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!