How can I make a 900 more Rally-like?

[greer]

Thanks everybody, I so appreciate you all taking the time to share what you've learned about these bikes. I'm making notes all along the way.

Sarah

 

[greer]

Had a chance to ride 50 miles or so on Wednesday, enjoyed every minute of it and can't wait til next time. Fiddled with the bar and peg adjustments just a little, it'll take a few rides to see what works best. I'm fairly light at under 120 lb, the rear shock seems harsh but I haven't tried to adjust it yet. Too cold to even think about the garage today. Brrrr.

Sarah

 

[greer]

I'm having the best time with the Ryker. Yesterday was the longest ride yet at around 250 miles with a mix of open roads and bumpy, curvy backroads. The RFY front shocks seem to be working out just fine, and the rear shock is better since backing off the preload. I'd back it off another few rounds, but there's a clip around the threads preventing me from doing so, is that to limit adjustment in order to prevent bottoming out against the fender? If so, I think I'd prefer to back it off as much as possible and add a couple of those rubber disks to the shock rod to add more bump stop, I saw that in a video somewhere. I'd been concerned about the fender wiring, so I ordered that big socket for the wheel nuts and zip-tied the wires myself. I'm on the list at the dealership for that recall along with the brake switch recall, and the chipped key update. CC Powersports is the nearest dealer and so far, they seem like nice folks. I was feeling a little buzz through the grips, but a set of bar end weights from LuckyBike seems to have taken care of that entirely. I do feel like the throttle spring is a little too stiff and would like to do something about that. We followed the lead of some folks on the owner's forums and addressed that issue with Doug's ride-by-wire V85TT, but we've not peeked into the throttle housing on the Ryker. Anybody else looked into this? I'm all new to ride-by-wire and I sure don't want to screw anything up. Thanks again for the warm welcome here and all the insights and suggestions you've passed along.

Sarah

 

[Markubis]

I added some foam grips over the stock ryker grips. It isolates some of the vibrations from getting to your hands, plus it creates a larger diameter to grip on which tends to relieve some hand cramping.

 

[Raven]

Greer, the preload will not change the spring rate.( measure the spring length at the lowest and highest settings, it will be the same

It only changes the ride height. By going more preload you gain a little more upward travel.
If I remember right, you bought a Sport model.
Change the compression setting on the shock to the softest setting.
Hope this helps

 

[greer]

Thank you, Raven. I followed the manual, but I should have realized it's all about spring rates. I'll drop the compression setting from 2 to 1 and see how that goes.

Markubis, thank you for the tip on the grip puppies, something to keep in mind. I've decided I probably need to keep the throttle spring as is. With this bike's punch it'd be easy to over-throttle in a bumpy curve.

Sarah

 

[Raven]

You are welcome. Like I said if you bump up the preload you gain a bit more upward travel at the wheel before the shock bottoms out. Might help with those bumpy roads.
Also there is a you-tube video on RykerRydes where she bumped up the preload and said it rode better.