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[Chief]

Woo Hoo!!! Look what just showed up! I guess that answers the delivery questions! Now to get them on. Probably not today though, but hopefully, before I go back upstate this weekend.

Hoist!

Cool beans. I hope you like them. I think the sweet spot solo is about 7 or 8 clicks on the compression setting. Don't waste your time starting at zero like I did.  

[Hoist!]

Cool beans. I hope you like them. I think the sweet spot solo is about 7 or 8 clicks on the compression setting. Don't waste your time starting at zero like I did.  

Thanks  for the advice on the settings Chief! How about 2-up w/full luggage? What do you change them to?

miker, they will fit. Chief runs them on his SEUC2. I believe I remember that they get installed with the reservoir on the bottom. They can be installed in either direction, but they needed to be on the bottom to clear the hard bags. I hope it's the same for the leather glove compartments on the SERK3 too. I'd hate to have to flip the shocks everytime I decide to swithch bags on Cybil!

Hoist!

[Chief]

Thanks  for the advice on the settings Chief! How about 2-up w/full luggage? What do you change them to?

miker, they will fit. Chief runs them on his SEUC2. I believe I remember that they get installed with the reservoir on the bottom. They can be installed in either direction, but they needed to be on the bottom to clear the hard bags. I hope it's the same for the leather glove compartments on the SERK3 too. I'd hate to have to flip the shocks everytime I decide to swithch bags on Cybil!

Hoist!

I set them for 9 this weekend and saw evidence of possible bottoming. I use the yellow bump stop to indicate max shock travel. Slide it down to sit on top of the shock so when the shock compresses, it is pushed up the rod. If it is all the way up, then you've bottomed, or have come very close to it. I'll give 10 a try this weekend going to Knoxville. We'll be doing plenty of 2-up fully loaded, so next week I should have a much better idea. I've turned them to 12, but I think at that setting they'd be hard as a rock. Have you twisted on yours yet?

[Hoist!]

I set them for 9 this weekend and saw evidence of possible bottoming. I use the yellow bump stop to indicate max shock travel. Slide it down to sit on top of the shock so when the shock compresses, it is pushed up the rod. If it is all the way up, then you've bottomed, or have come very close to it. I'll give 10 a try this weekend going to Knoxville. We'll be doing plenty of 2-up fully loaded, so next week I should have a much better idea. I've turned them to 12, but I think at that setting they'd be hard as a rock. Have you twisted on yours yet?

Haven't touched them yet. I gotta run out for awhile and we'll see if I get back early enough to fool around with them. It's in the 50's and pouring here today, so I won't get to try them out today anyway. I guess I'll try them at 6 first for my solo trip upstate this weekend, and play with them from there. Then 2-up loaded, and based on your comments, I'll try 10 first.

These shocks scream of quality! If they work as good as they look, these things will be just what the Dr. ordered!

Hoist!

[erniezap]

You're making me want to leave work and go home to see if mine arrived yet...

[Chief]

You're making me want to leave work and go home to see if mine arrived yet...

Maybe a long lunch? 

[Hoist!]

I just spoke with Dan at Traxxion to get some guidance on setting these shocks up. As you know, there are 3 adjustments on these. The Spring Pre-load, the Compression, and the Rebound. The Spring Pre-load comes factory set and should be used to set the bike's "sag". If after installing and sitting/jumping on the rear pegs/floorboards, this is set so the bike's "sag" is correct and should never have to be touched again. It's adjusted with the supplied spanner wrench. The Rebound is set by the adjustment on the top of the main shock's body. It has a collar with settings of 1 thru 5. They are not clicks. Start it in the middle at 3. Compress the rear of the bike. It should take about 1 second to rise up fully without topping out. Adjust for that as necessary by turning the collar to "H" for harder or "S" for softer. The last item is Compression. This is adjusted by turning the knob on the bottom of the reservoir. This knob has "click" settings from Firm to Soft. Chief has experienced that you'd try setting at 6 clicks up from the softest setting for solo. And try maybe 10-11 clicks from softest for 2-up loaded. This is the adjustment you'll be making for handling, comfort and loads most of the time. If you ride 2-up loaded all the time, you might want to stiffen the spring for less "sag", since your loads aren't changing. then adjust the Compression for comfort and handling. This is the basic adjustment sequence he explained to me. If you still have questions, feel free to call Dan at Traxxion. He's very familiar with them and has them on his bike. This might vary slightly from the manual, but he said do it this way, as our Harley's are different than setting up a sport bike.

