M50 rear suspension?

[888]

Has anybody adjusted their rear suspension from the factory setting at 3? I weigh 88kg and I'm certainly feeling the bumps on the road! After the plush suspension of the DR650....! While the M50 is easy to steer around most obstacles, I'm going to try and turn the suspension down to 2 and see how that goes. Still trying to find the adjustment tool, no luck so far with the dealers....

[888]

Colemans came back with a price of $50! I see that there are C Spanners for about $25 bucks on the web, just have to make sure they are 32-76 sized.

[The Lone Rider]

Not the same bike, but riding solo I have preload on the middle most setting, or one heavier for longer trips. Two on the bike, always the most preload.

Just what you get on a lot of cruisers - not much adjustment.

If the front wallows, you can try a heavier oil in the front forks. Does make a difference.

[munster]

Haven't found mine to be a problem, mind you I'm a bit bigger than you. 6'3" and 102 kg's. It's nice 2 up and maybe a little stiffer when it's just me, I'm on setting 3 as well. I haven't had any issues with the front end at all.

Mods to my M50 so far;
Kentucky Drive saddle bags & OEM backrest - fitted already when I bought it.
drilled out rear baffle plates - 8 x 12 mm holes in each (had 4 mm holes when I bought it, made them bigger)
blacked out chrome speedo cover
Stebel Nautilus Compact Air horn
Cooley's 2 inch Risers
John's Forward Control Kit - 3.5 inches

Mods to come;
seat - either Mustang Tourer or I'll send to MacDonalds in Tauranga. Still deciding
Luggage rack to fit OEM backrest
BikeVis Bullet LED Lights

[888]

12mm holes! I'm going to buy some cobalt drill bits and cutting oil and have a crack the de-baffle myself. So you went with just 12mm holes, was there a substantial difference inbetween the 4mm and 12mm?

[outlawtorn]

Hey guys, don't know anything about the suspension, mine hasn't been an issue. But I wouldn't debaffle the pipes. sounds like a friggin tractor, rather go to custom chambers and get a set of baffles from there, worth every penny, because they come with two sets of baffles and they are easy as to remove those baffles AND put them back in. Check out their website www.customchambers.co.nz. I got my slip ons done there, sound great and look stock!

[888]

Yeah, while I'm keen to hear what drilling out some holes will do- not so keen if it ends up sounding like crap! $700 NZ to get some cobra dragstars shipped over from the states is under half price what I would get over here!

[The Lone Rider]

Yeah, while I'm keen to hear what drilling out some holes will do- not so keen if it ends up sounding like crap! $700 NZ to get some cobra dragstars shipped over from the states is under half price what I would get over here!

If you read the step through write up I linked in the previous thread, it is straight forward and does not sound like a tractor.

If it sounds like a tractor, you are doing it wrong.

Drilling the rear plate is a semi-non destructive modification. If you ultimately don't like the sound, you loose little since you're talkin about getting a set of after market exhausts. All you loose is a set of sewing machine exhausts. And if you really want them back to stock, once you pull them off in place of the cobras or chambers, you can make up a new plate without drilled holes and rivet or weld back on.

Quite a few Hondas are easier to do all this - the plates are held on with rivets you can tap out and rivet back on once you modify or repair.

[munster]

12mm holes! I'm going to buy some cobalt drill bits and cutting oil and have a crack the de-baffle myself. So you went with just 12mm holes, was there a substantial difference inbetween the 4mm and 12mm?

Little louder, but definitely deeper. Not aware of any 'tractor' sound at all. I love underpassess & bridges, or any enclosed space. :-)

Come have a listen and make your own mind up.

[rogson]

I increased the preload on the rear spring on my mates M50 a few weeks ago. Access to the adjusting collar is limited. None of my assortment of C-spanners worked adequately, so I ended-up knocking it around with a drift/hammer - worked fine. If you wish you can make rotating it a little easier by lifting the rear of the bike so as to unload the suspension/spring.

[888]

thanks for that- out of curiosity, what setting did you move it too? 3 seems pretty good for my weight, but I'm interested to see if 2 makes the bike less sharp on bumps.

[rogson]

My mate is a pretty big unit, so I adjusted to the maximum preload (7 of 7?). Bear in mind the adjustment only adjusts spring preload and hence the ride height - not the damping rate. It will only effect harshness over bumps to the extent that increasing preload increases the available compression stroke of the shock and therefore increases resistance to bottoming. I recommend you start by increasing preload to the maximum - it shouldn't feel any stiffer in normal riding, but might be more comfortable on big bumps/hits. With maximum preload there is a (I think small) possibilty that the shock could "top-out" on the rebound stroke. If it does you can back-off the preload in stages until it doesn't. Increasing the preload/ride-height also has the benefit of increasing the ground clearance a little - which is a nice-to-have on the M50.

[888]

Thanks for that! I'll bang it up to 6 and see how that feels- I'll have to re-read your post to understand how the spring actually works but I'm on the right track now.

[888]

Very noticeable difference from 3 to 6; bumps in the road do not feel anywhere near as harsh and the bike feels much more "tight" when hammering through corners! Might crank it up to 7, but six is great- thanks for the advice. Super easy to adjust, avoided spending $50 for a tool at Colemans, just had the local Honda shop dig up a couple of old c spanners and they worked perfectly with a piece of pipe on the end.