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BajaRon Bar - Now I Know What All the Talk is About

sjcpanther

New member
Ron - You absolutely hit a home run with this one! I only bought one because of all the talk on the thread, and I was having some handling problems. Nothing I felt I couldn't get used to, though.

Took me and a buddy about 2 hours to install the bar today. I have extremely limited mechanical skills, and so does my buddy. But it does help to have another set of eyes watching over you. Went completely by the detailed instructions, and used some previously posted pictures on this forum, and had no problem at all.

Now for the difference it makes. I know this has all been said before, but until you actually feel the difference, you just can't understand or believe it. I'm taking curves like I didn't even know was possible. It handles so much better. The whole bike feels lighter. No more heavy turning. It's just so smooth.

I only had it out for about 20 minutes after the install, but it was enough to tell the difference.

I do have a question -- BajaRon suggests setting the front tires to 19 PSI and the rear tire to 30 PSI. I have mine at 17 and 28 now. I will be making that change. I also changed my front shocks to 4 setting some time back, up from the factory 3. After installing the bar, everything now feels so much looser, and much more sensitive. I feel more bumps in the road. I'm assuming that once I up my tire pressure, and adjust my front and rear shocks, the ride will even out? I changed the fronts to 4 and the bumps got better. Maybe I should change them back to 3? And re-adjust the rear to match?

Again, all-in-all, this is the best $200 I ever spent. Unbelievable difference. I guess I just need to play around with those 2 things and it'll be that much better?

What other adjustments have all of you made after installing this new sway bar?
 
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Fixing to find out, just finished installing mine! Will report back soon!


Sent from my home in Central Texas!
 
And you had doubts..??

By now there should be no question..:roflblack: Just another happy customer..!! Enjoy :thumbup:
 
Ron - You absolutely hit a home run with this one! I only bought one because of all the talk on the thread, and I was having some handling problems. Nothing I felt I couldn't get used to, though.

Took me and a buddy about 2 hours to install the bar today. I have extremely limited mechanical skills, and so does my buddy. But it does help to have another set of eyes watching over you. Went completely by the detailed instructions, and used some previously posted pictures on this forum, and had no problem at all.

Now for the difference it makes. I know this has all been said before, but until you actually feel the difference, you just can't understand or believe it. I'm taking curves like I didn't even know was possible. It handles so much better. The whole bike feels lighter. No more heavy turning. It's just so smooth.

I only had it out for about 20 minutes after the install, but it was enough to tell the difference.

I do have a question -- BajaRon suggests setting the front tires to 19 PSI and the rear tire to 30 PSI. I have mine at 17 and 28 now. I will be making that change. I also changed my front shocks to 4 setting some time back, up from the factory 3. After installing the bar, everything now feels so much looser, and much more sensitive. I feel more bumps in the road. I'm assuming that once I up my tire pressure, and adjust my front and rear shocks, the ride will even out? I changed the fronts to 4 and the bumps got better. Maybe I should change them back to 3? And re-adjust the rear to match?

Again, all-in-all, this is the best $200 I ever spent. Unbelievable difference. I guess I just need to play around with those 2 things and it'll be that much better?

What other adjustments have all of you made after installing this new sway bar?

Man! If I could put this in a bottle I'd be famous! I am so appreciative of all the great feedback from everyone!

As far as the recommendations mentioned, I want to be clear that these are not necessarily universal absolutes.

Tire pressures, shock spring pre-load settings, etc., from me are what I think are good starting points. There are many variables. Rider weight, loading (weight in the Frunk, 2 up vs 1 up), tire type (OEM or car). Any and all of these can affect handling and suspension characteristics. Add to this riding style, expectations and preferences and there is no 'One Size Fits All' answer.

Do you want maximum cornering ability, maximum comfort or a compromise? Like they say, you can't have it all. But with the sway bar installed you can typically lower your shock spring pre-load setting and get a bit smoother ride while still maintaining great cornering and overall handling.

The sway bar also maintains a better steering geometry, reducing the effort needed to turn the Spyder. Most find that they are going around corners faster with less effort and feeling safer and more in control at the same time.

18-19 psi in the front and 30 psi in the rear will reduce tire roll under and increase stability and cornering ability. It will also increase ride harshness a bit. For me, the increased harshness is not noticed and I enjoy the better handling characteristics that it gives me. But you may not.

My recommendation is to ride the Spyder after making a change long enough to detect what that change has done. Make just one change at a time. Do not install the sway bar, change the spring pre-load and the tire pressure all at the same time. If you do, any affect you get will be disconnected from the source. By making 1 change at a time you learn much more about how your Spyder works and this gives you the ability to make meaningful changes in the future as you adjust your machine for the way you want to ride.

Not only that, but if some aspect begins to deteriorate sometime later, you will have a much better idea of what the cause could be.

The sway bar simply gives you a much better platform and much better options to work with in your quest for the perfect ride. :ohyea:
 
What other adjustments have all of you made after installing this new sway bar?

Next after the sway bar was to install the Pitt Bull shock relocating kit. And as Ron advised test each change enough to know what it has affected before going on to the next change.

Then I put Elka Stage 1 +R on the front and messed with the tire pressure and spring preload until I got the ride I wanted.

JT
 
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