Whoda thunked lil' ole frugal me would still be farkling bikes this late in the game – theirs and mine. In this case, it was the KLR - again. I replaced the rear shock today with a Progressive 465 in prep for a multiday run over in the wilds of WV looking for grave markers of long gone relatives, including that of my great-grand dad. Also planning on running down to the old defunct coal mine of Nuttallburg along the New River. Getting down there is reported to be interesting on a narrow gravel road. Regardless, this place has been on my bucket list for a number of years, so might as well do it while I think I still can.
The KLR’s suspension has never been known to provide stellar performance. The last time I did anything of significance in the rear was when I replaced the stock shock’s spring with a Progressive 420 type to help combat my overloaded bike for the GDR Ride. It helped in that regard, but the spring severely overwhelmed the dampening capabilities of the basic shock itself, whose dampening basically became non-existent. That was done back in 2005 40K+ miles ago, so I know the shock it totally hosed and basically useless. I certainly don’t want the tail end of the bike pogoing over every little irregularity in the roads I know I’ll be on. I did install Progressive springs and Race Tech Emulators in the front at 45K miles, and that helped a bunch. So, time to help out the back end of the bike.
Sack was pretty much dead nuts right out of the box, and we’ll fool with the sag once I start playing with my intended load for the trip. Ditto that with the pre-load. Not expecting miracles, but any improvement over what I’ve been living with should be a revelation.
Time will tell.
The KLR’s suspension has never been known to provide stellar performance. The last time I did anything of significance in the rear was when I replaced the stock shock’s spring with a Progressive 420 type to help combat my overloaded bike for the GDR Ride. It helped in that regard, but the spring severely overwhelmed the dampening capabilities of the basic shock itself, whose dampening basically became non-existent. That was done back in 2005 40K+ miles ago, so I know the shock it totally hosed and basically useless. I certainly don’t want the tail end of the bike pogoing over every little irregularity in the roads I know I’ll be on. I did install Progressive springs and Race Tech Emulators in the front at 45K miles, and that helped a bunch. So, time to help out the back end of the bike.
Sack was pretty much dead nuts right out of the box, and we’ll fool with the sag once I start playing with my intended load for the trip. Ditto that with the pre-load. Not expecting miracles, but any improvement over what I’ve been living with should be a revelation.
Time will tell.
