narrow rider
XS650 Member
Ok, my first post here... New to the forum, but I've been riding my '83 Heritage Special for about 5 years now. I'm only about 125- 130 lbs, and I found my stock rear springs were too stiff on my my bike. I had the preload adjuster set as soft as they would allow, but everytime I hit even a moderately sized bump in the pavement, I get bounced right off the seat. The shocks are not bent, broken or seized, they dampen and rebound fine. When I have a passenger on the back seat, the bike rides much better. I rebuilt the front forks a few years ago, and the front seems perfect.
I poked around and did some researching on this site a few weeks ago about this subject, and in one thread someone suggested a set of springs/shocks from a Yamaha SR500 since they had a little softer spring rate. I found a set on eBay, put them on the bike, and it's slightly better but I still feel that even those rear springs are too stiff my my narrow butt even with the preload set on the lowest setting. I had a friend measure between the shock mount bolts while I was sitting on the bike, and it settles not quite 1/2", while the front settles almost exactly 1". From what I've read, I should be seeing about 1" of settling as ideal, and equal amounts of settling for the front and the rear. And since the front feels right to me while riding, I'm guessing my rear springs are still too stiff for my weight.
Any other suggestions for some factory Yamaha (or any other 12.5" eye-to-eye length) springs/shocks that are a little softer than the SR500 units? I'm looking for something that's readily available and fairly inexpensive, money is a bit tight lately. Thanks for any advice...
Billy
I poked around and did some researching on this site a few weeks ago about this subject, and in one thread someone suggested a set of springs/shocks from a Yamaha SR500 since they had a little softer spring rate. I found a set on eBay, put them on the bike, and it's slightly better but I still feel that even those rear springs are too stiff my my narrow butt even with the preload set on the lowest setting. I had a friend measure between the shock mount bolts while I was sitting on the bike, and it settles not quite 1/2", while the front settles almost exactly 1". From what I've read, I should be seeing about 1" of settling as ideal, and equal amounts of settling for the front and the rear. And since the front feels right to me while riding, I'm guessing my rear springs are still too stiff for my weight.
Any other suggestions for some factory Yamaha (or any other 12.5" eye-to-eye length) springs/shocks that are a little softer than the SR500 units? I'm looking for something that's readily available and fairly inexpensive, money is a bit tight lately. Thanks for any advice...
Billy
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