When driving through long sweepers, if I go through bumps that make the suspension travel a good bit, it throws me off line. My question is how do I minimize this effect. It's only a "problem" when I'm hustling the SHawk and I've got it leaned over a lot. The rear spring pre-load is 4 clicks up from full soft with the damping almost full stiff. The forks are full soft on pre-load and damping is about 3/4 stiff. I've played around with the rear a bunch with bad results. Any softer on damping and I get a nasty squirm/pogo effect. I haven't explored stiffening the preload in the forks yet. I'm concerned it'll make the ride more harsh over the crap roads in my area. The soft damping makes the front travel even more which amplifies the situation. I'm @ 9,xxx mi w/ oem fork fluid, could that be totally shot already?
I've just replaced the steering stem bearings w/ tapered all-*****, which really made a difference. After that project, I've noticed a slight increase in stiction. I went by the book replacing the forks (which I have done on other bikes), so that has me a little stumped. Any thoughts?

 

Your fork oil needs replacing. The stock fork springs are ***** and replacing them with better springs suited for your weight should be the first modification you make.

 

What weight oil should I go for? I'm 155lbs?

 

Whadda ya mean already??? Why in the world would it last even close to that long???

 

Please help me, and don't flame (I've owned the bird less than a year now).

 

Nah... I won't flame... but think about it... The intervall for changing the oil in the motor is way less... And while the forks are less hot and are in a sealed environment the still go through A LOT of compressions each time you ride... That gives heat cycling of the oil, and ages it... So swapping it at regular intervalls just like the engine oil seems like a logical solution... I do it once a year regardless of miles... not that expensive that I'd care about the cost...

Go for stock weight on the oil (10W)...

As for your weight, look at race tech's site for an idea what new springs will set you back...