Please excuse me if I'm being a pedant and everyone already knows this kind of stuff. I'm just trying to help.
I think I might try getting the existing suspension tuned first at Catalyst.
If it still seems off I might just replace the foot controls with something that does not hang so close to the ground...
The drawback to having bikes with mostly small production has always been the lack of off the shelf upgrades and mods...
Yeah, I don' think suspension will help your ride height much if any...and adding preload might hurt your handling. Sounds to me like the handling is spot on if you're already dragging footpegs. New rearsets are definitely in your future. I know Brammo's working on them. I plan to pick up a pair ASAP. In the near-term, you can mitigate this my hanging off of the bike while cornering and riding on the balls of your feet if you're not doing it already.
I weigh about 150 ish.
Could you take a pic of where the adjustments are on the sachs?
Also is there a height adjustment on the suspension too? I have a small inseam and would make it a bit more comfortable with a lower bike (without compromising suspension travel).
Preload and dampening settings are usually not settings that you can see since the knobs often make many revolutions. They usually have detents, so you'll wanna know the number of clicks from fully open (or closed). Shock preload is the exception, and there people usually just measure the length of threads showing past the collar.
My $0.02 on this thread. I haven't received my Empulse R yet, and so I don't know how well the suspension is going to work for me. Some people are really in tune with their suspension and chassis and they really like to get the most out of a new bike. These are typically people who have had saddle time on well set-up bikes with really nice suspension bits. I bet most riders will be perfectly happy with the stock dampening settings. I switch between bikes a lot, and so I usually just try to come close and then adjust my riding.
It's really fun to experiment with dampening settings, but it should always be done in a scientific way. In the past, I've used race chassis shops to set up my bikes (track and even street sometimes). They ask a bunch of questions, set your preload with you geared up, and then they throw in their "optimized" settings. And generally, they're right on, but where's the fun in that. I felt like I wasn't learning anything. Now I do my setup work for the street myself, and it's so much more fun. I've learned a great deal more.
For what it's worth, I recommend:
- Read some stuff on the Internet so you get an idea of what pogo'ing, packing, pushing, etc. is. Learn how to set sag. http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/howto/122_0509_motorcycle_suspension_damping/
- Experiment with with tire pressure during break-in. Once you find something you like, set it and make sure you set it before every day of suspension experimentation. I habitually run a little low, sacrificing low-speed maneuverability for cornering-grip. It's too low if you feel like the bike is falling into corners. This is because the tire is more square now due to the influence of the rim.
- Record your stock suspension settings.
- Set your preload (sag). Check with Brammo or Internet for recommendations for that fork and shock and you're riding style.
- Ride that for a few weeks after break-in.
- Pick an end to start on. I start with the front. Keep the other end fixed (stock or last best setting).
- Experiment with rebound for a day on the same stretch of representative road. Go from fully open to fully closed, then start splitting the difference and do some before and after comparisons. Continue this "binary search" until you've nailed it. (Think of your last optometrist appointment).
- Ride that for a few weeks and then experiment with compression dampening.
- Switch ends and repeat.
I bet most people (including myself) will be happy with just a preload setting. If you're really light or really heavy, you might need new springs. Preload should be used cautiously since it effectively reduces the performance of the spring. On the track, I always looked at the preload as a fine adjustment and selecting the right springs as a coarse adjustment.
And something purely anecdotal about rebound dampening that I learned from downhill mountain biking. Fast rebound dampening makes big hits feel harsh. The idea is that you don't want your wheel to track through a series of big hits, high-speed, you actually want it to skip across the tops. Furthermore, it's that strong and fast rebound response that sends that harsh input through the chassis. I've been thinking about this a lot and wondering if that would help city driving on the Empulse over really rough roads. Of course, we're talking about higher-speed roads, and not low-speed cornering. Unfortunately, I don't think full-adjustable on the Empulse R means high/low-speed rebound/compression dampening.
