Suspension Preload (Lard Ass Settings)

[atomsplitter]

I went for A Sunday ride yesterday with the son-in-law, he on his Speed Triple and me on the Bonneville. I had left all the preload off on the new suspension bits per the manufacturer's recommendations until I had a few miles to settle the parts. After about 100 miles over the last 2 weeks I decided to make some adjustments. I cranked up the preload about 1/2 inch on the rears and 3 turns on the forks as an initial setting before our ride. The ride was much more comfortable with the shocks actually working some and the forks felt great. No more jarring in the hands and my spine didn't feel like it was being pounded by a ball bat, even my butt wasn't sore. We hit some rough roads riding around the Southlake area and I bottomed the suspension a couple times but it wasn't as bad as before. When we got home I noticed that I was feeling pretty good physically and that my license plate was now tucked up under the seat. Note: when I bought the bike it had a fender eliminator kit installed which changed the rear taillight and license plate bracket to a dangly unit suspended above the rear tire. Apparently on one of those massive hits on our ride the rear tire slammed into the license plate and the braket holding it and the tail light got severly bent. My tail light was pointing straight down at the tire. We pulled the plate back out and got the tail light back to normal in a few seconds but the part of the plate that contacted the tire is permanently wrapped around the bracket. I knew I needed more preload, this was definative proof. I cranked it up to 2 full inches, we'll see how that does.......