Do you really need suspension tuning or upgrades?︱Cross Training Adventure

#crosstrainingadventure #adventureriding #adventurebikes #dualsportriding
#dualsportbikes

[crosstrainingadventure]

We published a similar vid ages ago on our enduro channel, it generated a lot of debate! We aren't saying always leave your suspension stock. But we do think it's worth trying budget mods first, and puting more emphasis on improving your riding abilities...

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[zardportugal]

These are SOME OF THE BEST videos out there about trail/dual/enduro/cross motorcycles.
Congrats.

[filiptrifunovic]

I think almost everyone is overweight for stock honda crf300l suspension..

[jaimemetcher]

Probably won't shock anyone that my suspension shop didn't try to talk me out of the upgrade to my CRF300. Apparently I was the 12th one that month. Made a huge difference. But even for that relatively notorious bike I'd agree that if you're lighter, don't carry luggage, and don't ride gnarly trails (three strikes for me), the stock suspension is perfectly livable and even more comfortable around town.

[stephtraveler]

"Investment Bias" so true. Have a bud that no matter what he rides, its the best available on the market....High horsepower. high top speed, super light weight (as reported by KTM/Husky)... Reality is we all put along at 30 mph max on the trails....

[rotorhead]

Actual professional tuning is kind of the last step, unless you are really asking a lot more out of the suspension than the manufacturer intended. My limited experience here is with my most recent bike. A few years ago, a riding buddy let me take his ktm for a rip, when I was all used to my ttr, and the extra power was nice, but the biggest wow to me was modern suspension. Fast forward a few months I bought a wr250r, the previous owner had the suspension completely worked over, but he was about 25k heavier than me, and a more aggressive rider. I rode the first summer in that bike the way it was, and while it was good, I had one hell of a time reliably getting the front wheel up, it was really hard to preload the suspension for certain things, believed I was the problem. Over the winter, picked up a set of stock shock and fork springs ( stock take offs on ebay are like 20$) got em on the bike, changed my fork oil, and all of a sudden it's a whole new bike. Front wheel comes up, my balancing is easier, log crossings are no sweat now, wold of difference in what the bike will do. So, sometimes it pays to try the cheap stuff, I'm not even worried about re-valving now.

[matsnaslund]

As usual a great mix of pure entertaining rant and words of wisdom! Cheers!

[yorkchris]

When Telelever first came out I remember an interview with a BMW engineer talking about the decision for such a long overlap. They had considered oval tubes at one point to prevent binding, but BMW has a long history of building telescopic forks. The nice thing about those forks is that I was easily able to swap out the type of suspension system front and rear in a campground.

[RodNeufeld]

anodized clickers are a great start to suspension performance!

[ZeLogicnatork]

Great topic and video!!
here in the states it runs around $1000 to get resprung and valved from a good shop.
I agree, First thing is what you'll be doing, 2nd is size, and stock setup would be the main variables.
I''ve had mine done on the 350 and 890, but not my 701...yet.
But I am 6'4" 220lbs so stock is a pretty noticeable difference.

[CathodeRayNipplez]

0:50 That meme is a gold as the shocks 🤣

[thehighwaychild]

Great video. Great suggestions on playing with settings first. I did that for the first few rides so I knew I had the best set up possible with what I had. I then had my forks upgraded to heavier springs to suit my weight and also had cone valves fitted (It was a second hand bike and forks had never been serviced) The stock forks would dive under braking and would feel hard and unforgiving when hitting small bumps. Now the small bumps are absorbed with ease and the bike doesn’t dive under braking. That’s what you want. My initial impressions were that the front end felt 50kg lighter. The transformation was incredible. Handling was vastly improved. I would recommend everyone have their suspension tuned in one way or another. It will change your life!
Keep up the good work. Great to have objective content on here.

[brantfurr]

At 127kg, I'm a long-time member if the "big dude club." Suspension work is just a part of buying a bike for me...

