FE/FC FE 501S rear shock set up

[Throttle on]

I am looking for some input on shock set up from folks that have experience with these WP suspensions. I have a 2015 Fe 501S with over 5000 miles now since I bought it new. I am now 165lbs. I am at the bottom end of the recommended rider weight for the stock springs. I am a Novice-intermediate desert/ fast trail rider. Friends half my age tell me I am fast. I mostly ride a lot of fast forest service dirt roads and rut/whoop infested trails here in Northern California. I mostly ride sitting far forward centered over the pegs unless the terrain or obstacles require a standing or attack position. I am new to WP suspension and Austrian bikes. My issue now is that the rear shock bucks or pogos over sharp edges and high speed travel hits more than Id like. I have my rider sag and fork height balanced and set proper. My Shock settings are as follows 9 clicks out rebound, 1.5 turns out high speed comp, 20 clicks out low speed compression. My questions are as follows: 1) Should I try a slightly softer shock spring like say a 5.6kg/mm.? 2) Am i a candidate for a custom revalve of my shock? On my next ride I was going to try a few more clicks out on the rebound. Not being familiar with these WP shocks I am wondering if I am already near the end of range of rebound adjustment at 9 clicks out. I have tried increasing the high speed comp with no luck. This really is a lack of rebound dampening issue. I have been thinking this shock is over sprung for my weight. A shock spring is 100$. A revalve is 5 times that. Of course my dealer recommends both! Any serious and knowledgeable input would be appreciated.

 

[octagon pilot]

what, exactly, are your sag numbers, free and race? -thats what is going to tell you whether you need a spring. from my experience with my previous 501, you should probably be good on rear spring. I have always felt the newer austrian bikes work well at 108 or more on the sag, some go up to 112 or more, but you can dial in what ever you like the feel of.

For the bucking, I'd say you might want to start adjusting the HS comp. Out-for less/lighter damping...steps of 1/4 or 1/2 turn out at a time, and see if that dials out your bucking without affecting the rest of your handling too much. IIRC, I was out an extra 1/4 on my 501.

and if you haven't yet, your shock (and fork) might be about due for a basic service. Could be causing/contributing to your issue.

Good luck with it

 

[Throttle on]

I am running 115mm race sag. I have the forks raised in the triple clamps 12 mm from clamp to top of the fork tube not the cap to compensate the extra 10mm of sag. I don't have my notes in front of me right now to give you my free sag# as I am at work. The bike feels pretty balanced. I run this set up on all my other off road bikes. At 5'10" I have more confidence if I can place at least on foot on the ground with the bike upright while sitting in the middle of the seat I also have an artificial right knee with some limited range of motion. Having the bike slightly lower makes it easier for me to dismount the bike. I have played with the high and low speed compression settings quite a bit as well. I have been progressively turning the rebound screw in increasing the dampening overtime and I'm now at 9 turns out. I am wondering if I am close to the end of this shocks range of rebound adjustment. This is why am asking for peoples input. I have been pretty happy with the behavior of the shock in most situations except for these high speed travel (shock travel not bike speed) hits. It has been behaving like this since the bike was new. This hasn't changed over time. If anything the rear spring has broken in. I did have to readjust my sag at 1500 miles to compensate for this. I have set up quite a few suspensions for myself on off-road bikes in the past with greater success than what I am experiencing now. My experience tells me that 1) the shock just might not have enough rebound dampening available for my weight. 2) I might need a softer rear spring. On my next right out I am going to try a few more clicks in (more rebound) and have a friend ride with me and observe. I'm thinking it is also possible that what I'm experiencing is the shock bottoming. It's hard for me to tell. I am hitting things pretty hard between 35 and 60 miles an hour while accelerating hard. I will say that if this were a KAYBA or a SHOWA shock I would have sorted this out already. That's why I'm here I have little experience with these WP suspensions! I do want to correct myself. In my original thread post I mentioned I was going to try several more clicks out on the rebound for more rebound dampening. I meant several more clicks in for more rebound. it was a typo. I'm honestly beginning to think that the valving on these dual sport fe 501s models is too soft for someone of my skill. The shock is not terrible but it's less than I expected from a $12,000 Austrian off-road bike after coming off of Yamaha,Kawasaki, and Honda motorcross bikes. Most of my Japanese bikes I've been able to dial in with spring changes (lighter for off-road) and clicker changes. The fork on this bike is a whole subject of its own. We won't get into that on this thread.

 

[octagon pilot]

9 turns out on rebound? what is that, 35-40 clicks?

I don't have any answers, but I don't think your rebound is your primary issue.

Also, I havent really heard of anyone really needing more than a few clicks away from stock settings on the rear of the austrian Huskys, even the S models, to get decent or better performance. the rear suspension is generally considered to be pretty good.

