I'm trying to set up my monoshock to get the best out of a load of sh*te.

Can anyone explain how to set up pre-load, damping and rebound damping properly. I know how to adjust it but i'd like to know what the effects are on the bike as a whole, what their reaction is to each other but more importantly how to measure the adjustments so I can get a 'feel' for what's going on when I change the settings.

I've googled it and read about it but only get loads of techi jargon and most of it bike specific. Surely there must be a rule of thumb when it comes to the 'average' bike?                                                                                                                                                                              

Get a mechanic to do it for you....thats what i did                                                                                                                                                                              

Have you utubed it Terry ... may be tad easier if you see it being done and you can pause etc to get closer and slower looks ?                                                                                                                                                                              

Rather do it meself Steph, more fun that way and you get to learn how your bike works 

                                                                                                                                                                             

Alex I never even thought about Youtube doh!

Cheers i'll ave a look now                                                                                                                                                                              

Good luck hun ... I fixed two guns through watching them do it on utube :) (airsofting guns)                                                                                                                                                                              

Glad you added the airsoft there Alex I was just dialling 999 

No luck on Youtube so hopefully someone will know or i'm gonna drop a match in me petrol tank!                                                                                                                                                                              

lmao ... erm ... no ... not allowed to play with matches ... you will be sent to the naughty corner for that Terry!

Hope you get some help on it hun :)
                                                                                                                                                                             

Rather do it meself Steph, more fun that way and you get to learn how your bike works    Nah.....just ride it and pay someone else to make it work lol                                                                                                                                                                             

Howay Steph all blokes like tinkering, all part of owning and running a bike                                                                                                                                                                              

Makes me chuckle how blokes have to mess with things. If it aint broke, why fix it??? I've no doubt my bike could be set up better, but it works so thats good enough for me lol                                                                                                                                                                              

Afraid not just blokes ... Im sooo nosey I like to figure out how things work and I like to try to fix things myself too ... some peeps like to know and others dont :)

Iv fixed allsorts and sense of achievement is wicked ... :)
                                                                                                                                                                             

Ask Ogriy he will tell ya- time served mechanic n biker since he was ickle                                                                                                                                                                             

I know Ogriy and I will ask him Steve but I was hoping someone would post on here for everyones benefit. Seems to have met with silence tho 

I'll ask on the Fazer Owners Club site and see if I can get some advice there as well and post the response on here if it's of any use to anyone else.                                                                                                                                                                             

Not sure exactly what is was you needed to know terry. did explain a little bit on another thread. Was it something specific to the fazer or how preload and rebound damping work together?                                                                                                                                                                              

terry it is a good question my friend i would allso like to know the basics as mine dont feel right either its better two up wich tells me that the compresion is too hard but it bounces at the front wich tells me the rebound too fast im gonna try and find the origanal setting and start from there as some one sugested on gpz500 thread  and DC im sure you fiddle with your horses in some way dont you ? in a good way i mean                                                                                                                                                                             

All I need to know lads is after adjusting any of the settings, how do I get a feel for how it's changed then i'll understand what I need to do get the best out of it.

From what i've read so far Neal it's getting the static sag as near as poss before you start making adjustments. That is with the bike stood upright without the rider sat on it and take a measurement from the ground to a high point on the tail. Then sit on it and lift your feet while someone measures between the same 2 points. The difference between the two measurements is the static sag and there's a manufacturers reference for it based in my case on a little jap fella sat on it. If you can set the damping within that spec your at the neutral point in your shock settings for you and your bike then you fiddle from there.

Trouble is from there I don't know what to do                                                                                                                                                                              

It's all to do with how it feels for you rusty. There should be a set of default settinfgs for a single rider in your owners manual. if that feel soft for you preload the springs a bit more till it feels firm enough. the more you preload the spring, the faster its gonna return once its compressed so to slow down the spring expanding you stiffen the rebound damping. But you'll only really know by interpreting whats going on while you ride it. also if you use a lot of front brake stiffening up the damping and preload on the front can stop some weight transfer and make twisty fast rides a bit easier.                                                                                                                                                                              

awww I would needs mates RK to do that test :-(                                                                                                                                                                                 

*It's all to do with how it feels for you rusty*

It feels wrong Phil and I need to know why mate