Want to upgrade the ride - Tires, shocks, or both?

[Dusterdude]

After my road trip, I realize that the front suspension is woefully inadequate. I'm looking for a more comfortable ride from the suspension. Should I start with shocks, tires, or both? Thanks

 

[troop]

I guess you start by telling members what machine you're wanting to improve?

 

[CloverHillCrawler]

All depends on your budget. If you have to take steps because of budget these are the steps I would take with either an F3 or RT

1st tires, ditch the kendas and get good quality tires.

2nd Sway Bar, get a upgraded sway bar from Baja Ron.

3rd Shocks, M2 just announced they are no longer in business but there are several other good options out there.

I did the tires and sway bar first which made a notable difference in driving solo but didn't take care of my problem with bottoming out with the F3 while 2up.

Once I had the money saved up, I got a full set of wilbers and WOW I was in heaven and no more bottoming out.

 

[troop]

Also, remember that any uprated suspension will run firmer than OEM suspension, as spring rates/valving will be firmer. That said, the ride won't be harsh, but it won't be cushy by any means. For my 2022 RT S2S, I went: 1.) tires 2.) sway bar 3.) MTV H&R front springs

 

[ricford]

Elka shocks to the previous post, all three/ Not close to cheap but what a difference.

 

[Bangorbob]

His ride is a 2023 s2s. I was reading on another forum and it came up. Just thought I would help those trying to give a good answer.

 

[Peteoz]

Dusterdude, see Troop’s post #4 above. Could you please expand on “woefully inadequate”? Are you experiencing poor cornering, instability, too stiff, too soft, scraping the front? That will assist in us providing info on making your Spyder “more comfortable”.

Pete

 

[Dusterdude]

Too stiff, very jarring. It doesn't seem to have any or much dampening; and troop, did you install those MTV H&R front springs on the stock shocks? Thanks.

 

[troop]

Too stiff, very jarring. It doesn't seem to have any or much dampening; and troop, did you install those MTV H&R front springs on the stock shocks? Thanks.

I did. Very satisfied.

 

[Peteoz]

Too stiff, very jarring. It doesn't seem to have any or much dampening; and troop, did you install those MTV H&R front springs on the stock shocks? Thanks.

That’s interesting, Dusterdude. The ‘20+ RT models have improved cornering capabilities over the stock pre ‘20 models to the extent that many riders moving from the pre ‘20 RT do not feel the need to install an upgraded anti sway bar. From my perspective, it looks like aftermarket shocks like Wilbers or Elka with their adjustable dampening, or the MTV front springs that Troop mentions would be your best first option to “cure your ills” with your current lack of dampening/jarring.

I installed shocks from a local Aussie manufacturer (Ikon) and they made a significant difference with dampening, but they still jar a bit, even on the softest setting, compared to stock. But I simply could not leave the stock shocks on as they were constantly bottoming out (I’m 6’7”, 310 lbs).

Pere

 

[Peter Aawen]

That’s interesting, Dusterdude. The ‘20+ RT models have improved cornering capabilities over the stock pre ‘20 models to the extent that many riders moving from the pre ‘20 RT do not feel the need to install an upgraded anti sway bar. From my perspective, it looks like aftermarket shocks like Wilbers or Elka with their adjustable dampening, or the MTV front springs that Troop mentions would be your best first option to “cure your ills” with your current lack of dampening/jarring.

I installed shocks from a local Aussie manufacturer (Ikon) and they made a significant difference with dampening, but they still jar a bit, even on the softest setting, compared to stock. But I simply could not leave the stock shocks on as they were constantly bottoming out (I’m 6’7”, 310 lbs).

Pere

I think your size might juuuust be making that bit ^^ a little more of an issue than it might be for most tho Pete and I suspect that you probably would still experience some jarring issues regardless of the shock &/or the coil because of that regardless of what brand/spec suspension components you might fit!

Mind you, it's not that the Spyder's fairly limited suspension travel makes it all that easy to stop the jarring completely for anyone via suspension components alone - there's just not enough suspension, travel, &/or shock/coil length to do that really well, but that's where the right tires run at an appropriate pressure can help soften things up A LOT!! nojoke

The OEM Kendas are a fairly lightly made, relatively low-profile tires that NEED what is really quite a high pressure simply to carry the load the Spyder imposes on them, even if the rider isn't 6’7” & weighs in at 310 lbs!! They hafta be pumped up pretty much like an over-inflated balloon simply to carry the normal load of a Spyder; so once you add a rider, maybe a pillion, and a bit of a touring load, of course every bloody ripple in the road or shadow of a matchstick that you ride over will get abruptly transferred into the suspension; and since that's ONLY got about 3" of play to damp all those impacts down & minimise the jarring, it's no wonder that the OEM tire/suspension combination just can't handle doing that for anyone who pushes the envelope in any way! :yikes:

