Hello all,
I have a 2015 1200GS with 74k miles. I've got ESA and the front shock is still OEM.
Since getting the bike, I've been struggling with potholes and bumps, I ride almost exclusively on road and do about 100 miles everyday, half of it on highways, half on busy city roads. My previous new F800GS was silky smooth compared to this one when riding on road.
Denz0 replaced the rear shock with a Tractive one and it made the handling in corners and acceleration better, but didn't change the harshness of bumps and road imperfections. So this makes me think the problem is either the front shock or something with the design of the telelever.
I recently rode a brand new GSA (I have the standard GS, not GSA) and it blew me away how soft and planted the bike feels. Even in Dynamic, it rides softer than my bike when I select Soft damping. I feel like I have to ride my bike in Soft mode in order for the bike to feel stable, even though at that setting the rear bounces too much. On the new GSA, I couldn't even feel potholes. Riding on cobblestones, I didn't get the vision-blurring shakes I get on my bike.
When I hit any kind of road imperfection, like road "cat's eyes", I feel them through my foot pegs. Hitting a bump or a pothole makes the bike feel like it "crashes into it", as opposed to absorbing it. As soon as I hit any bump, the whole bike chatters like crazy, it feels like the ESA quickly firms up the whole bike for a split second and overdampens both front and rear before releasing the damping. I have to release the front brake just before hitting any bumps so that the bike doesn't feel like it's seizing up.
How do I figure out if my front shock is ok? It doesn't leak any oil. It's been recalibrated multiple times. Changing the different ESA damping modes, I can feel the difference when I bounce the front up and down with no excessive pogo-stick effect.
Would replacing the front shock to a Tractive alleviate these symptoms, or would nothing make it feel like the brand new GSA I ride when my bike is being serviced?
Are these the symptoms of a battered front shock? I thought that old shocks lose damping and feel softer, but my issue is that the front shock is overdamped and has no damping as soon as it hits something.
I have a 2015 1200GS with 74k miles. I've got ESA and the front shock is still OEM.
Since getting the bike, I've been struggling with potholes and bumps, I ride almost exclusively on road and do about 100 miles everyday, half of it on highways, half on busy city roads. My previous new F800GS was silky smooth compared to this one when riding on road.
Denz0 replaced the rear shock with a Tractive one and it made the handling in corners and acceleration better, but didn't change the harshness of bumps and road imperfections. So this makes me think the problem is either the front shock or something with the design of the telelever.
I recently rode a brand new GSA (I have the standard GS, not GSA) and it blew me away how soft and planted the bike feels. Even in Dynamic, it rides softer than my bike when I select Soft damping. I feel like I have to ride my bike in Soft mode in order for the bike to feel stable, even though at that setting the rear bounces too much. On the new GSA, I couldn't even feel potholes. Riding on cobblestones, I didn't get the vision-blurring shakes I get on my bike.
When I hit any kind of road imperfection, like road "cat's eyes", I feel them through my foot pegs. Hitting a bump or a pothole makes the bike feel like it "crashes into it", as opposed to absorbing it. As soon as I hit any bump, the whole bike chatters like crazy, it feels like the ESA quickly firms up the whole bike for a split second and overdampens both front and rear before releasing the damping. I have to release the front brake just before hitting any bumps so that the bike doesn't feel like it's seizing up.
How do I figure out if my front shock is ok? It doesn't leak any oil. It's been recalibrated multiple times. Changing the different ESA damping modes, I can feel the difference when I bounce the front up and down with no excessive pogo-stick effect.
Would replacing the front shock to a Tractive alleviate these symptoms, or would nothing make it feel like the brand new GSA I ride when my bike is being serviced?
Are these the symptoms of a battered front shock? I thought that old shocks lose damping and feel softer, but my issue is that the front shock is overdamped and has no damping as soon as it hits something.
