• Ciao Guest - You’ve landed at the ultimate Guzzi site. NEW FORUM REGISTRATIONS REQUIRE EMAIL ACTIVATION - CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER - Use the CONTACT above if you need help. New to the forum? For all new members, we require ONE post in the Introductions section at the bottom, in order to post in most of the other sections. ALWAYS TRY A SEARCH BEFORE STARTING A NEW TOPIC - Most questions you may have, have likely been already answered. DON'T BE A DRIVE-BY POSTER: As a common courtesy, check back in and reply within 24 hours, or your post will be deleted. Note there's decades of heavily experienced Guzzi professionals on this site, all whom happily give endless amounts of their VALUABLE time for free; BE COURTEOUS AND RESPECTFUL!
  • There is ZERO tolerance on personal attacks and ANY HYPERLINKS to PRODUCT(S) or other competing website(s), including personal pages, social media or other Forums. This ALSO INCLUDES ECU DIAGnostic software, questions and mapping. We work very hard to offer commercially supported products and to keep info relevant here. First offense is a note, second is a warning, third time will get you banned from the site. We don't have the time to chase repeat (and ignorant) offenders. This is NOT a social media platform; It's an ad-free, privately funded website, in small help with user donations. Be sure to see the GTM STORE link above; ALL product purchases help support the site, or you can upgrade your Forum profile or DONATE via the link above.
  • Be sure to see the GTM STORE link also above for our 700+ product inventory, including OEM parts and many of our 100% Made-in-SoCal-USA GTM products and engine kits. In SoCal? Click the SERVICE tab above for the best in service, tires, tuning and installation of our products or custom work, and don't miss our GT MotoCycles® (not) art on the BUILDS tab above. WE'RE HERE ONLINE ONLY - NO PHONE CALLS MADE OR RECEIVED - DO NOT EMAIL AND ASK QUESTIONS OR ASK TO CALL YOU.
  • Like the new V100, GuzziTech is full throttle into the future! We're now running on an all-new server and we've updated our Forum software. The visual differences are obvious, but hopefully you'll notice the super-fast speed. If you notice any glitches or have any issues, please post on the Site Support section at the bottom. If you haven't yet, please upgrade your account which is covered in the Site Support section or via the DONATE tab above, which gives you full site access including the DOWNLOADS section. We really appreciate every $ and your support to keep this site ad-free. Create an account, sign in, upgrade your account, and enjoy. See you on the road in 2024.

Transform the ride quality on your Custom

jbhotchkiss

Cruisin' Guzzisti
GT di Razza Pura
Joined
Aug 29, 2009
Messages
163
Location
Salem, OR
As part of performing the first service on my Cali Custom, wanted to see if adjusting the preload and rebound damping on the stock shocks would make a discernible difference in ride quality. THE ANSWER IS A RESOUNDING YES!
Manual says preload for rider only should be 13 (turns from the top), and that for rider + passenger it should be 16. Rebound for rider only should be 15 (clicks from completely closed), and for rider + passenger it should be 9.
As delivered, preload was 9.25 on both shocks, and rebound was 13; not enough preload and too much rebound damping according to the manual.
Addition of Guzzi's leather bags had to be factored in to the adjustment, and I am about 225 pounds, so my rider + bags (no passengers allowed on my Cali) numbers are now preload 14 and rebound 12.
The difference in the ride quality is amazing. I recommend checking your settings and make adjustments according to the manual.
 
Amen! Removing the saddlebags for new tires provided the opportunity to try jbhotchkiss' recommendations. I weigh less but often ride with a passenger, so I went with preload 14 and rebound 12.

Wow. I thought the ride/handling was great before, but now it is much better. Expansion strips or potholes used to give a sharp jolt. Now the bike almost glides over such imperfections in the pavement. Sharon says it is as comfortable as a Gold Wing!

We live in the mountains and I ride fairly aggressively. Cornering (one thing i love about this bike) is also improved. The new Metzler ME880s doubtless help; combining them with jb's settings definitely gave a great result.

Thanks jb.
 
You're very welcome - glad you were able to improve the ride, and I hope others have as well.
 
Last week I got around to making this adjustment. I had previously installed Guzzi's hard bags, so they had to come off, but no big deal. Just a one beer job. ;)
Didn't get to ride it until today. Amazing what a difference it made.
I highly recommend this tweak.
 
Glad you posted this up, going to try those settings in the Spring when I get the bike back out of the garage Found the ride last summer way to firm
 
Hello All,

I've got things exposed to replace my damaged rear tire, so I though I'd adjust the suspension for fully loaded with hard bags/passenger/luggage for a 3 week trip I'm getting ready to take.

