Fork oil too thick,or spring spacer?

[Steve]

Somewhat counter-intuitively, stiffer springs can actually be more comfortable. If the springs are too soft you'll get a lot of motion and rocking out of the bike, and also bottoming which obviously will cause a harsh ride.
Straight rate springs make the best use of the available travel and allow the ride to be both plush and controlled.

I had that concept in mind when I ordered springs for my 850. I believe the available rates were 0.9, 1.0 and 1.1. Since the 850 was the heaviest GS made (except for the 1100GK), and I have added the fairing and essentially turned it into a GK, I went with the 1.1 springs. Went with 10w oil, have not regretted a single mile with that combination. In fact, I do believe that it rides better than my Wing.

.

[salty_monk]

ATF is a crapshoot as it has no fixed weight..... Even various fork oils show a lot of variance between brands.

Get the correct weight spring & if your main issue after that is still fork dive put in a cartridge emulator. You can then run a lighter oil for rebound & adjust the emulator to suit on the compression side.

If you are getting a lot of bottoming out you can play with oil height in the fork leg. More oil means a stronger ramp at the end of stroke as the air above the oil compresses.

[81gs7501166]

Even with the spacer only 3/8 in, too slow to react,too much preload.
I removed spacer completly,added 8.5 Oz atf,nice and plush now,I'm leaving it alone until I can do springs.
I'm still undecided on p vs s?
Thanks

[RichDesmond]

Even with the spacer only 3/8 in, too slow to react,too much preload.
I removed spacer completly,added 8.5 Oz atf,nice and plush now,I'm leaving it alone until I can do springs.
I'm still undecided on p vs s?
Thanks

My 2 cents.

http://sonicsprings.com/catalog/straight_vs_prog_tech_article.php

[cowboyup3371]

I'll add another vote for the Sonic Springs and regular 10w fork oil is all you really need in my opinion

[Steve]

I'm still undecided on p vs s?

I might be a bit "undecided", too, so let's just take a quick look at what has been posted in this thread alone.

Having ridden both, I prefer the Sonic springs.

As I mentioned in post #2, I have had both, and prefer Sonic.

As for the P vs S issue ... I have tried them both and prefer the Sonic springs with proper pre-load spacer

I'll add another vote for the Sonic Springs and regular 10w fork oil is all you really need in my opinion

If you are still undecided, consider this:
Progressive springs are available directly from Progressive (<-- click link) for $92.95 and up.
They are available from Z1 Enterprises for just under $96.
They are available on eBay for $87.30

Sonic springs are available directly from Sonic for $84.95.

They are less expensive and highly recommended here. What more do you need?

.

[alke46]

decisions, decisions. what's a mother to do?

[phydeauxmutt]

Well, they say you can lead a horse to water, although most would rather ride it.

[81gs7501166]

According to my local weather,yesterday was the last day in the 60s.
I took a 20 mile ride, on the no spacer,8.5oz atf mod.
Strange as it sounds, it's better than before I Started?
Only difference being the atf.
Now when I drained the fork oil ( really looked like black 50wt goo) I only got bout 4-5 Oz out of each leg.
I then tried spacer and 10w oil,too much preload, drained that, it came out black also, flushed with 4-5 Oz atf until late it came out clean. I think the amount or lack their of oil was the major problem.
I evidently didn't oil the forks when I built the bike?
It's pretty good now,nice and plush and the drop after wot shutdown has lessened!
I might not change springs it's nice now!
Thanks for All!
And if I do try springs they will be Sonic, majority rules!