Stock Rear Shock Settings

[botticelli]

I'm 230 all geared up, and can not find a rear suspension setting that I am happy with.
 
I have tried Hot, cold, and in the middle, but can't find the just right.
 
It all just sort of feels blah. One setting to the next and I don't notice any substantial changes. (other bikes I have had in the past are night and day)
 
I don't mind a stiff ride, but I do a solid mix of mostly commuting, and around town, with the 1-2x a mount in the mountains.
 
Any help is appreciated.
 
~Pete
 

[Cruizin]

At 230lbs you are like me. You should get a new rear spring installed and have your forks resprung for your weight, this also requires a revalve for the spring change.
 
The results will be noticeable right away. We have two suspension vendors here who do great work. @stoltecmoto and @pattonme do great work on this and other forums and have alot of experience with the FZ-07.
 
The FZ07 is low priced because Yamaha really skimped on the suspension. The springs are for a 170 lb rider and if you are 200 or more pounds, you are riding around with the springs pretty well compressed and on the FZ-09 it pogo stick's around corners which not only slows ya down, but is also dangerous.
 
 

[rowdy]

Even at my meager [HASH]150 in gear I was dissatisfied with the stock rear shock (even more so than the front fork). If I dialed the spring tension down, it was a pogo stick, and if I raised it, it tore my kidneys out, and there was no setting I liked. Like @admin said, the bike has amazing performance for the price, but they had to cut corners somewhere. It's in the suspension.

[botticelli]

Well at 230-240 in gear with my pack, every setting is MUSH, so rear shock, added to the list it is. 12k later, If this motor wasn't magical, I would have swapped the bike for something else long ago.
 
~Pete

[Cruizin]

Well at 230-240 in gear with my pack, every setting is MUSH, so rear shock, added to the list it is. 12k later, If this motor wasn't magical, I would have swapped the bike for something else long ago. 
~Pete

 
To be fair to the fz07, I change springs on every bike that I buy to maximize performance.

[botticelli]

I usually accept the fact that i need to swap the front, but on all my previous bikes I can usually find a rear setting I can live with.
 
I'm on the fence between sinking a pile of $$ into this 07 or just rolling the 07 and the $ into the FZ10...... Just looking for nudges in the right direction :-)

[pattonme]

I'm 230 all geared up, and can not find a rear suspension setting that I am happy with.

unfortunately aftermarket is the only real answer with any hope of satisfaction. Shocks start at $500 and go up from there. 
No doubt you've seen the 'sticky': 
http://fz07.org/thread/1914/shock-upgrades-compatible-swaps

[go4geoff]

I've been seriously looking into upgrading my front forks with a complete swap. Or at the very least cartridges and springs? I know diddly squat about bike suspension honestly! @pattonme I'll probably be in contact with you when I'm back from my honeymoon to talk tech and see what the best setup will be for my purpose. It's such a relief to know that although I'm very handy and have done all the work on my ride, I can turn to a guru for the parts I don't know about. If I'm going to spend big bucks on a setup, I'd rather have it done right the first time with knowledgeable help! I wanna strive to have a perfect ride setup for the canyons and track to really improve my abilities.

[botticelli]

I've been seriously looking into upgrading my front forks with a complete swap. Or at the very least cartridges and springs? I know diddly squat about bike suspension honestly! @pattonme I'll probably be in contact with you when I'm back from my honeymoon to talk tech and see what the best setup will be for my purpose. It's such a relief to know that although I'm very handy and have done all the work on my ride, I can turn to a guru for the parts I don't know about. If I'm going to spend big bucks on a setup, I'd rather have it done right the first time with knowledgeable help! I wanna strive to have a perfect ride setup for the canyons and track to really improve my abilities.

Yeah the buy once, cry once mentality is the bet one IMHO. Buy the best, don't bother with the rest. 
~Pete
 

[rhb]

Because of my location switching out cartridges requiring a shop is out of the question. Since I am 170 pounds with gear the springs should be adequate. What I am going to do is add about 5mm (at a time)10 weight fork oil and install aftermarket preload adjusters, and go from there, perhaps going to 15 weight oil. Switching oil has been said to be problematic because either the compression or rebound will suffer. I am not racing on the street but enjoy moderate mountain twisties without extreme aggressiveness.
 
Before I do any adjusting or modifying, I am going to test the rider sag and simply attempt to adjust out the excessive or too little sag. To do this is easy with the rear suspension, for the front forks I will have to install the preload adjusters first. There are many online articles on adjusting for rider sag, so I won't go into it here. Here is my FB article on adjusting my smaller bikes rear shock, fork is similar. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1044642142238134&id=790840804284937&match=cHJlbG9hZA%3D%3D
Anybody have other simple ideas or comments?
 
I don't have enough kilometers to assess the rear shock yet, but the forks have showed their shortcomings already.

[bugeyes]

Is there such a thing as a simple recommendation table what to set the rear shock to if your weight is X?

[rhb]

Is there such a thing as a simple recommendation table what to set the rear shock to if your weight is X?

No, all bikes are different, riders sit differently, etc., It's not to hard to calculate rider sag, static sag and unsprung sag. The measurements will  vary depending on class of bike rider preferences, street or racing use. But this will give you a practical starting point to work from rather than just guessing.
Here is a link to an excellent video from Ohlins explaining the how, why, with suggested numbers for a 600 cc bike.

 

[StoltecMoto]

As others have mentioned, the stock suspension leaves a lot to be desired. While it's not as grossly underwhelming as the FZ-09, it's about the same quality. The key difference being that the fork springs are actually sized for an average American rider (even if on the light side of average)...and most importantly, the bike just doesn't have the oomph to tie itself in knots like its big brother does.
 
We have a pretty good value shock for the -07. And for those who are interested in an upgrade, we're offering a shock promotion for the month of October. Buy a shock, get a free set of fork springs. See here for more details: http://www.fz07.org/thread/6585/stoltec-moto-shocktoberfest-promo?page=1&scrollTo=103174
 
Nick

[bugeyes]

Is there such a thing as a simple recommendation table what to set the rear shock to if your weight is X?

No, all bikes are different, riders sit differently, etc., It's not to hard to calculate rider sag, static sag and unsprung sag. The measurements will  vary depending on class of bike rider preferences, street or racing use. But this will give you a practical starting point to work from rather than just guessing.
Here is a link to an excellent video from Ohlins explaining the how, why, with suggested numbers for a 600 cc bike.

Something to play with during the weekend then, ty!

[bugeyes]

Did it today and ended up moving the preload from notch 3 to 5, gave me 30 mm sag. Rode it and noted a slight difference but still comfortable.
Provoked it over speedbumps and around some corners and it works fine for my riding style, made me decide not to spend a lot on suspension upgrades for now.
Thanks for the link