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You are here: Home / Archives for fluid suspension science

2 Things You Shouldn’t Skimp On…

November 20, 2012 By Carol Carpenter

This week is a short week so this will be my only blog for the week as we enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday with our family and friends.  I wish you all a very happy and safe Thanksgiving and hope that the weather is nice enough to get out and ride.

At the Women’s Maintenance Workshop on November 14, 2012 I asked a question:  What are the two most important things on your bike, the things you should absolutely not skimp on?  Well, for one, tires.  That is the one thing that is gripping you to the road, without good tires it doesn’t matter how well you ride, eventually your luck is gonna run out.  You need good tires!  Traction and keeping both of those tires on the road are paramount, so check the pressure and wear of your tires regularly.  Check with your dealership or the manufacturers suggested mileage on the tires and if you even are questioning it, get them looked at for an opinion.

The second thing is suspension.  Why suspension?  Well, as women we tend to be lighter and shorter than our counterparts so suspension is key to being able to feel confident on the bike.  If a bike is set up from the factory for an average 175-200lb. guy who is 5’11”, I don’t know about you, but that bike is going to be hard for me to touch the ground, it will ride like a brick, and forget about  confidence at a stop.   I always joke that riding isn’t the hard part, when it comes to being height challenged, it is the stopping.  Truth be told though, it is the stopping and the backing up, I find it incredibly hard to back into a parking space when I have no leverage.  Suspension helps with all that, it helps to allow the bike to sag when you sit so you can touch the ground.  When you are new to riding, not being able to touch the ground can be intimidating and will keep you from enjoying riding to the fullest.  You have a bike, why not have it set up to fit you so you will want to ride it more?  You wouldn’t consider wearing an outfit that didn’t fit properly right?  You would get it altered to fit you and look good on you.  Same applies for the fit of your bike except for it comes down to feeling confident on your ride.  It is not very expensive, in fact quite reasonable, it depends on the type of bike and what it will require, but talking to a suspension specialist will give you an idea of what the total cost may be.

If you don’t do anything else to your bike to start with, these two things are huge!  Of course, I could go into dynos, new exhausts, etc., but having good tires and a proper suspension setup will go a long way into you enjoying your ride.  Everything and anything else you choose to do would be like icing on the cake and what girl doesn’t like icing?  We are looking into a maintenance event that Nels puts on at his 2 Wheel Dynoworks shop in Woodinville, WA with Fluid Suspension Science for suspension sometime in January.  If you are interested, shoot me an email with your name and kind of ride and let me know.  We are trying to gauge how many women would be interested in this.

I will keep you posted as things come up and look forward to seeing you out on the road, Vixens ride!

Carol T. Carpenter

 

 

Filed Under: Knowledge Base, Miscellaneous Tagged With: 2 wheel dynoworks, fluid suspension science, suspension setup, tires, women riders

Motorcycle Setup for Women

October 3, 2012 By Carol Carpenter

Motorcycle Setup for Women Riders

Fluid SuspensionThis is an interview I had with Brian Trudeau of Fluid Suspension Science (aka FS2) at his shop at home in Spanaway, WA.  When Brian first started working on my bike (2012 Ducati Monster 696 ABS) the front forks were very soft and the rebound was way too high (causing the forks to spring back quickly).  Brian changed the fork oil to slow down the rebound, he changed the 7.5 wt oil to a 20 wt oil in the rebound fork (compression and rebound are controlled by separate forks) and in the compression fork he changed the 7.5 wt oil to 10 wt oil to take out some of the “sloppy squishiness” from the forks.  On the rear of the bike, Brian found that the sag was too little and needed to be relaxed, he explained that I didn’t weigh enough for proper amount of sag and it needed relaxing.  I mentioned that my ride was rough and my back end tended to skip when I took corners (READ:  NO TRACTION LADIES – very bad!).  Brian took 4 turns of preload out of the shock and checked for correct rider sag.  I took the bike out for a spin and I was stunned the difference it made.  I had always said I didn’t trust my bike, but after I had this setup done, I could honestly say that I not only trusted my bike, I could enjoy cornering at higher speeds with confidence.

Women riders really need to look at setup for their bikes,  the fact is that bikes are dialed in for the average 175-200 lb. male and if you are lighter than that, your ride is definitely too stiff for you.  The honest truth is that you have no traction ladies…no traction is bad!  If you find your back end hopping or you have no rebound, you have no traction.  Please don’t think that setups are only for racers, they are for everyone, get one done and see the difference it will make in your ride and confidence in your bike and how it will perform.

Carol T. Carpenter
MotoVixens

Filed Under: Knowledge Base, Miscellaneous Tagged With: Brian Trudeau, Dave Alexander, Ducati Monster 696, fluid suspension science, suspension setup, women riders

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