Should preload come included?

In your opinion do you think the dealer should include adjusting your suspension static sag upon delivery? I say every bike sold should be set to 'you' as it makes all the difference in the world on how it will handle.
This takes all of ten minutes from a mechanic if they know what to do.
And yet every dealer it seems will include installing all the accessories free of charge even if you buy them from some place else. Seems to me a bit off.

After researching the topic all over the net I wish I hadn't paid my dealer an obscene amount for the work. Hindsight is always 20/20 as said. Either way I think it should be included in the price of the sale. Maybe I should have haggled this into the sale...

They dun even give u the C wrench to adjust ur sag lol..

gman74 said:

In your opinion do you think the dealer should include adjusting your suspension static sag upon delivery? ...

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Sure, that seems reasonable if you pay the full freight, setup, PDI and dealer processing fees. If you haggle those "extras" out of the deal, then no.

Note that it takes longer than 10 minutes to properly set up a bike. The actual wrench turning is relatively simple and doesn't take long, but the whole process takes around an hour from start to finish.

Consider the time for the tech to get the bike into a position in the shop where you can sit on it while he works on it and the insurance risk of you falling or otherwise ....... yourself up. He must measure the full extended height front and rear, then again with your weight on it, then you get off while he adjusts without marring the wrench flats on the shock rod-end, or the fork adjusters, then back on while he re-measures, then off again while he re-adjusts if necessary, rinse and repeat until done.

That's at least $100 in actual job time and most techs get paid per the flat rate manual hours indicated for the task performed. Plus, I'm sure you'll ask questions to tap into the tech's experience, knowledge, and other recommended settings.

When you buy any other vehicle, say a car, does the dealer come out and adjust the seat, pedals, steering wheel, and mirrors to match your reach and body type? Well, it sure affects the handling of the vehicle...

Not hatin' just sayin'...

My dealer worked with me on 2 seperate occasions - first we set sag with it on the progressive setting then I went back after breaking and set sag on the flat setting. I guess it depends on how customer oriented your dealer is.

TOPDUC said:

When you buy any other vehicle, say a car, does the dealer come out and adjust the seat, pedals, steering wheel, and mirrors to match your reach and body type? Well, it sure affects the handling of the vehicle...

Not hatin' just sayin'...

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Not even close TOPDUC, lol. You know this. I understand you are trying to make a point, but you'll need another comparison.
Takes an educated/knowledgable mechanic to set up the baseline suspension setting. With that said, their knowledge is the product you pay for. So for this, I'm torn. Hense the topic at hand. I was wondering everyone's opinions. And I thank you for yours. If you disagree that it should be included in the delivery then I respect that.

I believe that a superbike can only reach it's maximum potential when properly set up. This being one of the elite motorcycles on the market, (the best if you are on this site, I would hope) then all I'm asking is that they send you off with the very best of this bike's ability. In order to obtain the best performance it takes the suspension's preload to be ready for the rider. (not the advanced tweaking of the shocks, just your baseline weight)

A hundred wouldn't have gotten me to write this topic. I was charged double that, and didn't feel like the charge was balanced considering that I wasn't asking them to put a windscreen, exhaust or any other long hours of labor. Plus I didn't fuss at the cost of the purchase of the bike.
I guess over the years of riding I've been spoiled to have my suspension set for me for less than $50 each bike, Ducs alike.

tstephenson said:

My dealer worked with me on 2 seperate occasions - first we set sag with it on the progressive setting then I went back after breaking and set sag on the flat setting. I guess it depends on how customer oriented your dealer is.

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I didn't consider this...Did the settings change drastically or did you just have to fine tune them after changing back to flat?

Without a Dave Moss in my back pocket, I'm going to have to educate myself on this I see....

gman74 said:

I didn't consider this...Did the settings change drastically or did you just have to fine tune them after changing back to flat?

Without a Dave Moss in my back pocket, I'm going to have to educate myself on this I see....

