Hi there I've recently swapped dog bones to lower the rear of my tiger 800xca but switched back after they didn't work out for me. The problem is the rear suspension has now gone completely soft and bottoms out on the centre stand just by pushing down on the seat by hand. Does anyone know what the problem could be? Many thanks for any help.
I change mine on my 2023 900 RP several times and sizes, (Standard is 100mm) changed to 110, 120, even 135mm. The larger , the lower the bike. kept it at 110 with Suzuki "bones"... but suspension soft/hard did not change.
Depends if you do actually mean it's gone soft? I don't know your suspension setup well enough but if for example the links ( triangular plates) on a 675 are refitted incorrectly then an alternative ride height is created but that then may create incorrect geometry leading to fouling. Are you sure its bottoming out as in using the full stroke, and not simply locking up due to insufficient clearance? Changing links, dog bones or whatever you want to call them should not make it harder or softer.
Changing the rear suspension links will not make the rear suspension go soft, to alter the settings you need to physically adjust the suspension, there is something else amiss here, all the links do is either raise or lower the rear ride height, in your case it is lowering the ride height, did you purchase your links from a reputable company like lust racing, beware of cheaper made ones. It is difficult to say for sure what has gone wrong without seeing the bike, however rest assured the links alone will no affect the way the rear suspension unit behaves.
Welcome to the family Andy. Think the peeps have pretty much summed up the problem. Go through it all again and check you didn't alter the oem settings
Post some clear pics with bike details, age, mods etc then people with the same model can take a look for you? It certainly sounds like you've mixed something up if you can get the centre stand in contact with the suspension, please clarify what you mean? Also what do you mean by the other links didn't work out for you? Could they be responsible for damaging the shocker seals leading to a total loss of gas pressure?
Surely it's gas over oil damping, no? @Andy Greaves put a few clear pictures up of your shock and the current linkage setup. The OP @blacktiger complained the shock had gone "soft", so we are not discussing ride height as such as I assume now he's trying to get back to where he started right at the beginning; is that right @Andy Greaves ? The spring, and preload, affects the ride height but not the softness without changing the spring rate which the OP didn't say they had done.
We are not now discussing ride height as he's gone back to the originals. We are now trying to work out this "soft" rear end that seems to have appeared. You're making this confusing, I'd suggest you reread the opening post
We are not now discussing ride height as he's gone back to the originals. We are now trying to work out this "soft" rear end that seems to have appeared. You're making this confusing, I'd suggest you reread the opening post
Let's await the op then to clarify a few points and provide some pictures He needs to fully explain what is now occurring. That is seriously soft if he can acheive full stroke travel by just pressing on the seat by hand.
Just to clarify the rear suspension is a monoshock WP unit, this has a remote oil reservoir with a hydraulically operated preload, the suspension may feel stiffer when preload is increased, but that's because adding preload compresses the spring, so it takes more pressure to move the suspension any further. Adjusting preload simply determines the motorcycle's ride height. Whenever you lower a motorcycle’s suspension (depending on how low the replacement links are) you lose ground clearance and this may cause the bike to touch down and bottom out sooner. So it is sensible with how low you go. What should have been done first was measure the height of the front and rear before and after you made the changes, also keep in mind that if you lower your bike significantly you will need to get a shorter sidestand, as I mentioned the lowering links from Lust Racing come with the parts to place the sidestand in the correct height. I would start by putting everything back to standard (how it was originally) and see if it bottoms out then, if it does then the unit may require a rebuild, although I suspect you have either installed to low links or altered the preload. There is no dark art to altering the front or rear suspension, as long as you are confident with a good understanding of how the suspension works, and what you are attempting to achieve, by this I mean riding solo, or with a passenger, or solo with full luggage.