[ndlsjk]

I own a CRF250L dual sport. The only adjustment on the stock suspension was 3/8" of thread for preload adjustment on the rear. Max preload I was blowing through half of the travel in sag alone and I weigh 170lbs. Non-rebuildable shock. I spent $1500 for new fork valving, a 2nd fork spring, and a new rear shock with full adjustments. The bike went from being slow, heavy, numb to being slow, feeling 40lbs lighter, and having good feedback in the woods. It made more of a difference than EVERY other mod I've done to the thing (and that is all of them, if I want to tinker any more I'm breaking into the engine). It depends on the bike, but in my case I wish I woulda just done the suspension first off.

[justsomedude]

it depends on which bike which rider and probably several other things but yes i do, if you are like me = a 230Lb multi-cyl adv biker crazed enough to want to pound it around like your playing hard enduro a 500lb touring bike then yes !! i told the suspension shop i wanted to load up with a few days worth of gear and ride USFS roads at Freeway speeds without shaking up the but yes truth be told buy a bike with good boingers to begin with and just a simple re-spring is all thats needed

[wyattblessing]

I ran my DR650 with stock front suspension and a slightly stiffer rear spring. The rear spring was from the previous owner but works for me as I am a Large Land Mammal. I got some drop in dampener cartridges and slightly stiffer springs and a bit thicker fork oil for my front suspension. It's all been sitting in my storage unit with my DR waiting for me to have time to do the work. It hasn't felt to urgent since I have been riding my new Tiger. Well I'm feeling the itch and am taking my DR out to my buddies shop on Monday so we can finish up the suspension change. I am feeling the urge for back country fire roads, and low down dirty and mean single track this summer.

[TonyaPetero]

Yes ride it, do it on your budget . Experience is worth most of your money.

[WhatTimeIsIt]

Where I live in Alberta there is no "professional" suspension people that you can hire to get your bike done right. It's more just a bunch of clowns, with unbelievably big and unwarranted egos, that throw parts at your bike with almost no knowledge of how the upgrades in suspension is going change things for you. They talk a big game but they know very little. So it's hard to spend the money on suspension upgrades when you could end up worse than where you started. And guess what! They don't care if the changes worked for you or not. They have their money and they are happy. In my opinion the PROFESSIONAL part of suspension tuning doesn't exist in Alberta. On another note I have seen a lot of riders in my time and can say that the vast majority of them don't overuse the stock suspension. Lot's of people like to get upgraded suspension work done as an additional point of posing. Trying to make other riders around them think "Oh he must be good if he needs to get his suspension done!" Rubbish. Also it seems almost with 100% accuracy that the people with the most expensive, and probably the most capable, bikes are almost always the ones that are suffering from hero syndrome. They think they are amazing but in reality they are very basic riders. It must be some sort of brain malfunction to see professional riders on a manufacturers ad campaign for an Africa Twin or KTM lineups or any high end adventure bike spec and think that if they buy one of these bikes that they will be just like that. However after they purchase these behemoths they realize they can barely turn them around let alone be of super star status. But oddly they want to project that they are an adventure bike god. But you know what? It works! Because I have seen more people impressed with fancy bikes and KLIM gear than I can count. So I guess they get the ego strokes through their posery and that's just fine for them instead of actually being talented riders. Fake it till you make it doesn't apply here. It's simply fake it.

[dan_the_man]

I had my 2017 Beta RR 250 revalved by MPE years ago and thought it was great. When I replaced it with a 2022 Beta RR 300 I decided to just stick with the stock suspension thinking that my thoughts on the revalve may have had some investment bias.I recently had an opportunity to take my old bike on a serious ride after riding the newer bike for about a year and the suspension behaviour was so much better. I've now booked a slot at MPE to "do whatever they did to my last bike"

[deanhunter]

I reckon your spot on myself. Tight budget meant "the build" on my Dr650 was eight years in the making.
Spending money is no substitute for gaining and developing skills.
That said, the FFRC valving and heavier rear spring transformed my pig from a wallowing, fork flexing, nose diving ride to a more comfy and safer ride. Work done myself.
Tuning was heavier fork oil, static and riding sag set with the new rear spring and the stock shock was adjusted to give me a floating ride.
To be noted that the stock rear spring had sagged and pretty crook.
Bike is everyday transport but still get away on outback trips and weekend getaways that normally involve camping and good times.
Oh yeah. I'm still short for my weight and nearly 63 years young.