Suspension Tuning for Beemers

It all started when I first learned how to ride a motorcycle.

My first bike was a Honda dual sport, it was only a 450 but it rode well and gave me many hours of joy and lots of miles all over Europe. I was a little sad when I blew it up trying to make it a better bike than Honda originally designed it to be.

My next motorcycle was a two wheel rocket. Originally built by Kawasaki and dubbed the Mach IV, my H2 750 triple became my favorite motorcycle ever, even after I blew it up and I modified it to my liking. Mostly in pursuit of the best.

Now I ride a BMW that was designed for highway use. It is the basic sport-touring model that all others are judged by. It has its flaws, and being a BMW those flaws are expensive to work around, but it performs very well and has met all my expectations for its size and weight class. And I think it is the best looking motorcycle ever built, and not just because it is blue.

From day one, I have always felt I was short-changed when it comes to the handling department. I have seen the best riders drag their knees going around corners and if I even get close to laying the bike into a wicked turn, I chicken out. I have realized that I am just not that good of a rider.

That is until I met Randy from In-house.

I couldn’t expect much from my Honda. It was a dual sport that didn’t do well on or off the road.

I made the changes to my Kawasaki that the experts recommended. It really improved the bike and its handling but I still had trouble with it in turns.

I had a Suzuki 750 water buffalo that I ran off the road more than once because it couldn’t handle for shit. I didn’t even try with that old mule.

But when I came to realize that my BMW would be mine for a long time, I took the advice of a local racer I knew and I installed custom suspension.

I am a little embarrassed to tell how much that cost but when I was looking into the choices, my buddy Ted Porter at the Beemer shop in Scotts Valley told me the same thing I have heard from everybody. “You will not be disappointed!”

I was.

Ted promised me that all I have to do is bolt this suspension on and my bike would magically become the best it could be. Why not? I will just send you all my hard earned money and magic will happen.

The outcome of the Ted Porter magic was to have a nicer ride, granted, but I still could not make my bike handle any better than any of my earlier motorcycles.

That new Ducati Multistrada 1200 is starting to look real good about now.

So a few weeks ago I get this email from Ducati Newport Beach announcing that Randy from In-house will be there to tune suspension. …Call for an appointment.

So I call and without having to beg I get an appointment for my BMW.

When I met Randy, I felt I knew him from somewhere before. I hadn’t really; he just gave this warm feeling of friendship and acceptance. After having been snubbed by every BMW dealership I have ever been to, the guys at Ducati Newport Beach and Randy have made me feel welcome regardless of the kind of bike I ride.

So Randy loads my bike into the stand and makes several preliminary measurements for the static bike. All the while he is asking me how I ride and what do I expect. He asks me to jump on and he makes the needed measurements for my weight and riding style.

When he is done measuring, he kindly asks me to climb off and he starts to crank up my preload on the rear shock. I am dumbfounded, Ted Porter told me that these shocks were custom for my weight and to ride with the rear preload backed off all the way. You see sports fans, this is custom suspension designed just for me and Randy was changing what I was told would be my baseline.

I watched and listened as Randy made adjustments to both front and rear shocks, the Beemer suspension does not have front forks like all the others out there. Instead it has a kind of automobile suspension with a shock. The fork tubes are only a guide for the front wheel. Randy talks and works and I listened. Then he asked me to test it because he wasn’t sure it being a Beemer and all.

So I don my helmet and go for a little ride.

All through my first test ride the information Randy gave me is going round and round inside my head. The bike didn’t feel any different; I thought it would be a little rougher with the rear spring set so high. Randy told me that the rear end tends to sit down in the turns and that makes the bike come out of a turn a little high. In other words the bike will not follow your intended track in a turn and instead it would open the turn up and require a larger turning radius. So that is why he cranked it up so much.

There is this little turn from Coast Highway onto Superior in Newport that is almost a 180 to the right if you are going north bound. I thought it would be perfect for a test of the handling characteristics for my newly tuned bike.

I drop the gearbox down to second gear and make the turn.

And…she swings a little wide…no difference.

I don’t know, I guess I am just not that good of a rider.

Up the hill, the bike feels great.

Three right turns and I am back at the dealer, I pull up to Randy and he comes over to see me.

I flip my face shield up and Randy is smiling. “Well?” He asks.

I tell him it feels much the same, no difference. I sit there saddened by the realization that all this was for nothing. But Randy leans down to reach up under my front fairing and with a look in his eyes of complete joy he does something in less than two seconds and says to me to try it again.

I was convinced he didn’t do anything. I was not really sure but I felt like this could go on for days and I would have to give in and tell him it was great. “Thanks Randy, you really made my bike handle great!”