Enjoy your new shocks everyone. I'll let you know what I think of them after I put them thru the full Hoist Test!

Hoist!

[grc]

------------------------- If after installing and sitting/jumping on the rear pegs/floorboards, this is set so the bike's "sag" is correct and should never have to be touched again. It's adjusted with the supplied spanner wrench. -------------------------------
Hoist!

Howie,

That's only true if you don't significantly alter the weight on the rear of the bike.  If you add a passenger, a bunch of luggage, or perhaps go on a pizza binge and gain 100 pounds, the sag will be affected.  Ideally when you set your bike up you will come up with at least two preload settings; one for solo and one for double.  If you like to carry "everything but the kitchen sink", you might want a third setting for fully loaded.  Just write the various settings down somewhere handy.  (This stuff is much easier on a solo seat barhopper.)  

Jerry

[Midnight Rider]

The spring spanner adjuster sets the Sag of the bike, or the height of the rear suspension, measured from some point of choice to the ground with weight off the shocks, then taking the difference of the same measurement with the weight of the bike ON the shocks.  This should be pretty close to right, out of the box, but may require some fine tuning.  Make note of this height of the rear suspension somewhere, as this is where you want the bike to sit regardless of load.  So you'll probably end up with a setting on the spanner for solo, solo w/load, two up w/load, depending on how you ride.  The spring preload only sets the height of the bike, and should not be mistaken for "stiffness".  

The rebound collar, located near the "knuckle" of the shock, with settings of 1-5, should be set for controlled rebound after bouncing on the bike.  I have found that 3 works well for most cases on the Vrod. This setting keeps the shock from "topping out", or becoming completely unsprung.

The compression damping knob, with settings from "H" to "S"  (hard to soft) effects the compression ability of the shock, or how quickly the spring will compress.  This adjustment is like a tapered needle valve...the value increases exponentially with movement of the knob towards the "H" setting.  In other words, on 6 clicks away from "S", movement 2-4 more clicks towards "H" increases the compression damping ability of the reservoir more and more with each click...it is not a linear relationship from "S" to "H".  Each click does not produce the same relative result.  As Chief said, start on a middle position, and increase as needed to keep the shock from bottoming out.  

[Midnight Rider]

Sorry, Jerry...I was writing/posting when you were doing your response.


I meant to add that your measuring point should probably be something easy to do, like the bottom of the rear fender to the ground.  If you have a table lift, or even a floor jack, you can keep the bike upright while making these measurements.

[Hoist!]

Howie,

That's only true if you don't significantly alter the weight on the rear of the bike.  If you add a passenger, a bunch of luggage, or perhaps go on a pizza binge and gain 100 pounds, the sag will be affected.  Ideally when you set your bike up you will come up with at least two preload settings; one for solo and one for double.  If you like to carry "everything but the kitchen sink", you might want a third setting for fully loaded.  Just write the various settings down somewhere handy.  (This stuff is much easier on a solo seat barhopper.)  

Jerry

Totally agree Jerry. Dan sugessted this to make things a little easier for the initial setup. We all weigh different amounts, as do our passengers, as do we all carry different loads. That's why I stated that if you ride 2-up all the time to make sure you readjust the sag. Ideally, the bike should be totally setup correctly for all 3 things, based on your actual weights and riding style! But depending on the difference in weights, solo vs, 2-up loaded, you might need 2 or 3 preload settings as well. Thanks for the clarification Jerry!

Hoist!

[Grover]

Shocks arrived today  The bummer is, I won't be able to mount them until Friday. They sure look like some very high quality suspenders

I was kinda hoping the nitrogen bottle and carrier would be chrome or polished aluminum....but oh well, I'm not losing any sleep over it. My swingarm is still black so they'll be just fine.

