I’m finding that the rear suspension is very very crashy, if I go over pot
holes at speed, the bike can almost send me out of the seat. Every bump in the
road gets transmitted through the bike & jars my teeth!
I’ve turned the pre-adjustors down to the minimum (softest) setting,
but that hasn’t helped much.
I suppose the rear shocks will soften up with the miles. Has anyone got
any advice / ideas how to improve the ride? I’m even considering buying replacement
rear shocks, perhaps with proper separate damping.
Swap them for either Ikons or Hagons. Which ever you choose they’ve got both rebound and pre load adjustment so you can get the setup you like. They do cost but you’ll get a much better ride and you won’t be disappointed with the improvement.
Also, maybe you were unused to the added unsprung weight of the shaft gubbins and your innate mechanical sympathy is making it hurt more.
If you don’t do so already, place the balls of your feet on the pegs and you can take up some of the energy in your legs.
Have fun
Its Hagons I am considering for my , as Padgman calls it, pogo stick. The only issue is the clearance of the Hagon unit and the seat frame which I need to check with them. I want a rebuildable unit too which Hagon are generally pretty good at providing.
Regarding the V7 Racer rear shock, isn’t that the (Bitubo?) one with a piggyback reservoir? If so, I believe there may be a problem with fouling the grab handles (on the Stone at least, don’t know about the Classic).When I got my V7 Stone I was convinced the rear shocks were too hard, so following advice on this forum I set the preload low. Confusingly, this seemed to make them even harder. Then I thought of checking for sag as I did a while ago when setting up my mountain bike front suspension.I found that on the soft setting I’d been riding (4 turns up from the end of the adjuster thread), about 70% of suspension travel was being taken up by sag, so I must have been riding on the bump stops a lot, hence the feeling of excessive firmness. It took 20 turns of pre-load to get 15mm sag, and the ride was then more acceptable, if still harsh. That didn’t leave much in reserve for riding 2-up. A helpful chap at Hagons (Dave, I think it was) told me that it’s quite common for people to assume springs are too hard when in fact they’re too soft.Thinking I would go for the best, I ordered a pair of Hagon Nitros with 23kg springs and D2 damping from the equally helpful Steve at Bike Revival, where they’re a bit cheaper than direct from Hagons, though still expensive. But it would be worth it, they would transform the bike, I thought.Unfortunately these turned out to be little better than the Sachs except 2-up on the softest pre-load. Steve referred me to Hagons, who were happy to take them back and let me try a pair of Nitros with 20kg springs and softer D1 damping, which were a bit better but still not as good as expected. The springs were almost too soft but the ride was still harsh.I think the problem with Nitros for me is that the springs are not progressive and the damper rods are much thicker than on normal twin shocks (Nitros being almost as substantial as mono shocks) leading to more ‘stiction’ against the seals, so with my light weight I didn’t feel they moved quickly enough to absorb choppy bumps. Possibly they might have eased up after a while, but I just didn’t feel they were going to be right for me. But other people here like them, and they are very well made.Hagons next suggested they build a pair of 2810 shocks for me to try (they don’t normally make them in 390mm length). These are twin shocks with thinner damper rods, progressive springs and 12-position adjustable damping and being ‘upside down’ have a long top body which means they fit well on the V7. They only have 3 positions of pre-load using the usual cam-type adjuster, but I’ve always found that to be enough on my other bikes. They’re not as well finished as Nitros and may not be rebuildable, but they are a lot cheaper.These are a lot better. Still not what you’d call a ‘plush’ ride, but maybe as Phil T suggests, ‘the added unsprung weight of the shaft gubbins’ means I’ve got to get used to a different feel compared to chain-drive bikes.I use low or mid pre-load for solo riding and mid or high for 2-up. At last I’m starting to enjoy Guzzling! Of course, sorting out the seat has helped a lot, but that’s a different topic.I can’t recommend Hagons highly enough, they really went out of their way to try to solve the problem, took back the Nitros and gave me a good deal on the 2810s into the bargain.If anyone wants to go down the same road, and I reckon Hagons deserve some extra customers from the way they dealt with me, the spec. for my 2810s is:12/22 390mm 2810 SA23Ci.e. 12mm ID/22mm wide bushes, 390 mm length, stainless body (standard is black), 23kg chrome springs.I weigh 11½ stone and the missus is (gulp) 10 stone.If I was starting again though I might try Ikons (Bike Revival again), as the Konis on my Commando give a better ride. If anyone reading this has tried them on a modern V7 I’d be very interested to hear how they perform.Whilst sorting out the suspension generally, I decided the front end was pretty good but could be a bit more compliant. Progressive springs seemed to be worth a try, but beware, the ones Hagon advertise for the V7 Classic are for the earlier (pre-2012?) model and are 28mm too long. I settled for 5w fork oil (320ml per leg) and 180mm air space instead of the standard 7.5w and 150mm air and it seems OK.Progressive springs for Yamaha FZ750 or Honda VF700 are within 5mm of the correct length if the Guzzi (Marzocchi) pre-load tube is taken out but I haven’t tried them yet and probably don’t need to, but include the information in case someone might be interested.
You’re welcome. I might even consider joining the club now it looks as if I might be keeping the bike. It was touch and go for a while.I’m still intact, but then the missus hasn’t read my post…I hope the OP might be along sometime, the info. might be useful to him.Good luck with Hagons, I’ll be interested to read how you get on. I just hope it works out though!
Great write up there Robb. I have to say for years I used Koni dial a rides on my V1000 BUT when they gave up the cost of rebuilding them was MORE than a set of Hagon’s similar to the type they made fore you. The ride on the V1000 has never been better.
And I was at the time 27 stone. Nowadays, a mere 16 stone so with Annie a svelt 7-8 stone PLUS the huge amount of luggage I actually never have altered the rear shocks
The older Tonti bikes really do benefit from Hagon shocks. Nice to hear of a British manufacturer not ONLY buildung quality items BUT also with REAL aftersales service.
Something many manufacturers could learn from LOOK at that for a reccomendation and well deserved too…
Always up for challenge me plus not well endowed with a fat wallet, I am going try a pair of Triumph Bonneville 865 rear shocks on my Le Mans, having had a Bonny i was well impressed with its handling and ride so bought a nearly new pair of Fleabay for £50 they fit the frame and swinging arm perfectly (identical bush diameters) and are .5cm longer than originals. Worth a try i hope.
That sounds like an interesting experiment. A friend who rides a BMW F650GS, which I rode and thought the suspension was pretty good, tested a Bonnie and rejected it because the rear shocks were too hard. But he’s a thin thing like me and maybe the Bonnie shocks are hard hard rather than soft hard like the Guzzi’s, if you see what I mean, and might be good with a heavier rider.
I am around about the same as you Ian and vertically challenged…the Bonnie shocks have 5 manual springing adjustments but of course no damping alterations can be made, i just found the Bonny a pure delight to ride and hope they do the same job on the Lemon.