Off I go, down Newport Boulevard and up the Coast Highway.

Here comes Superior. Drop it down to second gear and…a…round…the…corner…we…go!

What just happened there? I made it without the normal pull to the outside of the turn.

What the…?

What did he do?

Magic!

Magic

I looked into what he adjusted later. I was confused because I didn’t think he did anything. I thought he was screwing with my mind. But I checked under the front fairing and I found that the front shock has a collar at its base for dampening. I am sure Randy had made a minor adjustment of that collar. When Randy was making his primary adjustments he commented on the fact that the suspension I have was very responsive to his adjustments. He was very impressed with the way my system works. Judging by what Randy told me, I believe by adjusting the dampening on the front the height in the rear is no longer affected by the suspension being pumped up while the bike is in a turn.

Championship

If you were looking for two words that totally describe the Southern California region, those two words would be: Beach Boulevard. Imagine a sunny day as you ride your motorcycle along the beach, checking out the beach goers lugging umbrellas, volleyballs, and suntan lotion across Pacific Coast Highway, in sandals and beach towels as they are headed for the beach. Most are young boys and girls, minus the umbrellas, with surfboards and wet suits going for a few hours of good old Southern California surfing. It kind of makes you think of the Beach Boys’ tune Surfing USA.

Connecting the folks who are not fortunate enough to live in one of the beach communities like Huntington Beach, self proclaimed Surf City, is Beach Boulevard. A little over twenty miles from one end to the other, Beach Boulevard is the main thoroughfare for beach goers for miles around. At the north end of Beach is the little town of La Habra, California. Officially nestled in Orange County, La Habra is a foothill village that shares two area codes because it is right on the border of everything, and it is a part of nothing.

I used to work for a little sandwich maker in La Habra and drive a delivery truck throughout the San Gabriel Valley. Monday through Saturday, I hauled sandwiches for Ropa, a mom and pop outfit that was on the verge of going out of business, mostly because the new owners had taken too much from the little company and it was not staying afloat any longer. They did make good sandwiches though.

If you drive to the north end of Beach Blvd, it dead ends into Whittier blvd. When you arrive at the intersection you would notice that the highways change numbers and directions. It can be a little confusing for someone who is not familiar with the region but if you just hang in there and jog a little east, to the right of Beach Blvd, you can find a connecting road that will take you to Hacienda Heights and the San Gabriel Valley. The road is appropriately named Hacienda Road and as I just checked it out on Google Streets, it still appears as it did in 1977.

Why 1977? Because that was when I took the 6 mile trip across the mountains, actually they are just hills, on my homemade café racer. I have been telling you a little about my Kawasaki 750 triple and how I had rebuilt it mostly from the ground up to be the bike I always wanted, well Kawasaki had released their Z1, a four cylinder super bike that was supposed kick ass on my mere 750 two stroke scooter (in perspective). I felt a little intimidated by the Z1 from the articles I had read about the newer model but I felt my bike had a little advantage after all the mods I had done on it.

So there I was, crossing into Hacienda Heights and I looked in my mirror and recognized a Z1 passing everything to eventually pass me, I felt. Something clicked in my little brain. I thought to myself, there is NO WAY this guy is going to pass me.

I pulled in the clutch and kicked it down two gears, clunk clunk.

I cranked it on and up-shifted, clunk.

I kept on the throttle and as I accelerated I was watching in my mirror, good, he couldn’t keep up, he would have to really try just to catch me. Remember now this is a much more powerful bike coming up behind me and I wasn’t going to let him pass.

I was passing everything in sight, on this little two lane road.

As I crested the pass I checked again and the guy was trying but he wasn’t gaining any more, good I thought.

Down the other side I checked the speed. The highest reading on my speedometer is 120. I had pegged it. The tachometer’s maximum is 12,000 RPM. It too was pegged.

Let me tell you a little about 2-stroke motors. There is no red line. Trust me, there is no red line on a two stroke engine, it will turn as fast as you push it to.

So there I was going down the hill into Hacienda Heights over 120 MPH and the road was opening up before me. I thought I must slow down soon because there are people all around. But I was hell bent on losing this guy. It was about then that I realized something was wrong. I was only in Fourth gear?!?

Blam, I kicked it up into 5th and I disappeared from the Z1 completely. What a rush.

I got onto the 60 freeway westbound and I got the Hell out of there, I was really afraid of cops now, I still don’t know how I did it without getting caught. I don’t think I slowed down until I got to El Monte.

But that guy on that Z1?

Who cares!