Suspension Settings

I took a nice long ride today, but before I left I adjusted and recorded the suspension settings. The default suspension settings on the VFR1200 are too stiff for me. Both front and rear suspension are adjustable for preload and rebound damping. Compression damping is static. I have been riding it at the default setting up until this point. I reduced preload and rebound damping both front and rear. I made fairly significant changes... they paid off. The VFR was much less harsh over the bumps and had a lot more natural feeling to me after the changes.

These are my notes, scrawled in the back of my shop manual. The default rear rebound damping is set at the maximum level... WAY too heavily damped for rough roads, or any roads for that matter.

I took a route that I tried but only partially finished about a month ago. From Calgary I went west on the 1A through the Stoney Indian reserve, Exshaw, and then stopped in Canmore for lunch. After lunch I went east on the Trans-Canada to the Kananaskis Trail (AKA highway 40 AKA Highwood Pass) which curves west deep into the mountain range through the Valhalla-like Kananaskis valley, approaching the BC border and climing to the top of the Highwood pass at 7700 feet before looping back east and meeting highway 22 (Cowboy Trail) at Longview.

You may recall from my post a month ago that I had to stop and turn around where the road was closed; it's been open since June 15th so I rode the full loop. Without going into elaborate detail, it was absolutely gorgeous. Traffic was light and I only had to stop twice for rocky mountain sheep crossings.

A few pictures....

This is the big Lafarge cement plant in Exshaw, just southeast of Canmore:

Now entering Kananaskis Country:

The summit of the Highwood Pass:

And a big "D'OH!!!".... I mounted my Vholdr cam on my helmet and took what I thought was some spectacular video of the 1A through Stoney and the Kananaskis Trail... When I got home and uploaded it I discovered that the camera was aimed at a 6-foot patch of asphalt right in front of the bike. All the footage was completely useless. I guess I'll have to do this ride again!