| Author | Message | ||
     Squidbuzz |
Anyone else besides me ride 2 up on their XT? One thing I notice is even with cranking up the preload on the rear shock, the rear spring could probably be stiffer. I get suspension sag when my rider gets on. Feels like the bike is going up hill. Any thoughts on this from anyone? Thanks. | ||
| Davidxt |
yea mines the same. seems a bit strange that its no turns just for my then max turns when someone else gets on :S | ||
| Darthane |
-=shrugs=- The front end is definitely lighter with my wife on the pillion, but the bike is still plenty planted and capable. I'm not sure if I'd want to really load it up with, say, another 50-60lbs of clothes/gear, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. ...it's an awesome two-up bike overall, very comfortable for both of us (unlike the Blast or Firebolt). According to the book, I'd also go from nothing to max on the rear preload, but I prefer it a little stiffer than that and run around with 4-5 turns on the rear shock when I'm solo. | ||
| Lens |
I'm seeing the same thing. The rear pre-load doesn't seem to have much affect. Does anyone have any tips for slow-speed maneuvers while riding 2-up? I do fine on my XB12XT by myself. But 2-up, even something as simple as coming to a complete stop is difficult/scary unless we're on a completely level, dry, gravel-free surface. I've been doing some parking-lot practice the last two nights with two 60lb sand tubes strapped to the pillion to simulate a passenger. Any other ideas? | ||
| Darthane |
Your problem may have less to do with the additional weight and more to do with the actual passenger. At slower speeds any weight shifting a passenger does has more of an impact on your stability as a unit - you don't have all those forces working to keep you upright and going straight that you do at speed. The rear preload has a lot of affect - it's quite a bit of difference from no turns to 15 or whatever it tops out at, but it does seem as if overall it could be a bit stiffer (in two-up situations only, in my experience). Are you changing all of your appropriate suspension settings when you go from solo to duo riding, or just cranking up the preload? | ||
| Lens |
Admittedly, I have only adjusted the rear pre-load so far. Do the other adjustments make that much difference at low speeds? | ||
| Hooper |
Having a passenger who's well-versed in being a passenger helps: not making sudden movements or shifting her weight around, not sticking her legs out in fear, all that. | ||
| Bculy |
Does anyone have any tips for slow-speed maneuvers while riding 2-up? I do fine on my XB12XT by myself. But 2-up, even something as simple as coming to a complete stop is difficult/scary unless we're on a completely level, dry, gravel-free surface. I've been doing some parking-lot practice the last two nights with two 60lb sand tubes strapped to the pillion to simulate a passenger. Any other ideas?\i Get, watch and practice "Ride Like A Pro". http://www.ridelikeapro.com/ Some of the instruction in the video doesn't pertain, but all in all it preaches some great techniques. The first video does stress slow speed maneuvers that when practiced on the Uly seems hard on the ol clutch, but they are very important skills to have. If you want to PM me and would pay shipping, you can borrow mine. Other than that, practicing the slow speed maneuvers like figure 8s and U turns is very worthwhile. Anyone can ride fast, but having superior ability to handle the Uly slow is worth the effort. | ||
| Darthane |
...couldn't tell ya, I always adjust all the settings. It only takes a flat screwdriver and a few minutes, and gives me peace of mind. I put the settings on a quick-reference card under my seat, since I change them so often (committing them to memory is asking too much). The only setting I don't change is front preload, and that, due to the little asterisk notes and our weight distribution two-up, actually doesn't change between solo and duo for me. I take my suspension seriously, it can be the difference between a planted, confidence-inspiring ride and a terrifying one. | ||
| Etennuly |
I find that riding two up with loaded bags is a bit of a chore when maneuvering slowly. With our former packages, gear, luggage and all, we loaded out somewhere just over 600 lbs. We have both lost a significant amount of weight in the past year or so which has really helped. The Uly's bags are mounted higher than most, for cornering clearance. The passenger sits higher than most other bikes. These factors apply a lot of leverage once off center that then gets applied as pressure to the leg and calf muscles. A lot of it is about using muscles that don't get used in that way doing anything else. Like with anything else, practice and its exercise that comes with it, make it easier. | ||
| Woodreaux |
Touring on the Uly just rocks...the absolute best. I ride the Uly solo 90% of the time. When I ride 2 up it's with loaded tour pack and saddle bags. After I adjust the pre-load it seems like it's just a bit short in satisfying the additional load requirements. I guess it would be expensive to have a shock with adjustable pre-load to cover the range from solo to 2-up touring. | ||
| Zrjoe |
I am not sure about a XT but on my 08 X the wife and I just finished a 1750 mile tour 2up with the luggage through the mountains and it was all good. Of course the bike was a little mushy through the cutbacks and I could not keep up with the solo rice rocket riders. But I did outrun the honda ST1300s and HOG's I just jacked everything up on the suspension. They do require some finesse, but are fun. My experience was the wife fell asleep when I was carving mountain cutbacks and awoke abruptly just as I came out of an apex. That was exciting. | ||
