Rear wheel hop/ rear suspension?

[Alan Spears]

Went for a long ride on some dirt/gravel roads this weekend. Every time I had an uphill section my rear wheel would start to bounce and spin, to the point where I would have to slow to a first gear crawl in order to get traction. I am assuming it has to due to rear shock setting or just the fact its a stock shock (all settings maxed out) I'm a 6'2" 225 lb rider. My question is the obvious... what can I change (if any) to make this better? If stock just wont work then what works for you guys?

[Mustang]

new shock is desperately needed ...................
it has probably been the contributor to your light feeling front end also

[Alan Spears]

new shock is desperately needed ...................
it has probably been the contributor to your light feeling front end also

Is there a consensus on which rear shock to get for an 02?

[Mustang]

The hagon is going to be the least expensive .......about 600 bucks for one that has remote preload like the oem on your Girly

Link for Hagon in the USA  http://www.davequinnmotorcycles.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/HAGON_MONOSHOCKS.html
ohlins are unobtainable for girlies
wilbers are good but you are going to need a second mortgage
penske is going for 800-1200 bucks


the aftermarkets are all good compared to the OEM unit
depends what you want to spend

[Advwannabe]

At your size and weight I would avoid the Hagon and anything else that doesn't have a remote reservoir.

Tigger has a long swingarm and no linkage so the shock has to work very hard. Once the oil overheats you are back to where you were with the stocker.

I'm about to replace my Hagon with a Wilbers tp try and eliminate this problem. You are welcome to grab my Hagon to give it a try, it will be cheap, but really you should just bite the bullet and do the job properly the first time.

[Dutch]

wilbers are good but you are going to need a second mortgage

The good thing, that mortgage doesn't have to be on a big estate  :icon_wink:

Picture in Dutch Queen topic

[Alan Spears]

At your size and weight I would avoid the Hagon and anything else that doesn't have a remote reservoir.

Tigger has a long swingarm and no linkage so the shock has to work very hard. Once the oil overheats you are back to where you were with the stocker.

I'm about to replace my Hagon with a Wilbers tp try and eliminate this problem. You are welcome to grab my Hagon to give it a try, it will be cheap, but really you should just bite the bullet and do the job properly the first time.

Buy the time I add freight your Hagon may indeed be as expensive as the Wilbers.  Are you having traction/hop issues with the Hagon?

[DavidR8]

My suspension expertise extends to the ability to identify a shock absorber at 20 paces but the OP said that everything was maxed out on his original shock. I presume this to mean preload at amx and rebound damping at max.

If I understand how rebound damping works, having max rebound damping would encourage a 'hopping' effect because the shock can't rebound quickly enough to be ready to absorb the next impact making the rear bounce off the bumps instead of absorbing the impact.

[Alan Spears]

My suspension expertise extends to the ability to identify a shock absorber at 20 paces but the OP said that everything was maxed out on his original shock. I presume this to mean preload at amx and rebound damping at max.

If I understand how rebound damping works, having max rebound damping would encourage a 'hopping' effect because the shock can't rebound quickly enough to be ready to absorb the next impact making the rear bounce off the bumps instead of absorbing the impact.

that makes since... I was given that advise from someone I believe is a pavement only rider. I just went out and cut the rebound in half, I will ride some rough roads tomorrow and maybe that will help until I save up about 700!

[Bixxer Bob]

Too much damping also causes "pump-down".   If you hit enough bumps in a row and what you described occurs, the travel gets less for every bump because the shock has no time to recover, eventually it locks at the minimum travel point and you now effectively have a rigid frame, no suspension.  As soon as you clear the bumps it clears itself until the next lot, and so on.....

[Alan Spears]

Too much damping also causes "pump-down".   If you hit enough bumps in a row and what you described occurs, the travel gets less for every bump because the shock has no time to recover, eventually it locks at the minimum travel point and you now effectively have a rigid frame, no suspension.  As soon as you clear the bumps it clears itself until the next lot, and so on.....

My shock appears to be "working" as it does dampen. My question for you guys is how will a new fancier shock help?

[Bixxer Bob]

The most notable change after fitting my Hagon was a lot less ear-ache. 

Mainly due to the talking ballast getting a smoother ride.....

[JTT]

 

The most notable change after fitting my Hagon was a lot less ear-ache. 

Mainly due to the talking ballast getting a smoother ride.....

[Advwannabe]

Yeah I'm still getting the juddering with the Hagon. I can dial it out a little by winding up the damping, but ride on a rough dirt road for more than about half an hour, the oil overheats and I'm back to no damping.

This is why I'm thinking of a more expensive remote reservoir shock

[DavidR8]

Too much damping also causes "pump-down".   If you hit enough bumps in a row and what you described occurs, the travel gets less for every bump because the shock has no time to recover, eventually it locks at the minimum travel point and you now effectively have a rigid frame, no suspension.  As soon as you clear the bumps it clears itself until the next lot, and so on.....

My shock appears to be "working" as it does dampen. My question for you guys is how will a new fancier shock help?

It will certainly help drain dollars from the bank. I'm not an off road guy (except for today ) and our roads are reasonably smooth so a new shock is way off in the future for me.