Rear suspension lifting products yet?

[Adrian R]

Got out again FINALLY..on the new R18 Classic. The cold abated enough to get a good 70 mile ride in. Bike had over 250mi now. I'm really liking it. I absolutely LOVE the way it sounds. Performance is decent ...Handling is surprisingly good for a bike it's size. Was getting agressive in some turns...and scraped the pegs twice. I'd like some more clearence! Any solid solutions out there yet to raise the rear suspension some? Oh, and incidently ..that reverse feature is slick as bat shit! Had to use it yesterday. With the old lady on the back, had to back up a 2-3 degree incline. Backed up perfectly. Taking it out reverse though required me to push the bike forward about 4" for it to disengage. No biggie though...Man reverse is NICE.

 

[DG6n26]

Raising the rear suspension would only raise the seat height not the ground clearance or peg-scraping clearance.

 

[nielsm]

Check the preload is set correctly for your riding weight. If you have a pillion, you need to add more preload than solo. If you are scraping, you may have the preload too low for your riding weight/style.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Got out again FINALLY..on the new R18 Classic. The cold abated enough to get a good 70 mile ride in. Bike had over 250mi now. I'm really liking it. I absolutely LOVE the way it sounds. Performance is decent ...Handling is surprisingly good for a bike it's size. Was getting agressive in some turns...and scraped the pegs twice. I'd like some more clearence! Any solid solutions out there yet to raise the rear suspension some? Oh, and incidently ..that reverse feature is slick as bat shit! Had to use it yesterday. With the old lady on the back, had to back up a 2-3 degree incline. Backed up perfectly. Taking it out reverse though required me to push the bike forward about 4" for it to disengage. No biggie though...Man reverse is NICE.

I have to do the same to get it out of reverse although recently, that anomaly seems to have improved somewhat. Had one small issue where it wouldn’t go into any gear after using reverse. Turned off for five mins and all was well again.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Raising the rear suspension would only raise the seat height not the ground clearance or peg-scraping clearance.

Would it not raise height via the swing arm and shorten the wheelbase shortly? Just thinking off the hoof here so possibly making a fool of myself.

 

[BobW]

Adrian,

nielsm is spot on, it only takes a moment to pop off the side cover and with a 13mm/1/2" socket or wrench adjust the very easy to get to shock spring preload adjuster. There are posts on the site confirming many bikes left the dealership without having this important adjustment being made and there are comments on suggested settings as to load for a starting point. This helps more than one may think even on a limited travel, very basic shock we have to work with. More upgraded shocks will come to the market and I intend to get one to match the longer travel we see on the bagger models. It won't turn the R18 into a RR obviously, but I would enjoy a bit more comfort when hitting certain types of pavement flaws and the very little extra lean angle and maybe a tiny bit quicker turn in would be a bonus. At any rate, if I made no changes it would be fine as I am always grinning when riding her for what she is rather what she is not.

Great that you and the "better half" were able to share some seat time, enjoy!!

 

[Adrian R]

Adrian,

nielsm is spot on, it only takes a moment to pop off the side cover and with a 13mm/1/2" socket or wrench adjust the very easy to get to shock spring preload adjuster. There are posts on the site confirming many bikes left the dealership without having this important adjustment being made and there are comments on suggested settings as to load for a starting point. This helps more than one may think even on a limited travel, very basic shock we have to work with. More upgraded shocks will come to the market and I intend to get one to match the longer travel we see on the bagger models. It won't turn the R18 into a RR obviously, but I would enjoy a bit more comfort when hitting certain types of pavement flaws and the very little extra lean angle and maybe a tiny bit quicker turn in would be a bonus. At any rate, if I made no changes it would be fine as I am always grinning when riding her for what she is rather what she is not.

Great that you and the "better half" were able to share some seat time, enjoy!!

Yep, one of the first things I did was adjust the rear suspension. Apparently I need to tighten it.

 

[nielsm]

Yep, one of the first things I did was adjust the rear suspension. Apparently I need to tighten it.

Keep in mind the manual will show suggestions for riding weight which is more than your weight on a bathroom scale. Your clothes, riding gear and anything else you are carrying (wallet, keys etc) can add 20-30 pounds vs your normal “weight”, which could be an extra 2-3 turns.

The manual will give a good starting point. I have my R18, 1 turn additional preload than my riding weight as I like it a bit firmer.

 

[DG6n26]

Would it not raise height via the swing arm and shorten the wheelbase shortly? Just thinking off the hoof here so possibly making a fool of myself.

Makes sense, I guess that's possible too.
My thinking is everything below the shock is pretty much unsprung weight so a longer shock or a shock extension would only raise the seat height of the bike and
would not increase ground clearance.

 

[nielsm]

The only things not affected by a spring length change would be unsprung weight. Essentially the wheels and brakes. Everything else is sprung and would be affected by a shock length change.

But the amount of increase in ride height may not scale exactly with the change in shock length due to the shock angle vs the swingatm movement angle.

 

[Leafman60]

Would it not raise height via the swing arm and shorten the wheelbase shortly? Just thinking off the hoof here so possibly making a fool of myself.

Would it not raise height via the swing arm and shorten the wheelbase shortly? Just thinking off the hoof here so possibly making a fool of myself.

CC, you are not a fool. Although raising the of a rear of a motorcycle will not shorten the wheelbase significantly, it can alter the steering head angle of the front wheel (less trail) enough to probably produce perceptibly quicker steering.

