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[Larry295]

Is it me or does the 2012 Zero S suspensions feel like they are transmitting every single little bump and undulation on the road, straight through your arms and butt?
The bigger bumps are handled fairly well I think. But even the differences in pavement textures, seem like they are not filtered at all by the suspensions.
What do you guys think?

[Richard230]

What I think is that there is a lot of "striction" (static friction) in the Fast Ace fork seals. These forks appear to be designed for dirt racing and having a smooth ride over small bumps was probably not in their design requirements.  My guess is that they will get better as the mileage piles up on the forks and maybe squirting some silicone or Teflon lube on the fork sliders might help a little.

[Larry295]

thanks Richards. I'll try that.
Anybody else experiences the same??

[CliC]

Yes. When I get a weekend free (and when Amazon ships me the proper tools), I was going to play with the damping settings to see of I could improve this. Of course if Richard is correct, that probably won't  do much.

[ed5000]

I would definitely check your compression and rebound settings.  My 2010 DS came from the dealer with everything closed off to the minimum settings which made for a harsher ride.  I also found the rebound to be  very important.  If it was too "open" the vibrations would put my hands asleep.  Everything is working much better now though the suspension is still on the stiff side.  Having 2000 miles on the bike now is helping a lot too.

[iJustride]

I've only had mine for a day (50 mi) and my first thought was that there was a lot of striction. The fact that it handles big bumps better could also be a bypass valve in the dampening allowing the fluid to pass more quickly. Not sure if the forks are so equipped. The ergonomics also seem WAY off. I would like to raise the rear end a couple inches and maybe lower the front a bit. I'd also like to experiment with the fork fluid viscosity and dampening, see what I can get out of these cheep feeling forks. I was especially unhappy when I saw the front wheel mounted infront of the forks rather than underneath, this alone causes many problems.

Edit: I may be wrong about the axle infront of the fork thing, but for some reason it looks hokey to me.

[iJustride]

Played with the suspension a bit this morning. Sprayed the fork tubes with a bit of triflow.
I was surprised how little of a change I could feel in the forks between all the way in and all the way out on the adjusters. Maybe some thicker fork oil would help.
The adjustment I ended up with on the forks is:
- Compression 5 clicks out
- Rebound quarter turn out

The rear shock rebound only seems to have 3 of the 8 clicks of adjustment. I think I'll try to get a replacement. I put both adjusters all the way in. I plan to tighten the preload quite a bit soon.

This seemed to help a lot, my confidence was much higher in the turns and the washboard of a freeway felt much better.

[Richard230]

I have found that my forks seemed to break-in as the miles piled up and there is much less striction now than when my bike was new.

[lolachampcar]

I just changed from the on/off road tires to the Avon street tires on my DS at 4500 miles and now I feel EVERYTHING through the front.  Arg!

[kingcharles]

I just changed from the on/off road tires to the Avon street tires on my DS at 4500 miles and now I feel EVERYTHING through the front.  Arg!

Then I know what you will be doing this weekend 
Suspension setup rides!

[Doctorbass]

Anyone ever considered lowerting their suspension... like playing with the internal preload spacer in the suspension tube?

I am considering modifying my DS 2011 fork to get a 2011 S equivalent fork ( lower)

Doc

[Richard230]

Anyone ever considered lowerting their suspension... like playing with the internal preload spacer in the suspension tube?

I am considering modifying my DS 2011 fork to get a 2011 S equivalent fork ( lower)

Doc

I am not sure that I would want to take the FastAce forks apart unless I had to.  It looks like it could be a lot of work to me.  But if you decide to do it (and change the oil too), please let us know how it is done.

Having said that, I would first try to raise the fork tubes in the triple clamps.  That is the easy way to lower the front end a motorcycle.  After doing that, you might need to reduce the preload of the rear shock to compensate for the lower front end and to keep the steering from being too quick.  If your goal is to lower the bike and quicken the steering somewhat, that is the way I would go. Performing that work should take you less than 30 minutes.  I would not raise the forks in the tubes more than about 5 mm at a time without giving the modification a try by riding around some fast bumpy corners to be sure that your bike is still acceptably stable when cornering and hitting bumps, before raising them another 5 mm if needed.

[Doctorbass]

Yes i know that i could proceed that way but there is a problem with that: I will have to cut the (fake gas tank plastic) to let the upper part of the fork to have clearance.

Also the second problem is that the protective plastic of the front wheel fairing(model S)  are also having interference with the base of the upper part of the fork   


Doc   

[Richard230]

Well, if you really want to take the fork apart to change the preload, here is a link to some instructions that I posted for performing an oil change, which were picked off of the web.  It sure looks like a lot of work to me.

http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=2010.0

[Doctorbass]

Thanks for the link Richard

Doc