On The Dragon

Very sweet! Glad to hear your run went well! I can't wait to go back up there after mine is broke in. I'm a bit overly cautious on The Dragon - so no peg scraping for me. But I hope to drag a peg or two on The Devil's Triangle in a few weeks time.

Haley......one of my riding buddies and I were on the Triangle today. Made a pass over to Gingers and then back to the prison end. Some of the corners are kind of choppy and there was some loose gravel, but all in all, pretty easy to spot and find a line around it.

Actually I have a question about you dragging your pegs. First, do you hang off your bike? I do hang off my bike, and I'm almost to the sidewall of the tires, but I've never scraped a peg. Strange, yeah?

doublethreat said:

Haley......one of my riding buddies and I were on the Triangle today. Made a pass over to Gingers and then back to the prison end. Some of the corners are kind of choppy and there was some loose gravel, but all in all, pretty easy to spot and find a line around it.

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Very nice! I love The Triangle! Im glad you had a good run on it. It's definitely not in the best shape, and the gravel does suck; but like you said, if you know those are typical road conditions on that ride, and watch for them, you can have a great ride on The Triangle. I can't wait to take the FZ up there. I had my best ride on my CB500F on that road.

Yes Haley, I do shift my body around, not hanging way way off, but some. One problem is the soft suspension compresses in corners with a dip which helps the pegs scrape. It was only on this road with tight tight corners that the pegs touched down a few times. Everywhere else like on the Cherohala Skyway they never touched down. I weigh 190 lbs plus my riding gear. Today I cranked the rear shock preload up to 7 so I'm anxious to see how it goes next time I ride the Gap.

I would say that anyone who weighs close to 200 and especially north of 200 lbs might as well crank that rear preload on up higher cause stock it's set on 3 out of 9 which is pretty soft. My past experience is that most bikes rear shocks come from the factory set kind of in the middle but this one comes pretty squishy in back. The flip side is that the bike rides well, it doesn't pound me to death like some do.

Goblin said:

I would say that anyone who weighs close to 200 and especially north of 200 lbs might as well crank that rear preload on up higher cause stock it's set on 3 out of 9 which is pretty soft. My past experience is that most bikes rear shocks come from the factory set kind of in the middle but this one comes pretty squishy in back. The flip side is that the bike rides well, it doesn't pound me to death like some do.

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That makes complete sense! I weigh about 150lbs, and hang off where the crack of my butt rides on the side of the seat, knee cocked, toes in on the end of thr pegs, blah, blah, blah - typical hang off fashion. So it makes sense that I may not drag any pegs at all even though I'm using the entire tire. I also have the shock set on the stock position which makes it nice for a comfortable ride. It rides better than any bike I've owned so far.

Don't worry about what position (number of the notch) the rear shock is in.....do a proper sag setup and if you are one of the heavier riders and you can't get the proper sag numbers, it's time for a different rear shock.....or at least a heavier spring on it. The OEM shock is typical "junk" that comes on bikes of this price range and to put more money into it (heavier spring) just doesn't make a lot of sense. Start saving for a quality shock from Penske, Ohlins, etc.

I'll be at Deal's Gap in less than a month. Coming down from Ohio for a few days of riding with my brother. Can't wait to see how the FZ07 does down there. I'm one of the heavier guys (220), so I think a little extra preload might help, correct?

Yes, I've got the rear preload on mine cranked to 7 out of 9 or 10, whatever the stiffest position is. The FZ is lots of fun on the Dragon. I hope to eventually get a stiffer shock for this bike. I weigh 190. As long as I'm smooth and watch out for mid corner dips then everything goes ok. Also, and many will say this is a no no, but I have removed the foot peg feelers that are unusually long on this bike. Since removing them I have not scraped any hard parts. If I did it could be dangerous but it does seem to have solved scraping the pegs all the time.

Having lowsided on the Dragon years ago on my CBR600F3, I don't plan on pushing it as hard this time around. Back then I thought scraping the pegs was cool, but now I know it's a bad sign. Besides, the bike is too new and shiny to give it roadrash. I'm sure I can have tons of fun without going crazy. I'll have to look up how to adjust the preload. I've never touched suspension on any motorcycle I've owned.

The suspension was a bit difficult for me to change the setting as it's hard to get the right angle in there with the tool provided in the tool kit. I finally got it done. It can be done but it was a pain for me anyway. If you are ever around the dealership maybe they wouldn't charge very much to set it for you?

I've never adjusted rear suspension either. Nor do I really know exactly what it is I'd be trying to dial in as I don't get to ride twistys too often. I know I prefer a slightly more stiff suspension that won't make me bounce around while negotiating curves, but what else should I be paying attention to? What are the ins and outs of determining preference and dialing in suspension other than the good old "yeah, that feels good"?

I'm not a suspension expert either. Sometimes stiffening the rear preload helps gain a bit of cornering clearance in the curves but the 07's rear shock spring is pretty soft so even though I've got it dialed way up on position seven, it still compresses if I hit a dip. I may check into a Penske shock eventually. My bike remains stable even though the suspension is soft. I just don't want it compressing too much in the corners and bottom out, hit hard parts etc.... The suspension on this bike is good and bad. If the spring was maybe 20 percent more stiff it might be perfect. I'm not sure if I'll spend the extra money on the bike though. I would never get the money out of it when selling and as long as I'm careful I can still have a really good time on the bike.

Also, in general, stiffening the rear preload raised the rear ride height which can sharpen handling and cause the bike to have a quicker "turn-in" on corners. Maybe too much rear ride height and things become unstable. I've never raised the rear ride height to cause a bike to become unstable. I've always liked the quicker turn in and better tracking through corners.

Yeah I feel like if it were a bit more stiff I'd feel a little more comfortable in turns as well. Right now I feel like I have balance the weight correctly or I kind of dip and bounce a little through the curves. But you raise a different issue for me then, because if stiffening it raises the height, I'll have trouble just standing the bike up. I'm already on the balls or toes of my boots with both feet down as it is, so higher might be worse for me hahah

I raised the preload on mine up to 7 and it felt great in the twisties. I didn't push very hard; actually pretty slow really, but I had a great time on the Dragon a couple weeks ago.

Finally got around to putting up my northbound trip on the Dragon. Looking back, I wish I had pushed it harder, but at least I had lots of fun and no problems.