The Yamaha Road Star Warrior Forum

OK, it's been hashed and re-hashed, but, you all know how I roll by now! LOL. I have a 240 kit and F&G lowering. First ride the tire rubbed and wore the plate wires down and caused a short. No speedo, tach, or signal lights. Not good. So, the dealer re-wired the light and I now have a 1000lb spring. Solo it's fine. 2 up....yep, same problem, wore the wires again with my wife on the bike, at night, 50 miles from home, no lights. I stopped at a auto parts store and fixed it in the parking lot. Bought some wire, fuses, stripers, black tape, wrench set to take the plate bracket off, the whole shabang! Got us home. Once at the house I re-wired the plate light wires and they are now out of the way. No more lights out problems. But, I don't want the tire rubbing whether the lights stay on or not. It's a $300 tire! . All that led into my question. Before I succumb to an adjustable lowering kit (I like it where it is) I know I can preload the spring and adjust the dampening of the shock. I'm willing to have a stiffer ride. I read the forums and the owners manual. I just want to know the steps to maybe stiffening the ride for 2 up, then back to cushy solo. Thanks. And let the links to past forums begin!

George ... my 1st Knee Jerk reaction to your question is TAR (tricky air ride) which is the best of both worlds but big bucks.

In an earlier response of mine, i  questioned your FNG (flip& grind) being performed by a Yamaha dealer

• Was the Warrior relay arm actually modified or did your dealer purchase a Baron relay arm & supplied new brg's?

The purpose of my question is that based on my understanding of the rear suspension, the FNG and or new relay arm has the most detrimental effect to the mechanics of the rear suspension because of the new positions of the fulcrum points. I am not interested in defending this statement, it's my opinion and i'm sure others won't agree

In desending order, adjustable links (properly set-up), stretched links or lastly PCS links have less influence on the mechanics.

Here's a recent post you might have read "" so on any given day... "" : http://rswarrior.com/forums/p/122567/981175.aspx#981175

NOTE: If you should decide that FNG isn't your cup of tea, you'll want to flip the arm or replace with the factory part if you have the Baron part before going to another method

I must admit that my ride is some what harsh with the stretched links (Lowered 1.00") and the 1000# Eibach cranked down to prevent the 240 Metzler tire from bottoming out on the inner fender. With the Warrior forward pegs and my set-back bars it's difficult, at my age, to lift your butt off the seat in anticipation of the visible bumps. My next rear tire change i'm going back to my stock links and i'll relax the spring too!

I ride 2 up with lowering links and the stock spring just turned down stiffer.I had my wires come off the clip under the fender and tore them up.Not fastened so they cant fall again.If i do bottom out I hit my plate mount before anything.I am now going with a newer style shock with the 1000 eibach.Not sure of amount turned down Havent rode it yet.Waiting for wheel.

Do you have the part # for the LED signals that you recently installed on your levers?

Yep its hard to swallow $300 tires ripping apart your wiring, and getting ripped up themselves. 

I'm surprised it bottomed-out with an Eibach 1,000 pound spring.  Your FNG must put the fender right on top of the tire?

Your bike is a 2008 so it has both features you mention.  However I do not believe either is going to solve this problem because they won't reduce the amount of spring compression that is possible.  You simply need a hint more space, or a rubber snubber on which to bottom out like on cars (but that's very often not a safe option to install on motorcycles and this monoshock design makes it hard to find an equally-loaded spot).  IMO you're needing adjustable links, or raise it back to stock until you can afford them.

On the FNG topic, at great risk of being shot at, I'm among those who believe that removing material will over time with the constant pounding allow premature failure of the part.  The FNG changes the load angles on the part and (seems to) arrange the angles in a way that increase the pressure felt by the parts.  On the other side of the coin, I haven't heard of a failure.  There was one pic I saw where there was too much material removed, which can't be good.  So truth be told I could be all wet but at 125mph I don't want to worry about the loads felt by suspension components!

Oh look - no links to past topics LOL

good excuse too wife for a tricky especially with holiday comin up   i like the pcs links, they also make a  progressive rate spring which i think is ur ticket starts at i believe 800# and goes to 1250#  further u compress it.  pacificcoaststar.com

 yep 825# to 1250#  $80 for spring or $152 for links and spring. man if u kan bottom 1250# theres sumthin wrong.

