Weight and Suspension

[nuclearfenix]

Recently I've been thinking about my bikes suspension. I weigh around 240 pounds and the suspension on my 07 Gs500 is still set at factory default. When I hit a bump, it sucks. If I'm going fast enough I think i can feel the rear tire come up off the ground. So should I stiffen up the suspension till I get better shocks? For my weight what should I have the suspension set to? And I've read that a Katana 600 or 750 shock replacement is ideal, has this changed?

[Big Rich]

Sorry man, I can'thelp too much since iI don't have a GS500. ... but have a look here:

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=69391.0

[Slack]

Yes, for your weight a katana rear shock would be great.
You also desperately need stiffer fork springs. Stock is something near .60 you probably need something around 1.0. Both racetech and sonic have calculators on their sites where you can look up the exact rate for your weight and riding style.
If you really want to smooth things out install a set of race tech emulators in the front as well.

[Janx101]

Im around 300lbs... katana 600 is good, went with sonic .95 , was gonna have 1.0 but don't ride aggressive much... the .95 are nice. .. while you at the front end install a chunky fork brace plate avail.from members on this site and you will be golden!

While you have the stock rear.... wind it right.up to 7, doesn't do heaps but helps a little

[nuclearfenix]

Just curious, should I increase my current shocks to the stiffest till I get new ones installed?

[Janx101]

Probably for the rear!

[The Buddha]

I'm 240 as well. Maybe 250+ in riding gear. The stock front end not only is too soft and dived like crazy, I could feel the FE flex under braking. The Thicker brace made a big difference. But the single disk is a huge contributor and the kat FE swap I did pretty much eliminated that flex.

For a commuter bike you'd think the FE flex isn't an issue, except, it actually is more important. Racers rarely weigh 250 lb LOL.

Cool.
Buddha.