11-25 Ride to Blowing Rock and beyond

[Bob]

Brick, Beachy, Old Duc, Yamadog, Harold, and I rode 181 & 221 to Blowing Rock for lunch at the Woodlands BBQ. After lunch, we took Elk Creek Rd down the mtn. and a few others in the foothills eventually winding our way thru the Brushy Mtns and homeward. The weather was cool and clear with lots of long-range views that the bare trees allowed. Everything looks "different" in the winter and I always see stuff I never imagined was up there/out there/etc. Great day, food, and company!!

[beachy]

had a great time, on Thanksgiving eve I'm thankful I was able to make made this one

[Brick]

It was nice to get out and Tom, Ladd and I had a great run up 181 and over 221! Good BBQ as usual. Then a nice ride down Elk Creek. Then Bob proceeded to show me a couple of great connector roads that I had never ridden. [THUMBS UP SIGN] It was nice seeing all y'all again and good meeting Harold. Nice Stelvio Harold. [THUMBS UP SIGN]

[yamadog]

Thanks for a great ride, Bob. Nice to see Beach again. Great weather, roads and friends. Y'all have a Happy Thanksgiving! I know I have a lot to give thanks for!

[Bob]

It was nice to get out and Tom, Ladd and I had a great run up 181 and over 221! [THUMBS UP SIGN]

Yeah, you hooligans. I lagged way back and never felt "into it" until around 3PM when I increased the preload on my rear shock. The difference was amazing. All day I had felt like the bike didn't want to enter a turn quickly, like it was lagging, and it felt like it was too "deep" into the rear suspension travel, wonky feeling when leaned over, but I also figured it was probably just me. Increasing the rebound-damping to "Hard" didn't seem to help any. Then at a stop sign, it dawned on me that I could flat-foot the bike at a stop--which I could not do 6K miles ago when new. I then changed the suspension preload to the middle setting (rider + luggage) and holy shit it felt like it did when new! Of course that put me back on the balls of my feet when stopped (also like the new bike) but definitely worth the trade-off. So apparently those oem shocks "bedded-in" faster than I would have thought. Wish I had figured that out earlier in the day. I still ain't no Rossi though.

Edit: wonder if those springs can be easily swapped out.....I'd prefer to have full use of my susp travel, which I think preload eats into a little--correct me on this if I'm wrong.

Edit #2: I think I am wrong about that. It just increases the force needed to start the spring moving. And raises the chassis height. Shock travel stays the same.

[Brick]

It was nice to get out and Tom, Ladd and I had a great run up 181 and over 221! [THUMBS UP SIGN]

Yeah, you hooligans. I lagged way back and never felt "into it" until around 3PM when I increased the preload on my rear shock. The difference was amazing. All day I had felt like the bike didn't want to enter a turn quickly, like it was lagging, and it felt like it was too "deep" into the rear suspension travel, wonky feeling when leaned over, but I also figured it was probably just me. Increasing the rebound-damping to "Hard" didn't seem to help any. Then at a stop sign, it dawned on me that I could flat-foot the bike at a stop--which I could not do 6K miles ago when new. I then changed the suspension preload to the middle setting (rider + luggage) and holy shit it felt like it did when new! Of course that put me back on the balls of my feet when stopped (also like the new bike) but definitely worth the trade-off. So apparently those oem shocks "bedded-in" faster than I would have thought. Wish I had figured that out earlier in the day. I still ain't no Rossi though.

Edit: wonder if those springs can be easily swapped out.....I'd prefer to have full use of my susp travel, which I think preload eats into a little--correct me on this if I'm wrong.

On my romp up 181 and over 221 I was grinding my left "hero" ball under the left foot peg. So I too needed to crank in some more pre-load. The Tenere' now has almost 33,000 miles and (damn it!) I've added a few more pounds! Pre-load can not be adjusted as you ride so after lunch I dialed in some more. I'm not sure, I need to investigate, but I think I may have it at full pre-load now.
So I too need to contact Rick Tannembaum of Cogent Dynamics and see what he can do. I'm sure at 33,000 miles the forks need to be serviced. Darn! I say darn because my 2012 Tenere' had almost 81,000 miles and I had done nothing to the suspension. I'm sure this "ES" suspension will cost more to service. There are a few folks on the Tenere' forum who have upgraded the shock spring on an ES Tenere'. However these folks are all quite a bit heavier than I. But they don't have as many miles.
I've always heard, "If you want to make a real improvement on your bike... loose weight!"! Damn, that is harder and harder to do! :-(

[Bob]

I've always heard, "If you want to make a real improvement on your bike... loose weight!"! Damn, that is harder and harder to do! :-(

Fer sure. How does the ES suspension work vs. your last Tenere? Damping adjust on the fly? How do you change preload? Yeah, if you're at full preload its probably time for a spring swap. It just amazes me how much difference a small change in preload can make in overall handling. Something tells me I'm in for a rude awakening around 30-40K when my shocks start getting mushy.

[Brick]

I've always heard, "If you want to make a real improvement on your bike... loose weight!"! Damn, that is harder and harder to do! :-(

Fer sure. How does the ES suspension work vs. your last Tenere? Damping adjust on the fly? How do you change preload? Yeah, if you're at full preload its probably time for a spring swap. It just amazes me how much difference a small change in preload can make in overall handling. Something tells me I'm in for a rude awakening around 30-40K when my shocks start getting mushy.

I can make on the fly all the adjustments except the pre-load for that I must stop put it in neutral then you can access that setting.

[Bob]

I can make on the fly all the adjustments except the pre-load for that I must stop put it in neutral then you can access that setting.

Same here, have to stop for preload adj. I used to think the elec. preload adj was just a gimmick, but now I like it.