Good writeup, and it pretty much mimics my experience. You got the exact same shocks I did, valved for the exact same weight. I'm curious about your 2-up settings. We had no issues going out to Arkansas a few weeks ago. This past weekend we went to Indiana and back, and we felt like we were getting the crap kicked out of us.

I'm thinking I boned up the preload when I reset the shocks for the trip, and now I'm having a major brain-fart and second-guessing myself. You said, "My wife and I found the ride too firm leaving the Preload setting at my solo setting. In my case, my two-up Preload setting is ľ to 1 full turn less Preload when riding two-up." I'm taking that to mean that you turned the collar counter-clockwise to go from your solo setting to your two-up setting?

I hate it when I start second-guessing myself on simple crap like this.......

 

I can't get the direction straight either. I think it was clockwise. I watch the threads when I turn the collar. For two up you want almost one less thread showing between the collar and the top of the shock.

 

C'mon guys, righty tighty, lefty loosey. The way I am seein' it, if you are turnin' the collar clockwise (righty tighty) you are compressing the spring and creating a stiffer ride with a shorter shock travel. Turnin' the collar counter-clockwise (lefty loosey) you are expanding the spring for a softer ride with more shock travel. I took a sharpie marker and marked one of the machined detents as a witness mark and turned my collar 1/4 turn clockwise from preset and I will go from there. I wasn't able to do a test ride after adjustment but it will get a valid test in the morning when I travel to work through the town of Ipswich MA which has the worst 2 mile stretch of road going through their downtown, in the state. Pray for me.

 

OK, well now this is clear as mud. On the Progressives I have on the Night Train, you turn the wrench counter-clockwise to increase the preload for passengers. I'd assume that the Ricors adjust the same way for the reason that Soos said; for a passenger, you'd want the increased travel. ATrain, I think that's what you're saying. If you want one less thread showing at the top of the shock, you'd be loosening the collar (turning it counter-clockwise). I should probably go out and look at the bike, but I'm beat and it's dark out there.

Or do I just need to sleep on this and start again after coffee tomorrow?

 

I think you are right, but in my moment of stoopidity the righty/lefty thing got away from me!

 

I think I figured out what I did....I think the shocks were already in the two-up setting and I cranked them another turn. I'll have to check this evening.

 

Well now I am confused. I always thought that if you add weight, like a passenger, you would ADD preload. You guys are saying that you DECREASE the preload. Seems backwards to me - but I may have it all wrong. I have my Ricor shocks set at about 4 turns out from the top for solo riding (I'm 175 lbs) and another 2 turns out for 2 up - and I'm very happy.
Maybe Brian at Ricor can comment.
Separately, I also posted a review of my Ricor shocks last week in the suspension section. Bottom line - big thumbs up for Ricor.

 

I just left a voice mail at Ricor to either call me back or post here with a clarification.

 

They're not very good at answering emails. That's for sure.

 

05Train
Maybe this will help. XLXR has been helping riders out on another forum for a long time. Great on suspension. I was lifting part of his write up to include in the future when we ship shocks. Link to his entire suspension write up is at the bottom.



SHOCK PRELOAD

Setting the shock preload is the next adjustment to work with. The preload adjuster is the collar above the spring. Turning the collar downward shortens the spring and that makes it stiffer. Turning the collar upwards lengthens the spring to make it feel softer.

If you add a passenger, you will probably need to move the adjuster collar to make the spring stiffer. Initially make small moves, it usually does not take much movement to increase the preload for the additional weight of a passenger.

If the ride feels harsh and does not use all the shock travel, reduce preload. If the ride feels soft and bottoms out too much, increase preload.

“Bottoming out” happens when the spring is too weak for the rider’s weight and the shock compresses through all the suspension travel when hitting big bumps in the road. If you have the preload adjuster set to max stiff, and you still bottom out, you need a stiffer spring.

“Topping out” is opposite of bottoming out. Topping out is when the shock fully extends and hits metal to metal when the bike is thrown up into the air over bumps. Topping out can feel as rough as bottoming out. Topping out can be caused by too little rider sag due to too much spring preload.

In general, you want the shock to bottom out softly when you hit the biggest bump you ever hit. That way, you know you are using all the shock travel available. You never want to bottom out so hard you break something or hurt your back.

A plastic tie around the forks or shocks can be an important suspension tool. If you put a plastic tie on a fork or shock, and then observe different kinds of bumps, you can learn a lot about how your suspension reacts to different road conditions

RIDER SAG AND PRELOAD of FORKS AND SHOCKS

Setting rider sag in the forks and shocks is one of the first things you must do for proper suspension tuning. Rider sag of the shock is generally measured vertically, from the axle straight up to the fender. Rider sag of the forks is generally measured parallel to the forks, not vertically as with the shocks.

If you jack the bike up so the tires are in the air, the suspension is fully extended. As you lower the bike and put weight on the suspension, the suspension compresses a bit. That is called bike sag. If you then sit on the bike, the suspension compresses even more. That is called rider sag.

Rider sag is the distance the forks or shocks compress when the rider is sitting on the bike. Generally you want the forks and shocks to compress 1/3 to 1/4 total travel when you sit on the bike. Nightsters and Lows with short travel suspensions, need to have rider sag set at the minimum in order to maximize usable travel. Roadsters can usually get away with a little extra rider sag because they have more suspension travel.

Changing spring preload changes rider sag. More preload stiffens the spring and reduces rider sag, less preload softens the spring and increases rider sag. Shock rider sag is set by turning the adjuster. Fork rider sag is set by changing the length of the preload spacer inside the forks.

The absolute minimum fork preload you can use is whatever length is needed to take up the space between the top of the spring and bottom of the fork cap when the fork cap is screwed all the way down and the forks are fully extended. This will keep the spring from bouncing around inside the forks.

Another consideration is after 15,000 miles or so, the springs may lose a bit of tension, which is normal. If that happens, you may have to increase the length of the preload spacer a bit to compensate and get back to the original sag you wanted. Eventually, the springs may get so weak, no amount of preload will help. Then you have to get new springs.

http://xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/showthread.php?t=552795