Exactly. If you supply the same load for long enough you end up in the same place, wharever the damping.
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Now I love a firm rear, and the Breva’s seems spot onto me, just yielding nicely in a low gear on full chat. It is probably 9 years on a V11 that has go me to this, but then my Deauville was fine.
The rear does look to be fully pre-load. Not seen any damping adjustment. The rear works fine two up with the Mrs (who is not a stick insect).
When I collected my Breva, it had a front end stiffer than… a very stiff thing. The previous owner had used 20w fork oil, and 25mm spacers on top of the springs.
I replaced the fork oil with the specified amount of 10w, and removed the spacers. The “fork deflection indicator” (aka cable tie) indicates 71mm of travel used, in fairly normal use (two-up, rider 13st, pillion ooh, 10-ish? and sticking to speed limits…).
The rear suspension is set to approximately half the available preload on the threaded section of the shocks.
I haven’t noticed any head-shaking, although the suspension is a little harsh, in comparison to my F650GS twin, and the steering is “quicker” (not to say twitchy) at slower speeds on the Breva.
Blind Lemon Ade2012-08-21 15:57:49
Yeah the spoke wheel F650’s tend to have a large front wheel slowing the steering. Get on an F650CS Scarver, they turn quicker than a male teenagers head riding passed the girls school bus stop on a blustery day. The Breva has the same small front compared to the Nevada and steers noticeably quicker. I think the quicker steering and an aging Pirelli have combined to put one up me. Probably a good thing. I was getting a bit keen rather soon. I am gonna change the front tyre and levers, then plot from there.Just for the record, the Nevada with the wide bars is no slouch at changing direct, just the Breva with narrow bars is quicker.
Another thought… tyre pressures, 36 seems a bit high in the front? I’m running 32 front, 36 rear (one-up).
(When I collected it, it was 10 psi down on both, and it felt horrible…)
It won’t affect the fork travel, of course, but may affect the feel during cornering?