Vstrom AL4 2015 front forks

[trickydickym]

Sorry if this subject has been covered before but I’m new to the site and keen too pick brains! I find the front suspension on my bike too hard. I’ve backed off the pre load as far as it will go also backed off the damping both compression and rebound but can’t seem too get the feeling I want. I should explain that I only ride on my own - no pillion and that I way around 65kg so perhaps the forks are a bit over sprung for me? Anyone else had similar problem? Any (sensible) advice welcome.

[pichulec]

You clearly need softer springs I believe.

[nigel s]

trickydickym 
The easy way to check is to put a zip tie round one fork leg,not too tight and cut of the tang,and push it to the seal.With the front wheel off the ground place a felt pen mark at whatever the manual says is your wheel travel,measure from the dust seal.160mm I think but check! Put the damping adjusters to std.
Then go for a ride as you usually do but try to get a couple of hard stops in BE careful.
If your spring and preload is perfect(doubtful) the zip tie will be about 10mm from the mark.
On my 650 the spring was OK for me at 95 kilos at 65 you may find the zip tie is nowhere near the mark indicating the spring is too hard.

[porter]

The front forks are harshly damped on the 2014 vstrom and your weight will make it worse. I'm 85kg and run midrange preload and zero on compression damping and only a few clicks rebound. The damping adjustments make little difference. I've tried a few things with little success, 2.5 oil, Wilbers springs but only the oil was worth the trouble really.
 Tyre make helps also with the Michelin pilot road range being the smoothest I've tried and Bridgestones a40-41 range the worse.
  The only real fix is a revalve but you could try the 2.5 weight oil and a 135mm air gap. This is what Wilbers recommends for their springs and when I removed theirs and refitted the oe springs I left the oil alone. It was a bit better, liveable now.

[SteveH]

I had the same problem when I got my bike, the front seemed very harsh. It is counter intuitive but the problem was too little preload, I wound in the fork preload adjuster 1 bar.
The static sag was way off as standard, it was taking up nearly half of the available travel.

[trickydickym]

Thanks for all your comments I’ll try and digest them and hopefully come up with a cunning plan!

[sjrainsford]

I've recently rebuilt the front forks on my AL3 2014 as they were leaking.
I too found them harsh, especially over uneven ground etc.  Too much shock transferred to the wrists.
Running very low pre-load doesn't really help, plus that will have other impacts on how it rides.
When filling with new oil, I used slightly less to gain a larger air gap.  This gives a softer feel to small impacts which greatly improves the issue.
My bike is more comfortable on the wrists now.