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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Suspension Success, I think.......

Saturday night we went out to the garage and tweaked the suspension on Max a little more.  We loosened the spring pre-load to adjust the SAG and then the high speed and low speed dampening compression.  We also backed off the front suspension slightly.  Thank you to all who supplied suggestions and especially to Geoff for the great literature he emailed me.  You're a peach.

Sunday the rains stopped for a while and we figured we'd test out the suspension by taking the back roads to Salem for a Costco run.  A mixture of showers and sun were forecast, but we figured we'd take our chances.

Troubadour put the panniers and tail bag on Lucy and we headed off.  The sun even came out to play.

When we hit the twisties I was in the zone and having a great time.  The bike seemed to be reacting quite well and I was having a ball. Some of the most fun I'd had on the bike.

It was just after noon and the sun was shining.  Our first stop was at Wal-Mart since Troubadour wanted to see if they had an oil filter for Lucy.  As we left Wal-Mart I experienced something I'd never felt on the bike.  I think I said in my helmet: "holy crap, did I just do a mini wheelie?"  Needless to say I was surprised.  

When accelerating away from a light it felt as though the front tire raised up when shifting out of 2nd.  I have a habit of quick acceleration from a stop.  Max shifts must smoother when shifting quickly as opposed to a slow easy shift.  He tends to clunk when shifting slower.  I made sure to accelerate quickly, but carefully after that.  We attributed it to the softer rear suspension settings.

From there we headed to Sushi Kyo for lunch.  What might a vegan find at a sushi restaurant you ask?  Plenty, such as avocado rolls, cucumber rolls, miso soup, veggie rolls, edamame, seaweed salad, and sesame balls filled with sweetened mung bean paste.  Yummy.

The only picture I took on Sunday was as we were leaving Sushi Kyo.

(Lucy and Max take us for sushi)
We left Sushi Kyo and made our way to Costco to venture the Sunday afternoon crowds.  I don't much like Costco crowds to begin with but we needed vitamins, coffee and pickled asparagus, etc. We had enough goodies we needed a cart to carry it to the bikes. Troubadour managed to pack away our purchases into the side cases and off we went. Back through Salem (our State capital) to our favorite twisty River Road towards home.

We decided not to go directly home, but to a riding friend's place.  She and her husband have started a traveling food cart to take to fairs and events and wanted to do a test run for their friends and family.  We detoured into Albany to visit and partake in Pronto Pups and Hurricane Fries.  I'd had neither before so it was an experience.  A Pronto Pup is like a corn dog (battered hot dog on a stick) only the batter is made with corn flour and is slightly puffy like it has baking powder in it.  Luckily one of her daughters is vegetarian so she had vegan dogs for us.  The Hurricane Fries are russet potatoes that are cut into a spiral on a stick, spread out and deep fried so that they are a combination of french fry and potato chip.

They were tasty but my body did not care for all of the oil.  We visited and gave feedback and suggestions and rode home later than expected.  We arrived home about 8:30 pm and relaxed for the evening.

Troubadour took Max to work yesterday and decided the front suspension needed to be tightened a smidge more as it was wallowing a bit in the corners.  He still hates the throttle lurch at low rpm but it is just part of everyday riding for me.  I am so used to it that it only really bothers me when I am tired or trying to adjust my grip. According to the Gladius/SV forum there is a TPS adjustment that eliminates it, so we may try it one day.

- Au Revoir

"I don't think America will have really made it until we have our own salad dressing.  Until then we are stuck behind the French, Italians, Russians, and Caesarians." - Pat McNelis
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30 comments:

  1. I can so relate to your 'wheelie' feeling. The first time I pulled the throttle on the Triumph, I had the same impression... But it was just the suspension lifting.

    Sushi places have also become my favourite locations for veggie food. I am thinking Mango rolls right now ;-)

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    1. Maybe it was as you were on there Triumph, maybe it was simply the suspension, but it sure felt like it lifted was so odd.

      I've heard of mango rolls but never tried them. I think I may have to make my own. I haven't made homemade rolls in a while.

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  2. It must feel nice to finally get the suspension worked out.

    I was doing great with your sushi food list until the last item. The sweetened bean paste has been one of the very few items on my "don't care for" food list since I was a kid. Others seem to really like it...

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    1. The bean paste is an acquired paste. I don't think we really liked it the first few times we had it. It is okay in small doses and better when hot. The sesame balls are only about 1.5 inches in diameter. The plates come with 3 little ones on it so it isn't too overwhelming.

