How many clicks are there in the rear preload?

[big0red4224]

I was going over stuff and realized that in 6 months I've had my C14, I've never checked the suspension setup. I was looking a Fred's excellent article, and let's just say that me, packed up for a weekend is just shy of max capacity for the bike.

So, I go out and spin my rear adjuster out and find that I've been riding around at 6 clicks from minimum preload. I start running the adjuster in, I hit 12 and it starts to firm up a lot. I hit 21 and I cannot turn it any more. I'm going to ride it home at that setting and see how I like it.

The question is, HOW MANY clicks are there supposed to be from no preload to max preload?

 

[connie_rider]

Prolly about 14 clicks in, without luggage...
BUT: Adjust the clicks in and check the rider sag. Should be about 35 MM when your done.
If you need more or less clicks, adjust and check sag until you have it right.

Lots of video's available. Here is one.

 

[big0red4224]

Fred’s article suggests 22 clicks in for a 314 pound rider. I’ll ride it home tonight and get a real sag height, but I still would like to know how many clicks max preload is.

 

[Keith S]

Here’s my cheat sheet…

• Front Preload: (nut beneath thumb dial for rebound). softest is fully CCW. 19mm to 4mm CW (hardest). Standard is 14mm
• Front Rebound Damping: (thumb dial on top of fork): softest is fully clockwise. 11 clicks CCW to hardest (standard is 5 clicks CCW)
• Rear Preload: (Adjustment wheel) 24 clicks CW softest to hardest (standard is 10 clicks CW)
• Rear Rebound Damping: (flat tip screw at bottom of shock) 2 1/2 turns CCW from increased damping to least damping (standard is 1 1/4 turns CCW)

 

[connie_rider]

Fred’s article suggests 22 clicks in for a 314 pound rider. I’ll ride it home tonight and get a real sag height, but I still would like to know how many clicks max preload is.

Didn't realize you were adjusting for that much weight.
My suggestion was for a 200 Lb rider, and I doubt the spring is heavy enough for a 300 Lb rider on the 2008-2018 Connies.
If you have a newer Connie, the spring they install is stiffer, so mebbe.

I suggest start with mebbe 14 clicks, then do 18 Clicks, and measure the sag each time.
(this will allow you to see change)
Then increase/decrease as needed.

Ride safe, Ted

 

[big0red4224]

So minimum to maximum on my rear preload adjuster appears to be 26 clicks. I’m happy with my rear preload. I’m at 38mm ride height sag at full adjustment. I when I rode it home last night, it was at 40mm, and that was a lot better than the SIX clicks I was set at before.

Unloaded:
Untitled by bigangryscot, on Flickr

With me on it:
Untitled by bigangryscot, on Flickr

 

[connie_rider]

Progress!!!
You'll be a lot happier with that.
The next step would be a heavier spring, or an "aftermarket shock". (Better , but mucho $$)

Ride safe, Ted

 

[kzz1king]

Progress!!!
You'll be a lot happier with that.
The next step would be a heavier spring, or an aftermarket shock. (Better , but mucho $$)

Ride safe, Ted

It's pretty reasonable to have the shock rebuilt with a heavier spring added.

 

[big0red4224]

It shouldn't be to difficult to remove the spring and install a new one myself. Who sells heavier springs for the OEM shocks?

 

[Pete_COG_TN]

My observations on your original question as far as clicks from examining two 2008 shocks on the bench:
The adjuster had about 28 clicks from soft to hard. So starting all the way soft and turning toward firm and watching the preloader at the top of the shock, when starting to turn it in from full soft while turning the knob initially with little resistance, effectively nothing was happening at the actual shock preloader. The number of clicks in with no resistance while turning toward 'firm' was different on the two different shocks. The whole time I'm turning that knob without resistance the compressed spring length for the fully extended shock did not change. There is no preload change while turning the knob if it had no resistance, at least on the bench while I observed. So I believe it's not until there is a major change in resistance while turning the knob toward firm that any preload adjustment at the shock is actually occurring. When that resistance to turning the knob occurred, I could see visibly that the spring started to be compressed. The total amount the spring was compressed at full 'firm' varied with the two shocks also.

So my conclusion is turning the knob toward firm without resistance I believe isn't changing anything and therefore there's no substitute for properly setting the sag for a given load on the bike. My observations anyway. Good luck.

 

[Mercer]

My observations on your original question as far as clicks from examining two 2008 shocks on the bench:
The adjuster had about 28 clicks from soft to hard. So starting all the way soft and turning toward firm and watching the preloader at the top of the shock, when starting to turn it in from full soft while turning the knob initially with little resistance, effectively nothing was happening at the actual shock preloader. The number of clicks in with no resistance while turning toward 'firm' was different on the two different shocks. The whole time I'm turning that knob without resistance the compressed spring length for the fully extended shock did not change. There is no preload change while turning the knob if it had no resistance, at least on the bench while I observed. So I believe it's not until there is a major change in resistance while turning the knob toward firm that any preload adjustment at the shock is actually occurring. When that resistance to turning the knob occurred, I could see visibly that the spring started to be compressed. The total amount the spring was compressed at full 'firm' varied with the two shocks also.

So my conclusion is turning the knob toward firm without resistance I believe isn't changing anything and therefore there's no substitute for properly setting the sag for a given load on the bike. My observations anyway. Good luck.

Just throwing this out into discussion mix.

Differences in clicks one C14 shock to other is amount of air in adjuster circuit oil. With shock out of bike all air purged and new oil the first four clicks move compression of spring zero. That was with 1-28 clicks total. At 4 clicks adjuster starts to compress spring.

I have purged my adjuster circuit twice and that was best I could get.

Of note also a 280 lbs rider would require a 14.3 kg or 800 lbs rated spring to reach proper sag with properly loaded spring according to Race Tech.

Hope that helps!

 

[2andblue]

Progress!!!
You'll be a lot happier with that.
The next step would be a heavier spring, or an "aftermarket shock". (Better , but mucho $$)

Ride safe, Ted

We rode two up 95% or more and that results immediately on the factory spring being woefully inadequate….

We stepped into a Penske 8975 Double Adjustable, first mount up was great but not perfect and Schmitz Racing installed a bit heavier spring and now we have a very comfy ride that with 2-1/2 turns of the spring out I can ride solo and be comfortable and easily reset for when we both ride which is almost always.

As others have mentioned you can re-spring the factory shock. Try calling calling the above folks see if you can get a spring rate suggestion and also buy one from them.

Our fully geared, loaded for a trip weight is 420 #.

 

[Pete_COG_TN]

Just throwing this out into discussion mix.

Differences in clicks one C14 shock to other is amount of air in adjuster circuit oil. With shock out of bike all air purged and new oil the first four clicks move compression of spring zero. That was with 1-28 clicks total. At 4 clicks adjuster starts to compress spring.

I have purged my adjuster circuit twice and that was best I could get.

That makes sense. Just letting people know the typical installed shock on a C14 that hasn't been touched may vary as far as how many clicks to a certain amount of preload and sag.