ES Rear Shock servicing

[raYzerman]

For all ES owners who may one day need it, I'm passing this along some info and where to get service.........

1. Weepage at the damping stepper motor - There's a good possibility, this is simply an O-ring leak. The FSM says a new O-ring should be used if the stepper motor is removed, however, they don't list the O-ring as a service part.... shouldn't be hard to find a suitable one at your usual O-ring store.

2. Leakage at the main shaft seal - Requires a rebuild, you'll know if you see leakage there and have lost the ability to adjust damping (pogo effect).

3. Spring upgrade - OEM is a 685 lb. in spring rate, a 200 lb. rider needs 800-850 lb. in. I believe this is a 7" long spring, which should be commonly available, my local suspension folks offered me one yesterday from their inventory.

Where to get service... (referral by Cogent Dynamics)..... EPM Performance Imports in New Jersey. They rebuild any OEM shock and state they do ES type shocks. As of this writing, one quote is $289 for a rebuild, $189 for a spring upgrade, plus shipping. Turnaround in 10 days or so.

https://epmperf.com/

[wheatonFJR]

^^^^^^
Good stuff Ray!

I take back ALL of the stuff I have said about you.

[raYzerman]

Don't you dare take ANY of it back or I'll be forced to take the flat roads down to the double-wide and put a booger or two on your bike.

[wheatonFJR]

Don't you dare take ANY of it back or I'll be forced to take the flat roads down to the double-wide and put a booger or two on your bike.

You can't do anything worse to my bike that I haven't already done to it.

And I don't believe that you would part with your boogers, JSNS!

[SkooterG]

Good info. Thanks Ray. I must say though I am confused by the rate of the stock spring. What weight rider is a 685 lb spring good for? Sometimes I think the spring rate gets too much 'airtime' on these forums. Or am I missing something? The reason I say this is that this 190 lb rider (naked) is very happy with the ES suspension. Is it perfect? No. But I don't feel like it under-sprung. Neither for aggressive twisty riding, nor with a 115 lb passenger and fully loaded. My '09 is 'over-sprung' with Ohlins shock and Racetech fork springs and valving due to the choices I made when ordering. And there are advantages and disadvantages to that, though it does make an excellent two-up tourer.

IMHO, Gen I was definitely under-sprung. Gen II was better, but also under-sprung. Gen III+ I feel is considerably better and not necessarily under-sprung. Or at least by much. For my weight and style of riding.

I guess what confuses me is based on your info above I should get a higher rate spring if I ever have the ES shock rebuilt. But for my weight and riding conditions and style, I am quite happy with it as is. Things that make you go hmmmm....

[raYzerman]

The first rule of suspension is you have to have the proper springs to hold you and the bike at the proper sag. There are no short answers, and I'll be happy to have more dialog next week.... right now packing up for SEO and tired.... in the meantime, you can read the suspension matrix. With regard to spring rates for various rates, I included RaceTech's recommendations (rather harsh), and Penske's (better). However, testimonials and personal experiences with springs tells me to deduct at least 50 lb/in off Penske's. I also have a good suspension shop to work with, and they have been spot on with their recommendations.

http://www.fjriders.com/forums/viewtopi ... ix#p119289

If we go by the Penske chart for 685 (let's call it 700)...... that's below Penske's chart.... however, take any lower rate spring and add preload and you can make it "feel like" it's stronger. So I'm guessing you have added preload at least 1 if not 2 of the 4 settings an ES has.

In combination, you need a good front end..... so the ES has 1.0 straight rate front springs, which is better than any FJR-A, including Gen3-A (OK but progressive). May be a contributor to why you think the ES is OK, and I think the ES front end is good.

So to compensate for springing to get the ride and handling you want, you play with the damping...... all a compromise if you don't have the proper springs.

[escapefjrtist]

<<<<<Big Snip>>>>>Good info. Thanks Ray. I must say though I am confused by the rate of the stock spring. What weight rider is a 685 lb spring good for?

ES and A models have different relay arms. With that, the linkage ratio is changed so spring rates can't be directly compared between models. At least not without some math. I've got a photo somewhere with Fontana's ES and my '15 staggered side by side and the relay arm difference is quite noticeable.

~G

[escapefjrtist]

For all ES owners who may one day need it, I'm passing this along some info and where to get service.........

