So why bother with tweaking the suspension? It will give you a better and safer adventure ride on your dual sport or dirt bike.
The purpose of suspension tuning is to take full advantage of grip and control.
If your suspension is too soft, and you frequently bottom out, then you will have a difficult time controlling the dual sport bike.
If your suspension is too hard, then the bike will falter on minor bumps and you will loose grip, and most likely control.
If all is just right, you'll be able to retain control while traveling fast over lesser bumps and still be able to take up the larger hits without having to reduce speed too much.
Riding a properly tuned dual sport bike makes an enormous difference in a rider's capability to go fast over changeable terrain.
And, the fact is if you're not going fast, your suspension does not actually matter - almost anything will work suitably enough.
So, how do you deal with all those combinations in suspension modification? Fundamentally, a very basic order is recommend: 1.
Get the preload correct.
Once you get the preload correct, go to the next stage.
If you require longer spacers than the longest permitted, then you require stronger springs.
2.
Get the front damping correct.
Normally, this means varying fork oil weights, but your dual sport bike may be modifiable.
It does not actually matter, just get it correct.
The heavier the oil, the smaller amount your forks will compress on a large hit and the less they will take up the stutter-bumps (= loss of grip).
After that, when this feels about correct, continue.
3.
Get the fork oil height correct.
The higher the oil is in the tub, the quicker your air pressure will build up and the stiffer your forks will get prior to bottoming.
If the above is correct, and you still bottom a lot in the front, add more oil - being aware of the maximum for your bike.
Now to the last step.
4.
Fine-tune the compression and rebound dampening for you back shock.
So, what is correct? You may notice that I have spent much time telling what can be tweaked, and the sequence to tweak them, but nothing in relation to what they should be tweaked to.
This is because I can not tell you.
Suspension modification is not actually about particular measurements or correct and incorrect, it is about the top compromise you can acquire for YOUR riding style.
Suspension isn't faultless; it is constantly about trading off one thing for another...
You want soft suspension for grip but stiff suspension for the larger hits.
In detail, the settings you use as a novice will ordinarily be way too soft when you really know what you are doing.
Then again, I have also seen novice riders' way over-stiffen their suspension.
Primarily, they are hitting the bigger bumps incorrectly, hitting the suspension until it bottoms out.
To balance, they stiffen the suspension to prevent the bottoming, but in doing so they give up grip.
Lacking the control from decent grip, they can not ride that quick.
What I am saying is that the suspension needs to be adjusted to the suit rider.
There are merely too many variables: Height, bike, terrain, weight, ability, etc..
There are many people out in the world offering precise advice.
If you can find somebody with the identical variables as you, you may get some honest information on where to start.
This is particularly accurate if you are riding a dual sport bike beyond of its intentional purpose, a BMW GS bike on tight-forest trails for illustration.
General advice for all brands, terrain, and riders, will probably be less useful than the stock factory settings.
What this article is attempting to do is just give a little insight into what the terminology mean and various ideas about what every setting will do.
You get to take it from there.
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