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I prefer flat - it is a consistant compression of the spring so when you set sag it works for the entire range. With progress the rate is such much higher when fully compressed it is difficult to get the sag to work for the entire range.

With the proper sag and correct rebound and compression setting I find flat to work very well. I set my sag to 40mm front and 30mm Read. I don't know the DES settings off the top of my head

gman74 said:

....A hundred wouldn't have gotten me to write this topic. I was charged double that, and didn't feel like the charge was balanced considering that I wasn't asking them to put a windscreen, exhaust or any other long hours of labor. Plus I didn't fuss at the cost of the purchase of the bike...

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Yep, I was indeed trying to make a point with the analogy.

In your case as described I definitely agree with you. IMO you were "overcharged" for the suspension setup if you paid the full asking price PLUS a couple more $Cs for the baseline sag setup.

Maybe you should have pushed back a bit to see if the dealer would adjust the pricing a bit?

I'm taking this as a learning experience. I will learn how to adjust my own suspension.

As the Chinese Proverb saying goes: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

gman74 said:

I'm taking this as a learning experience. I will learn how to adjust my own suspension.

As the Chinese Proverb saying goes: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

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Biggest thing is record changes and make one adjustment at a time unless you're talented enough to track multiple changes. And please make sure your preload is set properly before making comp and rebound changes. There are a lot of resources out there and youtube has some good stuff.

Here's a start:

http://www.sportrider.com/suspensio..._1004_sport_rider_suspension_guide/index.html

When i pick up my bike this weekend, no way i am riding that bike out of the dealer parking lot without the preload set to allow the appropriate measured sag. If the tech won't do it, hand me the C-wrench.

Depends on the dealer, most dont care and just want your money. In my opinion, if the customer asks for it then they should set sag, change linkage from F to P, whatever (within reason) the customer wants. Because a bike with sag set for the rider is much more pleasant to ride, the dealer is shooting himself in the foot if they dont take the time to do the little things that would make the customer happy and satisfied with their $20K bike. Smart dealers know this..

This is another strange thing I find with motorcycles. If you spent 2K on a mountain bike. The shop would spend 30min -1.hr setting up your suspension specific to your weight and riding style. Spend 30k on a motorcycle and you're considered lucky if the shop helps setup preload.

What gives?

littlejohn said:

This is another strange thing I find with motorcycles. If you spent 2K on a mountain bike. The shop would spend 30min -1.hr setting up your suspension specific to your weight and riding style. Spend 30k on a motorcycle and you're considered lucky if the shop helps setup preload.

What gives?

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Agreed. Most good bicycle shops will measure you up, adjust bars for reach and height, seat for reach and height and pedal specifics - all when you just buy a $5k, or even $2k, bicycle. And that's after always having a 5 to 10% discount off list price for even the newest release model.

When I bought the S4Rs I got the dealer to order me in the correct c spanner - it ended up not being the correct one even though they said it should be, to which they claimed they couldn't get a different (better) one or didn't know what to order. They did a quick grind job on the one that was for me and proclaimed it "ok". And guess what, it didn't work.

Perhaps we should buy the Ducati push bikes .... Trouble is my legs don't even produce 1bhp, let alone 120 or 195!

peted said:

Agreed. Most good bicycle shops will measure you up, adjust bars for reach and height, seat for reach and height and pedal specifics - all when you just buy a $5k, or even $2k, bicycle. And that's after always having a 5 to 10% discount off list price for even the newest release model.

When I bought the S4Rs I got the dealer to order me in the correct c spanner - it ended up not being the correct one even though they said it should be, to which they claimed they couldn't get a different (better) one or didn't know what to order. They did a quick grind job on the one that was for me and proclaimed it "ok". And guess what, it didn't work.

Perhaps we should buy the Ducati push bikes .... Trouble is my legs don't even produce 1bhp, let alone 120 or 195!

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I think it has to do with the culture. The people who sell bikes in those niche stores love bikes and they are all about them. The dealers? I think they're more into the number of bikes rolling out the door.