The manual I have says for Fully loaded w/ passenger and luggage, it should be 23-preload, 3-rebound

That seems way different than the discussed 14-12

Can someone help me understand that. My wife and I together are probably around 400lbs

Regards, Joe
 
As part of performing the first service on my Cali Custom, wanted to see if adjusting the preload and rebound damping on the stock shocks would make a discernible difference in ride quality. THE ANSWER IS A RESOUNDING YES!
Manual says preload for rider only should be 13 (turns from the top), and that for rider + passenger it should be 16. Rebound for rider only should be 15 (clicks from completely closed), and for rider + passenger it should be 9.
As delivered, preload was 9.25 on both shocks, and rebound was 13; not enough preload and too much rebound damping according to the manual.
Addition of Guzzi's leather bags had to be factored in to the adjustment, and I am about 225 pounds, so my rider + bags (no passengers allowed on my Cali) numbers are now preload 14 and rebound 12.
The difference in the ride quality is amazing. I recommend checking your settings and make adjustments according to the manual.

What does a "Click" of the set screw mean? I didn't hear any kind of click?
 
What does a "Click" of the set screw mean? I didn't hear any kind of click?
There's an indent that can be felt when turning the screw. Best way that I've found is to use a coin. A quarter works best for me on the Guzzi. Sometimes you can't feel it with a screwdriver.
 
I'm very confused. The 2014 1400 Custom has remote canisters that have a little valve cap over an air valve. I don't have a set screw to turn with a quarter, and the guy from the shop said that they are not adjustable. Could someone please post a pic of these shocks with adjustable rebound that you are talking about? Thanks!
 
I'm very confused. The 2014 1400 Custom has remote canisters that have a little valve cap over an air valve. I don't have a set screw to turn with a quarter, and the guy from the shop said that they are not adjustable. Could someone please post a pic of these shocks with adjustable rebound that you are talking about? Thanks!
I think they mean this screw at the bottom of the shock (for damping adjustment). This is an on-line photo I found via google that shows it nicely Maxresdefault
 
Ohhhhh....... I'll look at it tonight.

I can't find this in any manuals. Which manual would it be in? Has anybody seen it described in an official manual?
Well... I only knew to look for it from owning previous bikes. Nothing I can see in my owners, maintenance or workshop manuals (all online if you look for them) say anything about it. There is a picture in one of the 1400 manuals which shows a hook spanner adjustment (at the bottom of the shock) for adjusting pre-load, but as we all know, this is done via two lock rings at the top of the shock (unless early models or prototypes had them). The damper screw is (from memory) marked with + and - to show direction of screwing for more or less damping
 
Just to close the loop - before I embarked on a 1600-mile trip last month I adjusted these screws to "12". Totally smoothed out the ride - one of them was set to about 12 already but the other side was about 2 turns from to end - not sure what the previous owner tried to do there. After adjustment, I was a very happy rider and the 1652 miles went by like butter. Cornering much improved and general puttering also better.
 
As part of performing the first service on my Cali Custom, wanted to see if adjusting the preload and rebound damping on the stock shocks would make a discernible difference in ride quality. THE ANSWER IS A RESOUNDING YES!
Manual says preload for rider only should be 13 (turns from the top), and that for rider + passenger it should be 16. Rebound for rider only should be 15 (clicks from completely closed), and for rider + passenger it should be 9.
As delivered, preload was 9.25 on both shocks, and rebound was 13; not enough preload and too much rebound damping according to the manual.
Addition of Guzzi's leather bags had to be factored in to the adjustment, and I am about 225 pounds, so my rider + bags (no passengers allowed on my Cali) numbers are now preload 14 and rebound 12.
The difference in the ride quality is amazing. I recommend checking your settings and make adjustments according to the manual.
Followed your instructions. Wow. What a tremendous improvement.
 
I followed JB's instructions way back when & it sure made a difference in my Custom's ride. It handled beautifully after the adjustment! Haven't touched the settings since.
 
I followed JB's instructions way back when & it sure made a difference in my Custom's ride. It handled beautifully after the adjustment! Haven't touched the settings since.

I had done the preload and damping adjustments shortly after getting my California. I thought everyone knew about the fact that you need to set sag and damping to get the best performance for YOU. Thanks JB and Todd (for the link to setting sag).
 
As part of performing the first service on my Cali Custom, wanted to see if adjusting the preload and rebound damping on the stock shocks would make a discernible difference in ride quality. THE ANSWER IS A RESOUNDING YES!
Manual says preload for rider only should be 13 (turns from the top), and that for rider + passenger it should be 16. Rebound for rider only should be 15 (clicks from completely closed), and for rider + passenger it should be 9.
As delivered, preload was 9.25 on both shocks, and rebound was 13; not enough preload and too much rebound damping according to the manual.
Addition of Guzzi's leather bags had to be factored in to the adjustment, and I am about 225 pounds, so my rider + bags (no passengers allowed on my Cali) numbers are now preload 14 and rebound 12.
The difference in the ride quality is amazing. I recommend checking your settings and make adjustments according to the manual.
Hi can you explain when you say preload 14 turns from the top? Do you mean loosen nut to start at top of the threads and then screw the nut 14 full turns?
 
Back
Top