The current state of things: 2013 SB; Intiminators; Traxxion 44x380x.95kg springs; 6 inch PVC spacers, later trimmed to 5 inch; 10w Amsoil at 135mm; Speed Merchant preload adjusters; 235lb rider.

I got everything in last weekend but with the deluge and other obligations, it's taken me some time to sort things out.

My first challenge was the sag. I got unladen at 153mm. Striction measurements were within 3mm, so I pretty much ignored it. The best laden sag I could get with the adjusters full out was 118mm, about 23 percent. Close, but a bit too far off the desired 30 percent.

I rode a bit and it was actually pretty good. Generally, speed bumps and other rough spots felt better. However, I was disappointed at the Intiminators' performance on milled streets. (Georgia Ave from the District line up about two miles into Silver Spring is being resurfaced so is a perfect spot to test on right now.)

It was about as wobbly on this surface as it was before with everything stock. With what's been said here I expected an amazing transition. But, no.

After some measuring I decided to cut spacers down to 5 inches. With the adjusters just touching the slug, this gave me laden sag of 108mm, almost 30 percent. I rode it like that again in town, on the milled roads and for about a 50-mile ride at highway speeds.

Everything was nice, except I had the same results on the milled stretch, though it might have been just a little better. I noticed, too, it seems worse at lower speeds and got a little bit better up around 30+mph.

I'm going to keep working on it, next, tightening the adjusters bit by bit and see how it handles after that. All I can do with the adjusters at this point is to get less sag.

Is it possible that less sag might help with the squirrely handling on the milled road? How about oil level? Might changing it help with that?

I may go back in and measure from the top of the tube to the bottom of the adjuster so that, full out, it just touches the slug. As it is, I have to tighten the adjuster about half-way to get it touching. That seems a waste of potential adjustability.

I'm also still fiddling with the Ricor shocks a little. I liked how they felt before the front fork mod, but am wondering if their interaction with the front is part of my milled road problem. I'm still not sure how to convert the Ricor instructions for the rear shock sag into a percentage that I can match with the front.

 

What tires are you running? I'm running about 25% sag and my bike is pretty stable on those screwed up roads but I'm running commanders. If your still using the stock dunlops that could be your squirrelly issue. I know mine wanted to chase every rut in the road

 

At this point I would check your steer bearing head adjustment. You are close enough that you shouldn't be feeling all that with the intimidators. I't real common on a dyna that they have to be tightened up at the 1K point.

I would imagine you have the stock michelin which is a much better tire then the dunlaps they use to come with and they should be good to go.

 

Yep, I have the Michelins. The bike has about 1.6k on it so the steering head bearings could be the culprit. I'll get on it probably tomorrow and post the results.

Thanks for the ideas.

 

I'm curios, when you say milled roads, do you mean that there are deep scrapes like an inch or two apart?

The first time I got on the bike after I installed the intimidators (with the stock springs) I kinda felt I wasted my money as I didn't notice much difference. Then the more I rode it the more suprised I was. It's a great product but it doesn't take a bad road away if you know what I mean.

 

Yeah, rooti, it's the standard thing where they scrape off the old asphalt down to the concrete in preparation for resurfacing.

I didn't expect all the bumps and roughness of bad roads to go away.

It's just the fluid, sideways wiggling, like you get on rain grooves, that I expected to stop, and which I thought would from what a lot of people here have said.

 

I don't think any kind of suspension will make that wobble go away if it's scraped real deep. I have spots that are lightly scraped and it floats over them but once they scrape them real deep it is sketchy but much less then stock.

I would still check your steering head but I think you'll find a bigger difference after you put on more miles. Sometimes you expect a miracle..it ain't all that. I went on rodes like that with the stock suspension and thought I wash going to crash it was so bad. Go fly over some railroad tracks, do some sweepers, and get in some twisties and report back.

I have loosened my ricor shocks a bit since the front end upgrade but haven't measured them since I originally set them up before the intimidators. I've been meaning to give Brian a call to see what the 12.5's are in total travel.

 

My bad I didn't realize the new bikes are coming with michelins. Even so, I'm still curious how they measure up to a commander or a metzler. (Or are they commanders?) I agree with rooti tho check the steering head. Also a lot of guys that have upgraded their suspension have stabilizer systems installed which really help to tighten the bike up, but when they cut those roads, most of the time the grooves aren't straight and even a car will track with them. But if you go hit a twisty road you will be pleasantly surprised at how well the bike reacts to a nasty bump in the turn

 

Just saw this post. I've got all the parts but haven't installed them yet. When I tear it apart I'm sending my front end out to Joe at Powder Pro. I'm saving up some coin before all that can happen. I'll definitely post here when I get it all set-up.

 

I've got all the internals now but the oil--which I'll get from my brother.

But now I'm waiting on an FXDC top triple tree and will need to send that, the lower triple tree and maybe my extra lowers (that are already wrinkle black) out for gloss black coating. And pick up risers and a clamp... But it now being riding season, it's hard to figure out when to rip it all apart for this...