ADJUSTING rear shocks

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

I have a 81 GS650G, with what I believe are the original shocks/Springs. They work great, but I rode two up today and think they were to soft. They have a dial with 1-4 on it. It is set at 1 right now. Do you know if it is the stiffest, or on the softest?

Thanks, Brian

[daveo]

Re: ADJUSTING rear shocks

Hello all,

I have a 81 GS650G, with what I believe are the original shocks/Springs. They work great, but I rode two up today and think they were to soft. They have a dial with 1-4 on it. It is set at 1 right now. Do you know if it is the stiffest, or on the softest?

Thanks, Brian

You can visually determine if it's highest or lowest by noticing that the bottom collar which the spring sits on, is graduated in height, by turning the whole collar against it's indexing detent to raise or lower spring tension and height to an extent

[earlfor]

Re: ADJUSTING rear shocks

1 is softest, 4 is stiffest.

Earl

I have a 81 GS650G, with what I believe are the original shocks/Springs. They work great, but I rode two up today and think they were to soft. They have a dial with 1-4 on it. It is set at 1 right now. Do you know if it is the stiffest, or on the softest?

Thanks, Brian [/quote]

[Anonymous]

not sure if you are talking about spring or damping adjustment. the little knob at the top is damping marked 1 to 4 if you increase this you should increase spring tension as well. eg you should not have say 4(the hardest damping) with the lowest spring setting(softest) and visa versa a max spring setting with the lowest damping the spring will override the avail damping . in the suzi manual there is a chart of setting to use. have fun
ozman

[AOD]

this is a good post topic. i have a 79 and its shocks are set to one extreme. i believe the least firm option, but i'm not sure. i have the adjustment type on the bottom of the shock, but i'm unaware of how to adjust them and how to tweak the adjustment.

i generally ride by myself, i'm not a 'lightweight' guy...occasionally my girlfriend will ride on back. what am i looking to feel in adjustment changes?

~Adam

[Anonymous]

shocks

this is a hard one to describe too soft the bike will sit down on the tail,tend to wallow through corners and tend to move around alot under you cornering on uneven surfaces. too hard the bike will kick up at the rear over rough going.throw you around cornering on uneven surface(shocks cannot absorb the bumps)can start tank slappers by transfering all the load to your front end. i dont know if this explains much it's alot easier to show someone this than explain it. check your shocks to see if you have adjustable damping(not that familar with the small gs) u should be able to figure out which way tightens your rear springs .
ozman