I’ve begun to mess around with the suspension settings on my (new to me) 01 XL1200S. Following the procedure outlined in the owner’s manual, my starting point is to put all the damping adjustments back to the factory settings and go from there (I am at the “average” rider weight). This should be pretty straight forward but the manual is not consistent or complete.

The manual gives settings for fork rebound, compression and preload. The same info is given for the rear shock except rebound info is given one place and compression is given in another place. According to settings table in the manual, rear rebound is not adjustable. At the same time, the Rear Suspension Adjustments section of text gives a procedure for adjusting rear rebound! There is no mention of rear compression adjustment in the text but there is a setting position number in the table. The rear preload is adjusted conventionally via the cam steps (cam step 3 is the factory setting) and something is adjusted at the top of the gas cartridge via a H-S dial (adjustment screw). While looking at all of this on the bike I found that there are actually two H-S dials for each rear shock just as there are for the front forks. On each side, one at the top and one bottom. Question is, are these the same as the front? Rebound at the top and compression at the bottom? If so, what are factory position settings for these? Any help is much appreciated. My confidence in the manual has suffered greatly.

 

The "S" model had a completely adjustable (front and rear, compression & rebound) suspension unlike *every* other Harley. Once you find the adjustment screws, toss the owner's manual back in a drawer somewhere and go pick up Total Control by Lee Parks. That book explains suspension setup better than any other other book out there for the non-racer/non-expert. Highly recommended.

Suspension setup can seem like a black art at first, but is actually pretty straight forward once you understand the terminology, the theory and understand preload - THE singular most misunderstood suspension setting. And for sakes of kittens and babies everywhere, do NOT lower your Sportster. You'll completely trash it's potentially excellent handling.

In short:
1 - set preload front and rear FIRST. If your preload is not correct, there's no point continuing on. Your preload (or "static sag" - the amount of suspension sag when you, the rider, all geared up, is sitting stationary on the bike) should be roughly 30-35% of total suspension travel.
2 - set compression first. With a friend or two, be on the bike and have him press down once on the front and let go. Adjust the compression damping (not dampening) so that the front comes back up and stops. No wallowing or bouncing. Record the turns in or clicks.
3 - do the same to the rear.
4 - next, guesstimate the percentage of total adjustment your compression setting is now at, and set your rebound damping, front and rear, to roughly the same percentage of adjustment.
5 - rebound damping is best tested by road testing the bike. Minor tweaks to compression to suit your tastes

Buy the book and go thru' the detail of it. it's easy, it just takes a few times doing to get the whole thing.

The "S" should never have been discontinued. ALL sportsters should be what the "S" is.

 

Thanks! Sound like a great approach--I'll give it a shot. I talked to a mech at HD and it was not much help. This bike seems to be fading from memory.

 

Good info, thanks. I will have to try this.

 

So if Harley made a Sportster SS, would it be called a Sporty Sport Sport?


Sorry, couldn't resist

 

Sporty sport sport! Rolls of thetongue doesn’t it? I like the SS concept. The Super Sport is name waiting for a bike to happen.

 

Hey, Joey Joe Joe!

 

Heh. Take a Buell to an "old school" Harley mech and watch him scratch his head. I actually heard a mech tell a customer one time, "Nah, we don't work on the foreign bikes here" when he wanted an oil change and belt adjustment on his Buell. It was kind of funny.

 

Here's a good article on setting preload, or "static sag". This covers the basics pretty well and goes into just enough detail. Again, unless the static sag is set correctly, no amount of damping will be useful (enough). Full suspension travel is critical to proper handling and, of course, comfort.

http://www.racetech.com/articles/Sus...AndSprings.htm