Whilst the rear shocks are obviously adjustable, I cannot find how to adjust the front end shock absorbers.
There is a hex-screw in the bottom end of each fork - any idea what that is for?
Mr. Mik
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Here is a picture:
Mr. Mik
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!
That bottom hex (allen) bolt is what holds the oil damper in place inside the fork tube. There is no adjustment.
Typically, fork tubes CAN be adjusted by removing the top plug and inserting a short length of PVC tubing to add a little compression to the coil spring, but on such small forks as these, I wouldn't recommend it, as you could severly limit the suspension travel of the forks, which would not be a good thing.
You could drain and refill the forks with higher or lower viscosity fork oil to change the damping. Make sure you measure the amount of oil removed from each fork tube. The "maintenance manual" is a little vague about anything relating to, or resembling a Vectrix. The question is what viscosity is the standard oil?
Thanks, everyone!
Another question:
Is there a "best" setting for the adjustable rear shock absorbers?
I guess when it is set to the weakest setting and "hits bottom" occasionally on a bumpy road, then it is too soft.
But how do you know if it is too hard?
Is it just a matter of preference, or is there a way of determining the safest setting that allows best stability and maneuverability in critical situations?
Mr. Mik
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!
On a performance motorcycle, the preload on the rear shocks is adjusted to get the proper amount of "sag" in the suspension---this along with shock damping adjustments affects the handling of the motorcycle in higher performance applications then required by the Vectrix. I think the preload on the Vectrix should be adjusted (as you mentioned) soft enough that the suspension won't bottom out on the roughest part of your route. I also think the rear suspension works pretty well, however the front forks on my scooter seem to be the problem area. All motorcycle forks have a small amount of "stiction". This is the inability of the fork tubes to slide until enough force is applied to make them move. This results in a locked up front suspension until a large enough bump is hit to make the fork move. On smooth roads the Vectrix acts like there is no suspension at all, transmitting every impact from a small bump, tar strip or pebble up through the handlebars. Motorcycle manufactures go through a lot of trouble and expense to adress this problem with special coatings to make sure the tube slides easily through the bearings, seals and wipers in the fork assembly. I think Vectrix missed this step.
Ya . well the The person that came on board at Vectrix to take it from the working Modal they Had At the time , to Prodution was From Ducati . So ride it like you stole it and it works great.
Beside that Have you ever really used the front Brake on the Vectrix it will crush the front end ,even as stiff as it is . So to smoth the ride , and be safe you need to put smaller Brakes on it. then you can soften the front forks .(Not for me) It is an odd balance as most of the time we only us the regenerative brake . so there is no fork dive .
Happy Riding , Herb
I have found the lowest setting (softest, weakest, step 1 of 5) to be fine, while driving alone without luggage, nor top case. I guess you want the suspension to stay as much as possible between the end positions. In the default position (it was delivered at step 3 of 5, and the dealer said he never changed it), I was hardly able to depress the bike at all while standing still. This meant the suspension was frequently hitting the top position when driving.
Softening the suspension also made the bike lower, which helps because the seat is slightly too high for short drivers (I'm 174 cm). These few millimeters makes a big difference when having to stop at red lights.
The more you use the 170 kg of max payload, the harder setting you would use, but unfortunately there are no recommendations in the owner's manual. Each user will have to experiment to find out on his own.
I tried the softest and the hardest setting and then put it to the second softest.
At the softest setting it "bottomed out" on the worst depressions in the road.
At the hardest setting it started to jump a little bit on the worst bumps at high speed.
I find that with 110kg total payload and bumpy roads, setting 2 is fine for me.
Mr. Mik
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!
Which tool have you used for adjusting the rear shock absorbers?
To me it looks like a spesial tool is needed.
Carl Anton
I used a huge spanner with cloth between it's jaws and the metal ring, but it still does (cosmetic) damage that way.
Someone posted a picture of the propper tool in another thread recently.
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!
Yes, it's here:
http://visforvoltage.org/forum/4917-tire-pressure-two-passengers
I have now learnt that the proper tool is a c-spanner.
Where do I get such a tool?
Do you know whether the C-spanner is part of the toolset for a different make of motorbike/scooter?
Carl
Wow! Cool pictures ... if I do say so myself... :-)
Well,.... um, not to plug another company but the wrench
pictured is from none other than Harley-Davidson/USA.
CHEERS!
Before you all go spending money on a tool, try adjusting the shocks by hand.
I have not done this with the vectrix, but on other bikes that I have owned with similar shock adjusters, I could wrap a piece of rubber around the adjustment ring (for better grip) and just grab the base and twist it, with a slight upward pull and it worked fine. Might work just as well on the Vectrix.
Be careful.... dont pinch yourself....
OUCH! That would be NASTY! HAHA!!
Actually, I just went out and tried it. With the body panel coming so close to the bottom of the shock, I just can't get a good enough grip on the ring (or I'm getting too old ;-).
For some reason, I can't get an "edit" button on my earlier reply, as I was going to update it with this info, but I guess this one will have to do.
The tool is called a "hook wrench". The adjuster ring on the Vectrix is 56 mm, and ideally you should find one for exactly that diameter. I didn't, but I did find a series of DIN-standard wrenches intended for mounting of bearings, so I bought one for 52-55 mm rings. Works fine. (Next one in the DIN-series is for 58-65 mm.)
56mm is about 2.2".
They make adjustable ones:
Armstrong 34-305 Adjustable Hook Spanner Wrench (Amazon.com $32.89)
Armstrong Adjustable Hook Spanner Wrench (Sears $34.99)
Prices are current at the time of this post.
Pricey little suckers, ain't they?
There are several on eBay at more decent prices.
I remember that a couple of my previous motorcycles had spanner wrenches in their onboard tool pouches. A motorcycle junk yard might have a good bargain or two on such a tool. If there's one convenient to your location, it might be worth a stop.
Man I'm glad you posted this. I have the tool kits for my Valkyrie and also my GPZ. One of them might have a wrench like this that will work with the Vectrix. I'll check tonight.
Well someone edited my post and I can't edit it any longer. But I just wanted to point out that the second one on there only goes up to 2" so it's possibly not big enough to work on the Vectrix. You need to stick with the "34-305" model. Sorry for any confusion.
Here's the correct one at Sears:
Armstrong Adjustable Hook Spanner Wrench ($39.99)
Sears item# 00999241000 Mfr. model# 34-305
Sometimes I can edit my posts and sometimes I can't. I haven't figured out why that is, and likely won't but it just works that way sometimes.
Once someone has "replied" it is locked for editing.
I do not know if "quoting" does the same. I quoted your post here, so try it out if you can still edit it after that.
The blog section of the forum remains editable.
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!
No, it doesn't seem to be. The thing is that someone cleaned up my post about the hook spanner wrenches. I originally just put links to the Amazon page and the Sears page, then added a picture from one of them. Whoever edited my post put pictures from both and re-arranged the thing, then they added that remark about "prices as of...". So someone edited my post and then locked it. I just thought that was weird.
I don't think they "locked" it. I think Mik is right. After a post is followed by a reply, it is no longer editable.
Well, in any case, I ordered one of those spanner wrenches from Sears. So I guess I'll be able to change them any time I like. They are currently in the middle position.
I left my suspension in the middle too, just as it came from the factory.
One Vectrix reviewer even said leave the settings alone as they are perfect.
In London however, with the amount of speed humps there are I was getting a bit of a harsh ride, so I dropped it by one setting, and what a difference.
The handling feels very similar, but the ride over the bumps is much better.
Simon