Front Suspension Travel How Much ?

I want to set the sag on my front suspension and found conflicting information in the actual travel. Honda lists the front travel on a 2012 model as 6 inches and 5.4 inches on a 2013 for what appears to be the same 41mm fork. I set the sag for my weight by using shims behind the springs. I looked on the specs section of the Honda website. It makes a difference 2" vs. 1.8".

Any thoughts on this. I think it maybe a misprint for the 2012 version but could be wrong.

How do you set the front sag with non adjustable forks ??.


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Inserting shims or washers in the spring/spacer stack or changing spacer length changes preload when you don't have an adjuster for this.

For what it's worth, the Cycle World road test on the 2012 NC700X listed suspension travel as 5.4 inches for the front and 5.9 for the rear. However they didn't say whether they had actually measured it or were just quoting specifications they got from Honda.

Bob

I had inserted 10mm of a PVC spacer to bring the sag up but read the 5.4 inches in reviews where Honda listed 6. I'll just have to measure the travel best I can. There is a company that makes an adjustable preload cap for this bike for $100. The shims work fine if you don't need to adjust for 2 up riding often. It does help with front end dive some but levels off the bike if you crank the preloads up on the rear.

I don't think the 0.2" will make too much difference. I only use the 1/3 guidance as a starting point and then go ride my prescribed "test course" at my expected max loading to see whether it bottoms too quickly in both slow and fast bumps. To get the best compliance, I want it to "barely not bottom" on the slow bumps. The fast bumps are more controlled by the compression damping response. My final test after adjusting rear preload is to put wire ties on the damper rod and fork tubes and check that front and rear travel are both being properly used. In fact, I find the bike feels most controlled when they are the same. I don't mind a little "reserve travel" in the rear in order to match the front.

Makes sense. 1/3 would be just a guide to start. I never thought about trying to get a wire tie on the rear shock to record it's travel. Seems tough to get it in there. Could you use a small zip tie? Will the tie get shoved into the rubber stop? Or is there clearance on the bottom? Thanks for the reply.

rafair said:

Makes sense. 1/3 would be just a guide to start. I never thought about trying to get a wire tie on the rear shock to record it's travel. Seems tough to get it in there. Could you use a small zip tie? Will the tie get shoved into the rubber stop? Or is there clearance on the bottom? Thanks for the reply.

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I did not find it to hard to apply from over the top of the swingarm on the right side. I used a small wire tie. I think a zip tie is the same thing I am referring to. At this point, you won't be looking to bottom the suspension. Once you have the front and rear set where they do not bottom on your "test course" you run this as a final check to make sure that the travel is roughly matched. If you come back and they are both at 3"+/- some reasonable tolerance, then all is well. Remember that you have to multiply the rear travel by the ProLink multiplier ratio. I don't have that info in from of me.

Thanks for the tips. Equal travel will ensure balance or at least predictability. I did find that the sag on the front was within 1/8" with 2 on (350lbs) vs. myself (195lbs). The rear was different but well within the 1/3' or 2 inch range of travel after a 3/4 turn of preload. I do have a 10mm spacer over the front springs. I can't predict ride quality until the snow is gone. I like the track test idea with the ties.