Suspension....

[Marathon Man]

At 30,000 miles young, I'm thinking of replacing / upgrading the 'Bird's suspension front and rear.

Both ends look fine but the bike exhibits the perennial 'Bird problem of being settled when loaded up (i.e. with luggage and / or pillion) and feeling relatively unstable (loads of rebound off bumps) when it's just little ten stone me on the bike. Ideally, I need suspension I can adjust to suit both types of conditions (as well as the odd track day)...

So, any suggestions?

I've had two options from Maxton suspension (one to rebuild front and back, one to replace front and back) which vary from £400 to £880 depending on what I have done. Has anyone had this work done and what do they reckon?

Alternatively, has anyone had other suspension work done (Ohlins, or Jaws work maybe) that they can recommend?

[REEFER]

got a hagon rear unit on mine..with hydrolic remote preload you can chuck under the seat or make up a bracket to attach it to the rear foot peg hanger
i just give it nine turns if im luggaged up with a pillion
at about £350 its not a bad price if you dont wanna go the whole hog for a ohlins which are about 550
steer clear of there front springs tho..fwiw imo any spring that is longer for the bird aint worth using..go for either an uprated standard ohlins or personaly i use and have found good hyperpro progressive front springs..althouh i run the 10w oil (standard bird) rather than the 5w hyperpro reccomend
HTH

[Tim]

"aj" will be able to enlighten you with specific details on his return from a Photo-Shoot for next months "Geriatric Times"..as to what he's had done..all I can say is I was sceptical about the difference it would make....until I got on it...the difference was fantastic...firmer but at the same time smoother/softer.....although where he had it done and by whom has caused some heated debate and, dare I say, a bit of full weight chucking of Teddies along with dummies....but I wont bring the sordid past up as I wouldn't want anyone to think I'm a cnut................