If it were me, I would
-check the free sag and get the right spring on it if needed, then set the race sag at 108-112.
-set the forks to a more conventional height-like second line. thats what, maybe 4mm. even if you want the sag at 115, I wouldn't have the forks 12mm above the clamps.

once thats done-
-set all the clickers, front and rear, to stock and work from there, one at a time to minimize whatever issues you're feeling.

and one other thing-what tire pressures are you running?

 

[Throttle on]

9 turns out on rebound? what is that, 35-40 clicks?

I don't have any answers, but I don't think your rebound is your primary issue.

Also, I havent really heard of anyone really needing more than a few clicks away from stock settings on the rear of the austrian Huskys, even the S models, to get decent or better performance. the rear suspension is generally considered to be pretty good.

If it were me, I would
-check the free sag and get the right spring on it if needed, then set the race sag at 108-112.
-set the forks to a more conventional height-like second line. thats what, maybe 4mm. even if you want the sag at 115, I wouldn't have the forks 12mm above the clamps.

once thats done-
-set all the clickers, front and rear, to stock and work from there, one at a time to minimize whatever issues you're feeling.

and one other thing-what tire pressures are you running?

For tire pressure I run 10 to 12 with tublis in the rear 15lbs in the front. Oh I have tried the stock clicker positions and worked back several times. As far as my raised forks and increased sag. This is a set up I've run on other bikes with success. The bike actually feels very well balanced and turns great. In fact it drifts better than stock like this when pitched sideways hard on the throttle. I have given this whole thing a lot of thought myself and I'm actually beginning to think that what I'm experiencing is my shock bottoming. I am only getting the uncomfortable bucking situation from pretty hard hits. I'm hitting things between 35 and 60 miles an hour pretty damn hard. We have had an insane amount of rain and snow here where I live in Northern California this winter so I've spent less time ridding and a lot of time thinking about my bike. It just snowed another 3 inches last night. I'm waiting for new tires to come via UPS today. Once some of the snow melts I'm going to get out on the trail with a couple of buddies and have one of my more experienced friends follow me a bit and see if he can tell me if I'm bottoming the rear end of my bike. I do generally run quite a bit of rebound compared to compression dampening due to my weight and riding style. This is generally do to The fact that most dirt bikes these days come sprung for a 180 to 200 pound rider. I usually end up opting for lighter Springs at both ends on any dirt bike I end up keeping for a long time. Then return to closer to factory clicker settings. I ride mostly forest service gravel roads and some whoop, rock and rut strewn desert trails. Generally I'm not hitting very large obstacles. I'm hitting them very fast. For the most part I'm pretty happy with the rear suspension on this bike. It does need some fine-tuning.
I am going to try a lighter spring and a custom revalve of the shock for my weight and ridding style. The Senior shop tech here at our local Husqvarna dealer has a lot of experience rebuilding and revalving suspensions. He has done wonders for several of my bikes in the past. A rear shock revalve will generally only cost me $300 Maybe $400 with the new spring. I do appreciate everyone's input. This is a great place to learn.

 

[Weantright]

I have been experiencing this same thing with my bike. While it's not Austrian it has WP components. If I add a lot of rebound the rear of the bike feels dead and I lose traction. If I reduce HS compression I blow thru the stroke and the kick is greater, same with adding more HS. I set sag and the numbers were good for the springs I used. Next steps I have taken is re-adjusting clickers and could not find a happy place. I then dropped a spring rate and readjusted the clickers, better but not there yet. I then revalved both font and rear, made it much better but again not there. I personally feel this shock is lacking the ability to absorb these types of hits in stock form. Maybe TiNI and DLC coatings and a different valve body is needed but at that expensive why not an aftermarket shock?---------> Sold the bike and on the new one I am replacing the WP items with aftermarket hoping for much better performance. At $400 for a revalve you're 1/3 of the way to a better designed shock.

15PSI with TuBliss is high even for high speeds desert. I would drop rear to 8psi and front to 10.

 

[Throttle on]

I have been experiencing this same thing with my bike. While it's not Austrian it has WP components. If I add a lot of rebound the rear of the bike feels dead and I lose traction. If I reduce HS compression I blow thru the stroke and the kick is greater, same with adding more HS. I set sag and the numbers were good for the springs I used. Next steps I have taken is re-adjusting clickers and could not find a happy place. I then dropped a spring rate and readjusted the clickers, better but not there yet. I then revalved both font and rear, made it much better but again not there. I personally feel this shock is lacking the ability to absorb these types of hits in stock form. Maybe TiNI and DLC coatings and a different valve body is needed but at that expensive why not an aftermarket shock?---------> Sold the bike and on the new one I am replacing the WP items with aftermarket hoping for much better performance. At $400 for a revalve you're 1/3 of the way to a better designed shock.

15PSI with TuBliss is high even for high speeds desert. I would drop rear to 8psi and front to 10.

