sag settings....

[BryanMcc]

so i got around to checking sag settings on my 10 ec300... 41mm static and 95 with me on it (no gear)... seems like the static is a touch on the high side and race is a touch on the not enough sag side. What is this telling me? i expected since i had a little to much static i would have a little to much race but maybe im wrong. so what is my next steps? do i ad some preload to get the static a touch less? bike has sachs rear shock. Thanks for your help...PS in 220 no gear, bike has stock springs

[Jakobi]

Classic indication of the spring being too stiff for you.

If you wind more preload on you will reduce the static sag will reduce, however the race sag will also reduce. If you back the preload off the opposite happens, where you'll end up with more static and race sag.

How much preload have you got on the spring at the moment? Find it hard that at 220 the stock 5.2 spring would be acting that way. I'm 200-220lbs in full gear and coated in mud and the run a 5.4 rate spring.

[BryanMcc]

Originally Posted by Jakobi

Classic indication of the spring being too stiff for you.

If you wind more preload on you will reduce the static sag will reduce, however the race sag will also reduce. If you back the preload off the opposite happens, where you'll end up with more static and race sag.

How much preload have you got on the spring at the moment? Find it hard that at 220 the stock 5.2 spring would be acting that way. I'm 200-220lbs in full gear and coated in mud and the run a 5.4 rate spring.

how do i check the preload...i looked over the forum a little bit, seems there is some info on both the sachs and the ohlins shock.. im with you on not understanding why the stock spring is stiff. exact opposite of what i ecpected... sunday morning a will take a measurement when im all geared up... the measurment i took was just me, no gear, so im probably 20-25 lighter than normal. what sag do you like Jackobi? hey thanks for all your help by the way... i think i have my jetting issues sorted, we will see on sunday, all the way down do a 165 main on a as2 38mm, jd red middle pos and 40 pilot. seems lean to me compared to others.... 4500 to 7000k feet 80 deg low humidity.

[Jakobi]

Does seem lean but you have some decent elevation and temps going on. If you worked your way down to it and are happy with the results, the bikes not showing signs of being lean and the plug chops look good then thats that sorted. I generally go for the needle clip position first up as it makes the biggest effect across the widest range of throttle.

Back on topic. Best advice I can offer is to pull the shock out. You can do this by undoing the lower subframe bolts and loosening the top ones and flipping the whole back of the bike up. You'll have to undo the dog bones on the linkage to swing them forward to access lower shock mount. Once you have the shock out mark where the spring is compressed to, and then back the spring off until its no longer compressed. The distance between these marks is your preload (uncompressed spring - compressed spring = preload). It should be around 10/12mm.

While you are at it its a great time to lube the linkage bearings and ensure the swingarm moves freely through its range of travel without binding. You can then either order a new spring, or consider testing the one you have to see what rate it is.

[pscook]

To set preload you don't have to remove the shock, you can can set the bike on a box with swingarm unencumbered and wind off the preload ring until the spring spins by hand. That is zero preload. Then wind in ten mm of preload and see how it acts, adding more as it's needed. I know that my Ohlins shock has 1mm of preload for each rotation of the preload ring, which makes it quite easy to set the sag. Les from LTR has a sticky (click right here) to apply correct preload, but it is for 2004-2006 models and I don't know how it would translate to a '10. According to the sticky you want 105-108mm of sag, and I found this to be true as 95mm of race sag for me caused the bike to be too twitchy, and the extra 10mm of sag helped out a bunch.

[Jakobi]

Very true that you can indeed set the preload with the shock on the bike. I was just suggesting removing it and checking the linkage and swingarm as well as either of these binding will also affect the performance of the shock and how well it moves through its stroke. My old man had the linkage in his WR seize so bad that the back end felt rigid. It wasn't the shock, spring or preload causing it

Hope that helps.