I finally broke down and got a pair of 0.90kg/mm sonic springs for my bike.
I'm probably 100 lb heavier than the size rider this GS was originally designed for, and lately I have been riding 2-up occasionally and will probably do that more in the fall.
I swapped the factory rear shock soon after I got this bike for a Kat 600 shock which was, IIRC, about 35-40% stiffer than the stock spring. I then stiffened the front springs by cutting them, which worked but the most I could do is to make them about 25-30% stiffer because cutting more would reduce the travel. Still the bike had a lot of brake dive, pitching when shifting gears or coming on and off the throttle, bottomed harshly when hitting small bumps while braking, and was pretty deep into the travel when riding 2-up.
I decided to go on the firm side of the recommendations since I plan to ride 2-up more and I can certainly tolerate a firm ride. So I went with the 0.90 kg-mm.
The swap literally took about 35 minutes. I didn't remove the fork legs or change the oil, since it was done pretty recently, so I just swapped the springs. I used a telescoping magnet to pull the spring, spacer, etc. out.
First thing I noticed was that the sonic springs were a LOT longer than the stock (cut) springs. The stock spacer could not be used, it was at least 4-5" too long. I ended up cutting the provided PVC spacer material to 5" for each side which gave about 1/2" of preload and made installation of the top caps easy.
Went on a short test ride yesterday and it's a lot different. Sag is down to about 1/2"-1" from about 2" before. The pitching/diving is improved tremendously, and overall the feel is much more natural and confidence-inspiring. The bike just feels "right" with the stiff springs. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that it now is better matched front to rear. There is no reduction in comfort that I can tell in a short ride. The real test will be a longer ride out in the hill country twisties, but I can already tell this was well worth it just for the change in pitch/dive behavior.
BTW, Sonic Springs did a great no-fuss quick turn on this. I placed the order on the weekend, it was shipped Monday from Oklahoma and arrived Thursday, would have been here Weds except UPS delayed it a day. Can't ask for a better response. :thumb:
I love the title of this post :laugh:
I feel the same way about my swap to Sonics. They really are a huge improvement over the stock 0.594kg/mm springs (info from wiki) ! I'm glad to hear you're happy with the results.
Quote from: mr72 on July 27, 2018, 06:27:00 AM
I finally broke down and got a pair of 0.90kg/mm sonic springs for my bike.
I'm probably 100 lb heavier than the size rider this GS was originally designed for, and lately I have been riding 2-up occasionally and will probably do that more in the fall.
I swapped the factory rear shock soon after I got this bike for a Kat 600 shock which was, IIRC, about 35-40% stiffer than the stock spring. I then stiffened the front springs by cutting them, which worked but the most I could do is to make them about 25-30% stiffer because cutting more would reduce the travel. Still the bike had a lot of brake dive, pitching when shifting gears or coming on and off the throttle, bottomed harshly when hitting small bumps while braking, and was pretty deep into the travel when riding 2-up.
I decided to go on the firm side of the recommendations since I plan to ride 2-up more and I can certainly tolerate a firm ride. So I went with the 0.90 kg-mm.
The swap literally took about 35 minutes. I didn't remove the fork legs or change the oil, since it was done pretty recently, so I just swapped the springs. I used a telescoping magnet to pull the spring, spacer, etc. out.
First thing I noticed was that the sonic springs were a LOT longer than the stock (cut) springs. The stock spacer could not be used, it was at least 4-5" too long. I ended up cutting the provided PVC spacer material to 5" for each side which gave about 1/2" of preload and made installation of the top caps easy.
Went on a short test ride yesterday and it's a lot different. Sag is down to about 1/2"-1" from about 2" before. The pitching/diving is improved tremendously, and overall the feel is much more natural and confidence-inspiring. The bike just feels "right" with the stiff springs. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that it now is better matched front to rear. There is no reduction in comfort that I can tell in a short ride. The real test will be a longer ride out in the hill country twisties, but I can already tell this was well worth it just for the change in pitch/dive behavior.
BTW, Sonic Springs did a great no-fuss quick turn on this. I placed the order on the weekend, it was shipped Monday from Oklahoma and arrived Thursday, would have been here Weds except UPS delayed it a day. Can't ask for a better response. :thumb:
Thanks! Always nice to hear from happy customers. :D