I'm just so full of questions, sorry

Not sorry..

As I'll be riding with wifey on the back, plus some light luggage, I need to stiffen up the rear suspension.

Presumably that would mean adjusting the front as well? Or not?

I must admit I don't know what all the terms mean? Damping? Compression? Preload? Wut?

In simple English, can someone point to which bit I need to twiddle to make the rear end stiffer?

And do I need to stiffen the front as well, or not?

The bike is rated to 400lb - 181 kg.

I'm 85kg, wifey 55, we'll have less than 20 kg, luggage/water, so within 40lbs of it's limits, but certainly within.

There's various links around for suspension settings, but none seem geared towards what i'm looking to do, and I'm not familiar with the jargon.

With wifey, 60% road, 20% gravel/rough roads, 20% off road.

Any suggestions on tire pressures too? I'm still running stock tires at present.

We're not, by an means, looking to go fast. Think "trotting donkey" for off road.




PS: Wifey will only be on it around 40% of the time, so looking for adjustments, not changing components

 

I'll take a stab at it...
The forks and the shock contain oil. As the suspension moves, this oil is displaced from one area to another through a tiny hole or orifice. The size of this hole or opening can be adjusted. Without the oil it would be a springy boing boing boing ride. The movement of the oil controls this. This is called damping. Compression damping is how much or little the oil resists the shock/fork from being compressed. Too little compression damping and you blow through the travel and bottom out, clang, ouch my wrists...Too much compression damping and you get a harsh jarring ride as the shock resists moving. Rebound damping on the other hand is how much the oil restricts the spring from pushing the suspension back out to the static at rest position. Too little robound damping and you get that boing boing boing ride. Too much rebound damping and your suspension will start packing down from multiple bumps as it doesn't have time to recover from previous bump, so each progressive bump pushes further down in the travel until there is no travel left. OK, that is damping, you may want to turn the screw on the shock reservoir in a few clicks which will make the hole the oil is forced through smaller, increasing compression damping. In my humble opinion I would increase the rear shocks spring preload. At the bottom of the spring you will see two nuts, holding the spring in compression. Loosen the bottom nut first so you can then thread the top nut upwards, further compressing the spring. A long screw driver and hammer will work for this but there are a number of specialized tools to screw that nut up and down. After top nut is rotated up the threads of the shock body, tighten the lower nut against it to lock it in and prevent it from moving. One last thing, I would suggest writing all changes you make down so you can always get back to where you were... Cheers and have fun out there!

 

OK, thanks!

When you say turn the shock screw "in" a few clicks, you mean turn it clockwise, feeling for clicking?

I love the plush feel but do think the front end kind of nose-dives a bit under braking. More damping would reduce that a bit?

I agree regarding the pre-load, though I notice in my manual it says to take to kawasaki stealership. As it's still under warranty and I've heard horror stories of people stripping threads I'll ask my dealer to do it...

Would increasing the preload help prevent the thing sagging so much when wifey gets on it? It must drop a good 4 or 5 inches when she gets on...


Cheers

 

Yes, clockwise will increase the compression damping (a smaller hole for the oil to be forced through). You will feel the clicks, which is for repeatability of settings. It is the little brass screw on top of the shock reservoir. The black can looking thingie on top next to the spring. I know adjusting the spring is a pain in the patoot, but would probably be the single best thing to adjust for the added weight of wifey on the back. I'd imagine increasing the compression damping on shock would help some too. I would leave the front end alone unless you notice it wanting to bottom out. I would run tire pressure's at near max suggested pressure for two up riding. 22 psi, 150 kPa front and 25 psi 175 kPa rear.

 

Yes, increasing compression damping would help stop the front end from diving as much. Yes, have the dealer rotate the the nuts on the shock body to increase spring preload. You may ask him to set the "sag" in the back with the both of you on board. What sucks is it's a pain to do and without wifey you will be stiff. So I suppose a compromise will be in order. Now if you can only talk her into getting her own KLX hehehe

 

I keep forgettin' stuff. compression adjustment screw for forks is underneath on the bottom of each fork leg. Kind of recessed and hidden. Make sure you turn the adjustment screw on each leg the same amount of clicks. The forks don't have a rebound adjustment but I think they are great the way the are.

 

Well it won't be any stiffer than the motard I used to ride

Wifey does have her own little bike, a Demak D-Force 120. It's tiny but sounds ferocious and she's scared of it lol

I try using the rear brake a lot but the nose-diving is worse with wifey on there, so yeah, will try the dampening screw thingies.

Cheers for your help

 

If you are going to ride 2 up a lot, there is no way you are going to adj the stock suspension to where it is going to be rated OK.
If you do serious riding, you will need a racing adj preload shock with stronger springs. Also the forks, but they don't make those in adj version as far as i know.
Even then one cannot make the suspension optimum for 200# and 400#, it is physically impossible.
Now if your just riding around the campsite, that is different

 

I agree with durielk, no way to "adjust" for the weight differences. Even if you stiffen the dampening for two up riding, the suspension will be compressed more, therefore reducing the amount of travel to absorb the bumps. It's going to be a big compromise no matter what way you set it up. Firm enough for two up riding on pavement is going to make one up off-road very stiff.

Ride on
Brewster

 

The stock suspension springs are set up for a 160-ish pound rider. You alone at around 190 are more than it's designed for, but if you're riding along like a plodding donkey you probably won't notice this weakness. You could try upping the preload on the stock suspension with your wife and gear and see how bad it is.

Adjusting the compression damping on the front may help and you should spend time adjusting to see what it does. Proper springs will help a lot, but as durielk said, you can't get one set of springs to be optimum for 200 AND 400 pounds.