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    2. Trobairitz:

      those sesame balls are Mrs Skoot's favourite. Even I have started to like them, but it is "good" grease

      bob
      Riding the Wet Coast
      My Flickr // My YouTube

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    3. Yeah, good grease, that's it.

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  3. Glad your suspension is sorted out & you are having better rides! Wheelies! Oh my! Is stunting in your future?

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    1. Me? Stunting? Ha, now that is funny. It is good to have the suspension pretty much sorted.

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  4. Good job on the quick suspension fix, soon you'll be wheelieing that thing like a pro....

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    1. I do not see any wheelies in my future unless they are inadvertent. I'm crazy that way.

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  5. Doesn't Paul Newman's company make American salad dressings....?

    http://www.newmansown.com/product_detail.aspx?productid=12

    ReplyDelete
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    1. That link is for wine salad dressing are you saying that whine goes great when thinking of America? If so I think you are correct. :-)

      I think they quote meant that the dressing itself isn't called American Dressing. As opposed to ordering a salad with French or Italian dressing if you asked for American Dressing on your salad you'd get odd looks I think.

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  6. Good job on the suspension set up! A bike that's fun to ride in the twistys is what motorcycling is all about! This will make Max a lot more fun to ride.

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    1. Thanks Erik. I am looking forward to more riding, but first I need to get Max back from Troubadour. He has had to use Max for commuting while Lucy is down.

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  7. Made me hungry just reading about all the food!

    The wheelie? Looks like Max was off and "raring to go"! :=)

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    1. Mmmmm food.

      Brad couldn't get Max to wheelie while commuting on him so we think that as I was letting the clutch out I was back on the throttle a little quick and that is what did it.

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  8. Trobairitz:

    I have one of these installed on my V-strom. It is dual function and has ATRE: Advanced Timing Retard Eliminator. I think due to emissions control it retards your timing on the lower gears (1-3), but not the higher ones (4+). It tricks your ECU into thinking you are in a higher gear thus changing the timing on low speeds. You just plug it in, only trick is to find a switched 12v power

    http://www.pashnit.com/product/gipro.html

    Finally, you are having FUN with MAX. I also wanted to say that when you mount your bike, there is NO Noticeable SAG.

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast
    My Flickr // My YouTube

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    1. Hmmm interesting link there Bob. I wonder if that would solve the throttle on/off issues. We have talked with a few people with fuel injected Suzukis and they all seem to have it. Did you before you installed this?

      I don't need the gear indicator as Max came stock with one. I wonder if it can be installed and hidden somewhere so I don't have to look at the gear display that I don't need. Although if you need to press a button to change mapping maybe not. Hmmmm.

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    2. Trobairitz:

      you can purchase the GiPro with only the TRE (without the GI: Gear Indicator)

      http://www.baysideperformance.ca/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2015_2467&products_id=14845

      you can select "other" gear maps by pushing a button. This is probably what is causing your low speed problem. My gearing is low and often I am searching for 7th gear to cut down the RPM's, so I know that I am in 6th when I see my LED readout. This unit will also give you a bit "more power" in gears 1 to 3, not that you want to do wheelies or stuff like that

      bob
      Riding the Wet Coast
      My Flickr // My YouTube

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    3. Thanks Bob. Looks like I need to do some research.

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  9. Like the snap's of ur Blue n White Bike, looks COOL....

    TT

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Tony. I kinda like the color combination too.

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  10. Suspension can be a real pain to get right, lots of fiddling and mucking around, you seem to have got it sorted now....you big hoon!

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    1. Ha, funny Roger.

      So far the suspension seems set well. Need to put some miles on it through the twistties to really test it.

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  11. Brandy,

    **BLUSH**, but thanks - really delighted that it's all coming together. It should indeed make your riding more enjoyable. I mentioned that you should get better tyre life but if you go on pulling wheelies or throwing it on its ear through the twisties, you'll probably halve it :-).

    Hey, those spiral fries are so cool!

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    1. Throwing it on it's ear? The suspension may be set better, but I'm still a big chicken. No worries wearing those tires out too quick.

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  12. Hi There ( Brandy)!!!! is that ur name ?
    Thx for your comment back on my Blog http://bikersblogtt.blogspot.co.uk/
    Are you on Face book ?
    http://www.facebook.com/tonytaylor477 to find me...

    HAve a nice weekend....

    TT

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    1. Friend request sent - but you knew that already.

      And yes, Brandy is my name.

      Delete
  13. I'm glad you are getting things closer to being all sorted out. And that the sun came out for a ride. Taking the bikes to Costco is a great way to keep from buying too much or buying what you don't really need. The sushi thing is one thing we don't have in common. I like my food cooked. Although I could probably tolerate veggie sushi.

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