Rear Shock Service/Re-build

[Cooter]

I'm not sure about the ugly double ring either, but it would be a static height thing, where pre-load is a stiffness thing. Different. Sagging between 1"-2" seems good. You want to be at about 1/3 of the total travel. The "front wheel seems heavy" could totally be a result of the rake being effectively longer. The rest really seems like the difference between a shock that was shot and a one that works


And truly the bottom line is:

If you like it, and feel safe... It's good

[Tbone]

Thanks Cooter, I am no expert but think it is all connected, more fork pre-load gives you less sag, more stiffness, more ride height, more rake, and more trail.
More rear pre-load gives you less rake, less trail, less sag, more stiffness, and more ride height. The Uly is tall and has a short wheel base that is easily impacted by any minor change, such as I found out by rebuilding the rear shock, and threw it out of balance.

[Tbone]

In my shock re-build experience, in addtion to the above, I learned really quickly how important front and rear ride height and pre-load is to keeping the bike balanced, initially more so than any other settings. Compression, rebound, and sag are all important as well, but until the ride height/pre-load were right they had minimal impact on the handling especially cornering. This is what I learned spending the last few nights and early mornings on a country road in Lavon Tx. When cornering hard If I felt that the front wheel was unstable (or heavy), Like it wanted to wash out, I needed to either decrease the pre-load/ride height on the rear or increase the pre-load/ride height on the front. Same for the rear, when cornering hard if the rear wheel felt unstable I needed to decrease the pre-load/ride height on the front or increase it on the rear. Changing the pre-load was a quick way to make adjustments on the road, and eventually had to raise the ride height on the front because increasing pre-load was creating too much stiffness and not enough sag to have a comfortable or safe ride. This may also require some hardware changes, springs, cutting spacers, etc... in my case a 15mm Spring plate in the rear and a 6mm front ride height increase and then my Uly started to track in the corners like a Buell should. Now that I am in the ballpark again will start twisting the throttle harder in the corners and hopefully get that Buell slingshot effect again, oh what a joy that is!