| Biffdotorg |
My wife decided to ride with on my bike this past week for our Wednesday Night Ride. Normally she drives her own bike. We are not big, but lets say "fluffy" The XT is great two-up. I too set the rear pre-load to it's max to compensate for the extra weight. I have gotten better and better at carving corners 2-up. She has also gotten better at minimizing the rubber necking in corners. It has a huge effect on how the bike handles! I do happen to notice the tar snakes a bit more 2-up. Nothing more un-nerving than the little bit of rear slide when the tires shift on a warm tar snake doing 65 in a 45mph corner! I tell you what though, the power is still there for the two of us. We had no issues leading the pack of rice-rockets, hogs, goldwings and that BMW R1200 that wanted to push the corners harder and harder. When he and his wife decided to lead us through the twisties, there were no issues with the XT! I'm sold on the fact that I bought the closest thing to my 12s with room for two! | ||
| Bartimus |
We rode up to the 25th homecoming on my '08 XT last year. It was a real butt beater. I had the preload, and the compression maxed out, and still bottomed out often. The front end wanted to come up whenever I left a stop light, and the handling was scarey. Together we weigh 330 lbs, and we had about 50 lbs of gear in the bags. I haven't used the saddlebags since that trip, and rarely use the trunk. Without them, the bike handles great... | ||
| Squidbuzz |
So it sounds like I'm not the only one experiencing some of the bottoming out that I get when I'm 2 up. I guess a stronger spring might be in order. Or it just means a much better reason to buy the Road Glide that I test rode a few weeks back. =) | ||
| Bartimus |
I bought an ST1300 for touring on, the Uly is my dust collector now... | ||
| Surfsofa |
Yep, same here. I recently went on a camping trip with my girlfriend and 30Kgs of luggage (ie. maxed) and set the suspension according to the manual. The front became like a pogo stick and the rear was wallowy, so like everyone has said, looks like what's provided can't quite handle the full range of loads. That aside, I was very impressed with how the XT coped with all that weight. Sure, a couple of times I had scary moments where the bike started to tip, but this was mostly my fault due to not planning my stops further ahead. During the trip I got used to doing U-turns and off-camber manouvres and filtering (what you guys call lane-splitting) even fully loaded - the torque combined with a little rear brake makes things much easier. No disappointment on the power either. The bike certainly felt less lively, but the power was still there when I needed it. I bought the Uly for its versatility - the ability to have fun on my own, or go touring. VERY happy with my choice.  | ||
| Swampy |
With the girlfriend and gear I get this feeling like the belt is streching almost like a buzz when you go over an oscillation in the road and the suspension compresses. The rest of it is fine, she doesn't mind going 100 and splitting lanes doesn't bother her. She rubs my back when I shift forward to make an "adjustment" on the boys, and she is learning to really lean into the corners....a real player she is  I still have to learn the suspension adjustments better though. | ||
| Lens |
U-turns with passenger still scare the sh*t out of me. I need lot's of practice. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I wasn't quite satisfied with the recommended suspension settings riding two-up with loaded bags on my 07 Uly (XB12X) and also noticed the rear pre-load seemed to be somewhat short of adequate. I found that going up on the recommended rear damping settings (~1/2 turn IIRC) made a big difference and eliminated any bottoming. It is helpful that the bike sits slightly lower (it's a tall bike for me) with the increased load. It makes it just a little easier to handle when stopped. | ||
| Hughlysses |
With the girlfriend and gear I get this feeling like the belt is streching almost like a buzz when you go over an oscillation in the road and the suspension compresses. Swampy- conventional wisdom here is that due to the arrangement of the idler pulley, the belt gets looser as the suspension compresses. My guess is what you're felling is the isolators being compressed (the swingarm is bolted to the engine) and that causes the increased vibrations. You should ride a tuber two-up sometime. The weight on the rear wheel is directly transmitted to the front isolator because the underslung pull-action shock bolts to the front of the engine. When you go through a dip in the road two-up it feels like it suddenly converts to a rigidly mounted engine. The tubers have a lot more isolator problems than XBs (especially recently with apparently lower quality replacement isolators). | ||
| Hangetsu |
Yes, for two-up riding with luggage you will need a different shock, or at least find a way to rebuild the stocker with a stiffer spring. I weigh 230, my wife only 100, and we typically carry 50 of so pounds of gear when we ride. With the preload and compression set to max, the rear will easily bottom out. On roads with any of that frost induced dipping, it will bottom heavily in each dip. The stock unit set only for myself is already 13 turns in for preload. That’s almost maxed out as it is. 2-up with gear; it’s just not designed for that, unless you’re a fly-weight yourself. My experiences traveling this summer have already gotten me to researching alternatives, but any way I go, about $800 is going to be the entry price for decent rear suspension. So far Works Performance seems to offer the most flexible unit, but it don’t come cheap. http://www.worksperformance.com/html/home.html |