 

[Leafman60]

I've ridden a R18 more than once and I really, really, REALLY like that motor. The speed/RPM characteristics of the R18 are almost exactly the same as the torque monster Harley Big twins. My concern with the R18 is the low slung cruiser design and the tendency to scrape bottom. With the H-D, a rider has many options of modifying suspension. My H-D's are typically jacked up about 2 inches over stock, front and rear, and the difference that produces is huge.

I haven't delved into the details of the R18 much at this point. I have several BMW's and I know suspension alterations can be a difficult matter. Anyone know anything about typical stock suspension sag numbers. Will increasing preload, both front and rear, can you get extra height and still maintain an adequate amount of suspension dynamic sag???

Jacking up the rear begs other questions too as in the effect on the drive drive shaft angle and what problems that can have on driveshaft joint lifespan.

I would really like to buy an R18 and I mat go ahead and drop the hammer on one in spite of my reservations. Just fishing here for additional insight into the low suspension thing.

Hey, almost forgot, one BIG question.. Does the big Transcontinental road yacht have higher ground clearance??? If so, has anyone transplanted the Transcontinental suspension parts to the R18 cruiser bikes?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

.

 

[Leafman60]

I sure want that big boxer motor.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Hi Leafman
The TC and bagger have a different chassis and slightly more ground clearance. I own the R18 Classic and am very happy with it. I came from a Harley Fat Bob which I owned and enjoyed for ten years. The R18 feels smoother to me, handles very well and receives masses of attention.
I don’t expect the resale value to be that of my Harley but get far more satisfaction from the bike itself.

 

[OscarTGrouch]

TC has ESA, no need for adjustment, the bike does that

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Quite a few guys on here have stepped up to Bagger and TC with no regrets.

 

[nielsm]

I've ridden a R18 more than once and I really, really, REALLY like that motor. The speed/RPM characteristics of the R18 are almost exactly the same as the torque monster Harley Big twins. My concern with the R18 is the low slung cruiser design and the tendency to scrape bottom. With the H-D, a rider has many options of modifying suspension. My H-D's are typically jacked up about 2 inches over stock, front and rear, and the difference that produces is huge.

I haven't delved into the details of the R18 much at this point. I have several BMW's and I know suspension alterations can be a difficult matter. Anyone know anything about typical stock suspension sag numbers. Will increasing preload, both front and rear, can you get extra height and still maintain an adequate amount of suspension dynamic sag???

Jacking up the rear begs other questions too as in the effect on the drive drive shaft angle and what problems that can have on driveshaft joint lifespan.

I would really like to buy an R18 and I mat go ahead and drop the hammer on one in spite of my reservations. Just fishing here for additional insight into the low suspension thing.

Hey, almost forgot, one BIG question.. Does the big Transcontinental road yacht have higher ground clearance??? If so, has anyone transplanted the Transcontinental suspension parts to the R18 cruiser bikes?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

.

I’ve scraped the pegs twice on my R18 classic. I have an S1000R as well, so I’d don’t exactly ride my R18 super laid back either. Both times I was really trying to get it to scrape. Once was in a roundabout, the other was a 90 degree corner on a backroad. In both cases, I was >50MPH to make the scrape happened & a normal speed thru either corner would have been ~25-30MPH. I regularly ride 20-30MPH over the speed limit on twisty roads & can’t scrape. Biggest holdback is the transition from one side to the other, as it is 800 lbs and not quite as quick as my 450lb S1000R. The shipping configuration of the rear preload is such that the R18 has little clearance once you sit on the bike. If you don’t adjust the preload to your riding weight, you can easily scrape, but set to your weight, this is the best handling traditional style cruiser I tested & I tried both Harley & Indian. The only ones that handled better were the Triumph Rocket 3 & the Diavel & both of those are much lighter and more sport bike oriented.

There is 1” suspension travel distance between the cruiser (Pure & Classic) & touring variants (B & Transcontinental). As the shock isn’t positioned perpendicular to the road, but actually closer to parallel, the ground clearance difference is much less than 1“ near the rear (closer to 0.25”). However, the forks are a steeper angle on the touring models, so that does give a slight clearance improvement. However, in both cases this is much less than 1” overall.

The better comparison is the max lean angle before parts scrape. The BMW cruiser models are about 32 degrees & the touring models are about 35 degrees. Most cruiser riders will rarely go beyond 25 degrees and mostly be <20 degrees. As an example. A Fat Boy is 27 degree lean angle. Street Glide is 29 and Road Glide is 31 degrees. An Indian Challenger is 31 degrees. So even the lowest slung BMW has greater lean angle than the touring bikes from Harley & Indian. A Diavel is 40 degrees, which is closer to a sport bike max lean angle than a cruiser.

 

[Sheene7]

Got out again FINALLY..on the new R18 Classic. The cold abated enough to get a good 70 mile ride in. Bike had over 250mi now. I'm really liking it. I absolutely LOVE the way it sounds. Performance is decent ...Handling is surprisingly good for a bike it's size. Was getting agressive in some turns...and scraped the pegs twice. I'd like some more clearence! Any solid solutions out there yet to raise the rear suspension some? Oh, and incidently ..that reverse feature is slick as bat shit! Had to use it yesterday. With the old lady on the back, had to back up a 2-3 degree incline. Backed up perfectly. Taking it out reverse though required me to push the bike forward about 4" for it to disengage. No biggie though...Man reverse is NICE.

Hi all, hornig , do a ride height adjuster ,