I'm wondering if my rear shock is behaving as it's supposed to. I still need to adjust the preload to my weight, but that's not the issue I'm seeing. It seems like it takes more than a second to fully rebound, and the rebound is weak. Fully compressing it while standing next to the bike, then letting it go, has it raise very slowly to its normal height. Doing the same thing on my other bikes in the garage, and it comes up many times faster. Have I sprung a leak already?
I just went outside. Lifted the bike off the side stand, pushed down and it came back up, just how it should. Alex, I think you are right, something is not right.
Thx, Brian. I just spoke with the local shop, and I'm going to ride it in Saturday morning to get a second opinion. The service writer said that on very new shocks, sometimes it takes time to loosen up / bed in, so with more miles it might rebound faster. But they'll take a look directly. I think I'll have them adjust the preload quite a bit stiffer as well to better match my weight. I haven't bent down there with a tool yet, not sure if this bike even comes with a tool to adjust it. I'll try and post a video of what I'm seeing now as well if I'm feeling ambitious tonight.
How many times on your bike? I have a bit over 2K on mine and all seems well for this newb, in the dirt. On the road, I can heal the bike way over using the entire tire. I weigh 180. The gear I wear varies depending on the weather and riding I'm doing.
It's practically new. I don't think it has 100 miles on it yet. Not picking up many miles at the dirt park yet.
Oh WOW. Ummm, well. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if its good and they tell you to ride it! LOL I'll say this, this bike feels better and better the more miles I put on it. Everything about it!
OK, I think things may be OK. I took it into the local shop tomorrow, and they saw what I meant. So we went to a new one that they had on the floor, and it was almost as slow/weak to come back as mine. So it's not a defect, it's just how these bikes are. The one on the floor had its shock preload a little tighter than mine, by two threads. I imagine if I can get the preload stiffened up, it will behave exactly the same. I'm thinking the only real answer at some point will be a rebuilt or upgraded rear shock, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
I had them tighten up the rear preload a bit at the 600 mile service today. They ended up doing it the cheapy way (screwdriver and hammer), rather than the official way, but that helps me figure out what I need to do on my own next time. I had tried unsuccessfully with a screwdriver and a mallet, but they showed me how they removed the left panel to get a straighter shot. Bike felt fine on the highway, and it wasn't sagging quite as much. The slow rebound still seemed about the same; it seems to just be a characteristic of this shock setup.