So that's where a 'stronger' construction tire with a higher profile that only needs maybe 1/2 the air pressure inside it to carry the same load can make a MASSIVE difference!! I've seen more than one Spyder that's kept on repeatedly blowing OEM &/or very expensive a/mkt shocks & upgraded coils while running OEM tires that just haven't blown a shock since fitting higher profile tires and running them at an appropriate lower pressure, despite everything else remaining equal!! Not too long ago, I had a repeat visit from a fella I convinced about 3 years ago to fit a set of Michelins - 175/65R15 up front and a 215/65R15 on the rear, and then to run them with cold starting pressures of 18 psi all round; who is also running with some pretty expensive a/mkt shocks & coils; and who is still chuffed at how great his ride & handling is now, cos instead of having to get annual rebuilds on his shocks like he was when he was still running on the OEM tires, he just hasn't needed to do that even once since and he's doing a lot more miles each year than he was before too, simply because now that he's running a/mkt tires at a lower pressure that that the OEM tires need, his bike feels and works so much better because the tires and their pressure allow them to work with the suspension, instead of transferring all that jarring and helping to hammer the suspension to death! nojoke

All of which adds up to very likely meaning that anyone's ultimate solution is very likely to involve any/all of uprated shocks; coils; an upgrade to the anti-sway bar; AND most importantly, but not necessarily exclusively, a/market stronger & higher profile tires that you can run at an appropriate (lower) pressure for the given load - and btw, apart from Pete, I've yet to see too many people/Spyder owners/riders who actually need much more than 18psi in any 'real' car tire fitted to their Spyders! :lecturef_smilie:

Just Sayin'! hyea:

 

[Peteoz]

Thanks Peter. Just for info, I am running 18psi in my Duragrips even with my (all muscle, of coursehyea 310lbs, and am seeing the 3 or 4 psi rise after 30 minutes riding, so aftermarket car tyres are very forgiving in regard to their psi……the Kendas not so much …….and I agree completely that aftermarket tyres DO make a difference in the ride. I did go with the shocks as my first option and noticed a big difference, which I why I recommended them as a “first option” for Dusterdude.

Pete

 

[baxter]

Looking at his map, he may have made just one day trip on it. That short of time in the saddle may not give a newbie enough time to fully understand how a Spyder should handle/feel before jerking off OEM parts on the 2020 and newer bikes. If you want this three wheel thing to handle like a car, you may be in for a surprise. It is a three wheeled bike and handles like a three wheel bike. I am on my second one and feel like the bikes handles like a three wheel bike should. Am on a 10 day ride out West and covered about 1000 miles since yesterday morning, Been on some interesting roads and did not think that the OEM parts were inferior- but that is me. Everyone is different and whatever floats ur boat...

 

[Longtimer]

Check the rear shock and make sure there is air in it before buying anything. You said stiff and jarring and no dampening, so check a little closer on what I have suggested first. Just a thought.

 

[Dusterdude]

Actually baxter, I can't figure out how to add to my map - need to touch base with Pete on that. I rode 2300 miles in 5 days on that trip.
On another note, I remembered last night that I changed the Goodyear tires on my Civic to Continental Extreme Contacts and the ride improved dramatically. So new tires might be the ticket.

 

[Peter Aawen]

Actually baxter, I can't figure out how to add to my map - need to touch base with Pete on that. I rode 2300 miles in 5 days on that trip.
On another note, I remembered last night that I changed the Goodyear tires on my Civic to Continental Extreme Contacts and the ride improved dramatically. So new tires might be the ticket.

If you want to add States to the 'Visited States Map' in your signature block, then follow these steps:

• Go up to the top right corner of the screen & click on Settings;
• then on the page that paints up, run down the left-hand column to find & click on 'Edit Signature' (it's in the block under 'My Settings' with the heading 'My Profile');
• that'll open the 'Edit Signature' page & in there, you should be able to add the appropriate 2-letter/Alpha-character abbreviations for extra States that you've visited in there - BUT:
  
  the State abbreviations MUST be added immediately after the last abbreviation in your existing list;
  

  • they MUST be ALL capital letters;
  • each 2-letter abbrev MUST be separated from the previous by nothing but a single period (ie. = VA.NC.SC.GA.MS.AL.TN - with no spaces between each abbrev, unlike in the text of your posts, where only the first letter of each sentence &/or any names should be a Capital letter and where there should be a space after each period/full stop/other punctuation mark, but not before! ); and
  • the entire URL for the Spyderlovers map address, including all of the State abbrev list MUST be contained between the [.IMG] & [./IMG] command delimiters, or it won't work! (nb: I've added periods to those command delimiters so that they won't mess things up, but usually, anything you see between those square brackets is important & shouldn't be messed with! )

  
  ​
• then save the edited signature block, checking to make sure you see the 'Signature Saved Successfully' message.

I noticed that you'd tried to add 'ms.la.tn' to your map, but because those abbrev's didn't comply with all the 'MUST's' above, they didn't get included in the map display; and instead, those letters showed outside the end of the map just where you should be able to see them now - I assumed by the 'la' in the extra list that you really meant AL, so I've added 'MS.AL.TN' to the end of your list of Visited States shown on your map, and I hope that it's now showing correctly - if you tell me that it is, I'll happily get rid of the superfluous/not working 'ms.la.tn' bit that's still showing on the end/outside the map for you - or if you want the practice, you can do that yourself simply by following the same Edit Signature directions above. Drop me a PM if you need any clarification &/or help with that or anything else. :thumbup:

Now, back to the real topic of this thread! hyea:

 

[Dusterdude]

Thanks, I did ride thru Alabama, but the la was for Louisiana.