How to set up suspension when riding with and without luggage every few days
 

Hello,

I have a BMW F750GS which is on the boat from Zeebrugge to Cartagena, Colombia now where I'm waiting for it :D.

I post a thread about choosing suspension (low or standard) before and I choose the standard. Not sure about the choise, because I'm 1,62 cm (5ft4), but I thought it would be nicer when riding.

I did 3 days of off road training and found out that off road riding is not really what I like most. I like to ride relaxed on the tarmac more (at least on a heavy bike), but off course I will ride off road sometimes.

Right before bringing my bike to the port in Zeebrugge I found out that my bike was lowered because of the luggage with a lot of cm. I had not expected my bike to be lowered by the luggage so much. It felt like 5 cm (almost 2 inches) or so (I don't know how much it was).

Actually I liked it to put my feet on the ground so well :innocent:

I will travel for at least a couple of years and will stay in an airbnb or so for a couple of days, a week or month regularly. I will ride my bike without luggage then to see the surroundings.

I did a motorcycle maintenance course and read about suspension on the internet, but I'm totally not technical and in all sentences were are at least 3 words I don't know. So I hope someone can give me advice in a not so technical way.

That was a long introduction... I wonder if I can leave the suspension the way it is (I have a bash plate). When I bought the bike at a BMW dealer they said the suspension is right for me (without luggage). Is it dangerous or will the riding be very unpleasant when I have luggage and the suspension is lowered so much by the weight of the luggage (the weight of the luggage is another story :innocent:)?

Do I have to adjust the suspension all the time when I change from luggage on the bike to riding without luggage? In the little book from BMW it was only stated how to adjust the suspension and not what the best level is.

If it is a good idea to change the suspension I plan to find a motorcycle garage here in Cartagena who can help me with that.

Thanks a lot in advance for your advice!

Loes

I am not suspension expert. But if you are now able to reach the ground easier, it seems like you solved a problem!

I don't think it will be a problem as long as you ride easy and your bike is not overloaded.

How to set up suspension when riding with and without luggage every few days
 

I am no expert either, but if you have a remote adjuster you might want to adjust your rear preload a bit - i used to do that when my last bike was loaded up.

From memory the bike had 5 positions (from soft to hard). If your bike is correct without the luggage, the extra weight is compressing the bike down more.

This may not be a problem if there is plenty of spring left to soak up bumps, but if, for example, the extra weight means you already used up 80% of the spring, there’s not much left to take up bumps in the road (not good).

Turning up the preload (towards harder) provides a bit more resistance to counter the extra weight.

So for example as I am heavy i used to ride my bike 4/5ths hard when I had no luggage on it, and 5/5ths when I did. Changing between the two took 20 seconds once i’d worked out the right setting.

I am sure someone with better knowledge will add to (or correct) this, but you bike’s manual should have a section that explains the principle too. Google “set my suspension sag” for a more technical guide.

Hope this is of some help and enjoy your trip!

For example here is the setting guide in the manual for my current bike. You can see Triumph advise different settings for two up, solo with luggage, and solo.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a943dc6705.jpg

Thanks a lot!

I thought in my manual there was only stated how to adjust but not till what point, but now I see it is there (how many turns to "solo with load").