 

[Throttle on]

Wow thanks for the input Weantright. I did a fantastic 246 mile ride Saturday through the lost Coast in Mendocino And Humbolt county's this last weekend. Only a third of this ride was off-road a very rut and whoop strewn 35 mile section of road called Usal Road. Most of the rest of the ride was totally screwed up gigantic pothole riddled county back roads. I made some minor clicker adjustments. I went one half turn toward soft on my high speed comp and few clicks towards hard on my low-speed comp. This did make an improvement I have determined that what I'm experiencing is my rear shock bottoming on hard high-speed travel squared edged hits. I am now leaning towards a re-valve. I wasn't really expecting this sort of bottoming being such a lightweight. I am only 165 pounds. I am wondering if The off-road only FE version of this bike has the same internal valving specs. Regardless I do want to have it serviced soon with fresh oil, seals,and gas. Fortunately the senior shop tech and service manager here at our local Husqvarna dealer has been working on these WP suspensions going on four years now. He has been working wonders re valving suspensions on my Japanese bikes. I gather from the profiles I read here I'm definitely not amongst the fastest or the youngest riders here. I really do appreciate everybody's input. This is an Awesome group! I came from another forum comprised mostly of people that washed their bikes and took pictures of them more than they actually ever rode them and were full of BS and sarcasm more often than not. On the tublis subject I'm still learning. Ive run them through probably five sets of tires now. The outer tire pressures I run are just one more dual sport compromise. I do not truck my bike to my off-road riding adventures. I carry a mountain bike tire pump and do make changes daily on long rides. I have learned that running pressures below 15 pounds really wear out my back tire on the pavement. At the speeds I'm riding on the trails I ride off-road 8 to 10 pounds is about as low as I go in the rear. Off road I leave my front at a magic 14 pounds. I am primarily running these tublis systems for the pinch flat prevention and plug N go repair benefits. I often find myself 100 or more miles from home way out in the boonies. Generally no place I want to break out the tire Irons.

 

[Weantright]

I believe the same valving is for both on and off road models. Remember the spring is to hold you up and the valving controls the speed you move. The issue with these 4CS is oil flow and changing this pays big dividends just don't fall for the $1200 revalve!

 

[Throttle on]

I believe the same valving is for both on and off road models. Remember the spring is to hold you up and the valving controls the speed you move. The issue with these 4CS is oil flow and changing this pays big dividends just don't fall for the $1200 revalve!

 

[Throttle on]

Thanks again. It's getting close to to time to have both my shock and forks serviced. As with most owners of these newer WP suspended bikes I have a lot more complaint and dissatisfaction with the front of my bike than from the rear. There is a lot more discussion here and elsewhere regarding the 4CS forks their problems and cures. I use the throttle on my 500 to lift my front wheel as often as I can over most obstacles. This seems to help out quite a bit except that setting the wheel back down from these wheelies at speed is oftentimes a very harsh experience. I feel it in my wrists all the way to my jawbone lol. I have been trying to stir up as much conversation and consult others experience regarding the rear shock on this bike so that when the time comes for my suspension service I can have both ends ironed out and fixed at same time. I will probably have my shock worked over locally by Bruce at our Husqvarna dealer. He works closely with Race Tech. Ive heard some good feedback from riders locally that have had their WP shocks worked over by him. He has done wonders for my Japanese suspensions in the past and his rates are reasonable. I am leaning towards having my forks worked over by the folks at Stillwell racing. I have ridden my friends 2005 KTM 450 EXC a few times. Nice if my set up could be as plush and Responsive as his.

 

[Weantright]

It good to have the place doing the work to do both ends. Many different recipes with tuners and in the end you don't want an unbalanced bike. Same goes with spring i.e., Stillwell's work with FCR recommend springs isn't a good idea.

 

[Throttle on]

It good to have the place doing the work to do both ends. Many different recipes with tuners and in the end you don't want an unbalanced bike. Same goes with spring i.e., Stillwell's work with FCR recommend springs isn't a good idea.

 

[Throttle on]

Of course! I thought somebody would catch this. It's not difficult to get two suspension tuners to share spec sheets or talk on the phone. This is why I really like Bruce here at our local Husqvarna shop working on my suspensions. He does not merely submit a rider profile online to Race Tech. He will actually call them and speak to the shop techs regarding their experience with a specific bike and work with them to come up with a set up that works best for a riders profile and desires. At this point I am going to suggest Bruce start working with Stilwell or another outfit specializing in WP suspensions. We have several KTM dealers and a couple Husqvarna shops selling these Austrian dirt bikes in Northern California. It's nice having someone local who can service and breathe some magic on a suspension system without having to send off the components for weeks or sometimes months. Generally Bruce will order all necessary parts first before beginning the work so once you drop off your suspension the turnaround time is generally just a couple of days. You are correct and yes I will most definitely have both my shock and forks worked on by the same tuner. Thanks