Thanks to Terry & Chief for all the support and info 

I'll tell ya all about the ride after I get them set up, down the road and dialed in 

Take care,

Grover

[Chief]

I just spoke with Dan at Traxxion to get some guidance on setting these shocks up. As you know, there are 3 adjustments on these. The Spring Pre-load, the Compression, and the Rebound. The Spring Pre-load comes factory set and should be used to set the bike's "sag". If after installing and sitting/jumping on the rear pegs/floorboards, this is set so the bike's "sag" is correct and should never have to be touched again. It's adjusted with the supplied spanner wrench. The Rebound is set by the adjustment on the top of the main shock's body. It has a collar with settings of 1 thru 5. They are not clicks. Start it in the middle at 3. Compress the rear of the bike. It should take about 1 second to rise up fully without topping out. Adjust for that as necessary by turning the collar to "H" for harder or "S" for softer. The last item is Compression. This is adjusted by turning the knob on the bottom of the reservoir. This knob has "click" settings from Firm to Soft. Chief has experienced that you'd try setting at 6 clicks up from the softest setting for solo. And try maybe 10-11 clicks from softest for 2-up loaded. This is the adjustment you'll be making for handling, comfort and loads most of the time. If you ride 2-up loaded all the time, you might want to stiffen the spring for less "sag", since your loads aren't changing. then adjust the Compression for comfort and handling. This is the basic adjustment sequence he explained to me. If you still have questions, feel free to call Dan at Traxxion. He's very familiar with them and has them on his bike. This might vary slightly from the manual, but he said do it this way, as our Harley's are different than setting up a sport bike.

Enjoy your new shocks everyone. I'll let you know what I think of them after I put them thru the full Hoist Test!

Hoist!

HOIST,

I have to disagree with the "set it and forget it" for the preload. Just like the stock air shocks, Progressives and most other shocks out there, the pre-load needs to be adjusted to maintain the same vehicle attitude under different loads.

I set up my Bitubos per the manual with their recommended amount of static sag and called this Baseline. I noted the location of the adjustment collar and wrote it down. I have also come up with a preload for 2-up light and have recorded that setting too. I'll finish up by getting a fully-loaded setting before we go to Knoxville this weekend.

In all situations, my aim is to have the bike come to rest with the same sag with the different loads. Using only one setting, will compromise ride quality as you will lose available shock travel as the load increases causing an increase in the loaded sag. This also screws with headlight alignment.

WARNING: The supplied spanner wrench is murder on the hands. I cut a piece of garden hose and slipped it over the handle.

[Hoist!]

HOIST,

I have to disagree with the "set it and forget it" for the preload. Just like the stock air shocks, Progressives and most other shocks out there, the pre-load needs to be adjusted to maintain the same vehicle attitude under different loads.

I set up my Bitubos per the manual with their recommended amount of static sag and called this Baseline. I noted the location of the adjustment collar and wrote it down. I have also come up with a preload for 2-up light and have recorded that setting too. I'll finish up by getting a fully-loaded setting before we go to Knoxville this weekend.

In all situations, my aim is to have the bike come to rest with the same sag with the different loads. Using only one setting, will compromise ride quality as you will lose available shock travel as the load increases causing an increase in the loaded sag. This also screws with headlight alignment.

WARNING: The supplied spanner wrench is murder on the hands. I cut a piece of garden hose and slipped it over the handle.

Thanks for clarifying that Chief. Dan did say it was best to have 2-3 preload settings, but if the loads don't vary that much, you can get away with the Compression adjustment, which is much easier to adjust. I'll have to play around with it to see how they ride and if sag can somewhat be maintained after setting the pre-load. Otherwise, I'll have to get an old garden hose to carry with me.

Hoist!

[Chief]

Thanks for clarifying that Chief. Dan did say it was best to have 2-3 preload settings, but if the loads don't vary that much, you can get away with the Compression adjustment, which is much easier to adjust. I'll have to play around with it to see how they ride and if sag can somewhat be maintained after setting the pre-load. Otherwise, I'll have to get an old garden hose to carry with me.

Hoist!

I guess I wasn't very clear on that point. I put a piece of hose, about 3", over the handle of the wrench just to fatten it up a bit. As it is now, it is a punched piece only about 1/8", or less, thick. Its uncomfortable to use. I put some dry lube on the threads and now do all adjustments without the wrench with the tire off of the ground. It's MUCH quicker that way. Unlike the Progressives, the thread is very fine and takes many turns to adjust.