1. Weepage at the damping stepper motor - There's a good possibility, this is simply an O-ring leak. The FSM says a new O-ring should be used if the stepper motor is removed, however, they don't list the O-ring as a service part.... shouldn't be hard to find a suitable one at your usual O-ring store.

2. Leakage at the main shaft seal - Requires a rebuild, you'll know if you see leakage there and have lost the ability to adjust damping (pogo effect).

3. Spring upgrade - OEM is a 685 lb. in spring rate, a 200 lb. rider needs 800-850 lb. in. I believe this is a 7" long spring, which should be commonly available, my local suspension folks offered me one yesterday from their inventory.

Where to get service... (referral by Cogent Dynamics)..... EPM Performance Imports in New Jersey. They rebuild any OEM shock and state they do ES type shocks. As of this writing, one quote is $289 for a rebuild, $189 for a spring upgrade, plus shipping. Turnaround in 10 days or so.

https://epmperf.com/

Additional information for those considering ES spring upgrade.

OE spring is 7.4" free length, 6.82" installed length. Static preload is 0.58" or ~14.7mm. Page 2-12 '15 FSM. Additional preload is added with bags/2riders/2riders+bags ES settings for a total of 10mm. When Fontana was considering more spring on Extra Sloppy ( ), we looked at a few different spring rates and static preloads.

Finishing the math and letting the dust settle, it appears a 7" X 750# spring with 15mm installed preload or 7" X 800# spring with 13mm installed preload were compromise choices. Myself, I'd lean towards the 750# choice. Both allow full use of the ES preload functions. Assumptions were based on North American rider & luggage weights.

There's a great thread covering ES spring upgrades on the Tenere forum. IIRC, most went up 100# in rate and were pleased with the results. Reports said Race Tech made custom bottom spring seats to match their springs. Don't know if they're still offering springs/seats.

~G

[fontanaman]

My 17 ES is under sprung. I have to set the preload to two helmets for solo riding, with and without luggage, to properly set the sag. And forget riding two up, as chassis movement is excessive in demanding situations and the bike handles slow and poorly ( a dump truck some might say.)

What really irks me about the FJR ES is it offers only 4 preload settings. A conventional shock with an adjustment nut has more settings, I like to think of it as 1-100 percent. Yeah it is inconvenient but a proper set up is achievable.

Yamaha and others ought to ditch the gimmicky graphics one helmet, one helmet with luggage, two helmets, two helmets with luggage as preload settings. Instead display percent of preload so a user could adjust from 1-100% using the electronics - it is a simple concept. If they had something like that I'd get a new spring for my ES because I could set it up for solo AND two up.

I was looking at a 2020 Triumph Tiger GT Pro and it had the same 4 graphic based preload setting as the FJR ES. I passed on buying that bike for that reason and a few others. I am very wary of electronically controlled suspension because it is the manufacture's idea of what you want but does allow you to set it up to fit your needs. The word Nanny comes to mind.

If my ES Shock ever dies I will see if I can stow the electronic gizmos that make it work, remove the shock, fire up the bike in neutral and see if it causes an idiot light to display. If no idiot light appears and I can safely stow the electronic gizmos I'd order a Penske shock with manual adjustments.

It is good to know there is an option to get the bloody stock shock rebuilt.

Everything about the 17ES is much better than my 09, except for the rear shock, something I use every time I ride it. I had after market suspension on the 09. Dang I miss that. I road that bike 80,000 miles with the after market suspension and I have road the 17ES 30,000 miles.

[raYzerman]

It boils down to undersprung and having to preload excessively to get you in the ballpark. If 10mm preload is 2-up + luggage, it's still a 685 lb. spring you're just compressing. If you had an 800 lb. spring, for solo I'd bet you'd not go past 1up no luggage.

I'm not so sure the relay arm ratios are much of a factor. The spring has to hold you up first. Adding preload will mean the ride height will change with that ratio, does it matter if it's a bit more or less than an A?

As for my Versys, I just upgraded the shock spring. I had an 850 lb. on the FJR and it was perfect, I figured 800 lb. for the lighter Versys. They couldn't get me one, so I agreed to a 750. I'm going to try it, to early to say anything yet, but it's 100 lb. more than the OEM.

I share your view of electronic suspensions, infinitely adjustable is the only way to go. I doubt you can ditch the ES and put manual on without error codes. Codes exist for a few things, just have a read of the FSM for a list.