-active" suspension of my BMW R1200RS after 24K miles.  It is still just as stiff as it was when new.

Having given this a lot of thought, it is my opinion that the factories set up their suspension to work well at its maximum speed, when the bike is carrying a full load (maybe something like 400-450 pounds), so that they are safe to ride under the harshest of conditions.  That means that the suspension (and tire pressures) need to be designed and manufactured to meet these design requirements.

I say this because my BMW, as an example, rides very harsh over small and sharp bumps when I am riding solo, but it just glides over them when fully loaded with a week's worth of luggage and camping gear. So if you want your bike's suspension to ride smoother then try carrying a passenger and see if that makes a difference.  I bet it will.

It would be great if the manufacturers would offer lighter springs and less compression damping as an option for those people who don't ride with a full load - but they don't. 

I might also add that my 2002 Yamaha FZ1 just glides over bumps and is nicely controlled around both low and high speed corners when it was new and still does even after all these years.  I attribute that to the fact that it was sold as a sporting model and one not really designed to carry heavy loads.  Plus, it may also have something to do with the fact that Japanese test riders weigh less than American or German test riders.   

[heroto]

Similar experience, although happier with BMW ESA on a different model.
A lot of us ebike riders aren't tearing it up, but rather riding slow to make it to the next charging station.
To other readers: if your local roads are smooth, just ignore all of this.
I have to say HD got the suspension on the livewire way better than zero, at least for my normal riding.