Taken from this post and prior discussion: http://rswarrior.com/forums/p/115944/940704.aspx#940704

When the bike is lowered retaining the factory shock, the travel of the shock remains the same and the clearance between the tire and inner fender diminish accordingly making the urethane bump stop useless unless a properly designed spacer or thicker bumper is installed on the shock. I don't think this has been done yet so you can be the Pioneer

AlanH:

Thu, Jul 31 2008 7:00 PM

DarkSide:

Hey all, my brother mentioned something called a bump stop to prevent bottoming out on those big potholes.  I need this to save my rear lights.  Does anyone have this on their bike?  Is there such a thing?  Thanks.

To directly answer your question, Yes ......My .02 on this subject is:  that's the purpose of the Urethane Donut on the mono shock (Bump Stop) so you don't bend the rear axle or swing arm pivot bolt/sleeve when you bottom out 

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You're more abt to bend an axle when the wheel bottoms out on the underside of the fender and that's a fact  

I would suggest you readjust your suspension to stock height or what ever is req'd to prevent collison and or stiffen up on the spring!

 Something to think about on that progressive rate spring Rukus. Just my opinion but,if the spring is 825# to 1250# and your fender is right on top of your tire, I don't think you have enough travel in your suspension to even get to the 1250# rate before your fender hits the tire.I considered the same spring. I ended up with the 1000#,because it is stiff from the start.

+1 I agree with what you are saying.  Also, I sure wish the urethane bumper built into the shock could be adjusted for distance but as it sits it's a fixed distance so it can't be used to stop shock travel earlier.  And there's no good spot to put an automotive style shock tower bumper.  A good combination would seem to be 1000# and adjustable links but its not perfect either.  The 1100# spring will attempt to skillfully remove your tail light, dental fillings and eyeballs riding solo, so IMO its out.  The progressive works well at stock height.

Reddog:

 Something to think about on that progressive rate spring Rukus. Just my opinion but,if the spring is 825# to 1250# and your fender is right on top of your tire, I don't think you have enough travel in your suspension to even get to the 1250# rate before your fender hits the tire.I considered the same spring. I ended up with the 1000#,because it is stiff from the start.

ive never messed with pre load stuff, but cant u preload the spring so its at the higher spring rate than from the beginning? like when u tighten down on it with those ajusters. dosnt that compress the spring? is that how it works?? or am i a complete f#$% retard   like i siad ive never done that so maybe sum1 kan enlighten me.

Just to add my 2 cents worth. For an inexpensive solution I'd flip the relay arm back around and purchase the ram396 adjustable links. The main problem with the "flip & grind" and the PCS Links" is that they give you no adjustablility.

I agree with Alan that the absolute best and easiest way is the "tricky air" but it isn't cheap.

 I may be wrong but I thought your question was "how do I stiffen the springs". If you read the manual, it's pretty simple, there's a preload nut you just turn, one way stiffens it and the other loosens it. I used to bottom out on vacation fully loaded with two up if I hit the right bump or dip. I stiffened the springs to the max and it won't do that anymore. I like it better that way anyway so I never change it. I don't need any pogo sticking when I'm riding.

At risk of preaching to the choir, I know you already know this stuff but for example, the preload feature doesn't give the rear spring more capacity, it simply squeezes the spring a bit to take up slack.  In the end, the same force is required in both cases to collapse the spring to the point the fender bottoms-out, assuming no bump-stop in between.  In these cases the fender needs more clearance, or the spring needs to have greater capacity, or a physical stop has to stop the fender before it bottoms out (hard to do on this type suspension).  There is something different between your bike and his.  Ruckus has torn up wires twice I think, once with a 1,000# Eibach.  The fender may just be too low.

Washingtonwarrior:

 I may be wrong but I thought your question was "how do I stiffen the springs". If you read the manual, it's pretty simple, there's a preload nut you just turn, one way stiffens it and the other loosens it. I used to bottom out on vacation fully loaded with two up if I hit the right bump or dip. I stiffened the springs to the max and it won't do that anymore. I like it better that way anyway so I never change it. I don't need any pogo sticking when I'm riding.

Good stuff here. You guys have got me thinking Tricky is the way to go. But I'm never going to play with the height. So maybe Ram's adjustable links would be better and less expensive. That said, I need to get rid of the F&G and replace it with a nice stock part thats not had material removed for safety reasons and add Ram's links. How much are Ram's links and how do I get them? Just shoot him a PM? Thanks all. You guys rock! BTW, I went to a bike night at LA Hang Out in Tampa last night to meet Dadswarrior. We bumped into Back on Black as well. Was fun! My bike actually won best Import.....lol!