2004 FE550E First Impressions
- Thread starter jmumme
- Start date
-
- Tags
- 2004 fe550e impressions
jmumme,
I am curious, how much do you weigh?
I'm 183# in my birthday suit, and about 220# when suited up. The reason I'm asking is b/c I found that the stock suspension on my 2004 550e was way too soft for me. I upped the fork springs to .44kg, and the rear spring to a PDS #8. At the same time I had the suspension re-valved. My suspension guy set my bike up for me as a "desert expert". Now, in no way shape or form do I think I'm a really fast guy, but, the difference between stock and what it is now is night and day.
I found that with the stock set up the rear end would squat down under acceleration and just hammer me, as well as the front diving down. And yes,
I do run a Scott's steering stabilizer as well. I run with about 4" of sag with me on the bike, and a full tank of gas.
Also, I put a Scott's stainless steel mesh oil filter in my bike after the second oil change. I have been using one for the last 4 years with great success. I find it is a good way to also keep track of how much debris your engine is putting out. They're super easy to clean with a can of CRC lectra solve or equivalent.
I would definitely go to the DVR needle on #5, and the 42 pilot as well. I'm sure you will notice an improvement in the way it starts. Have you checked your plug to see how she's running?
Cheers,
I am curious, how much do you weigh?
I'm 183# in my birthday suit, and about 220# when suited up. The reason I'm asking is b/c I found that the stock suspension on my 2004 550e was way too soft for me. I upped the fork springs to .44kg, and the rear spring to a PDS #8. At the same time I had the suspension re-valved. My suspension guy set my bike up for me as a "desert expert". Now, in no way shape or form do I think I'm a really fast guy, but, the difference between stock and what it is now is night and day.
I found that with the stock set up the rear end would squat down under acceleration and just hammer me, as well as the front diving down. And yes,
I do run a Scott's steering stabilizer as well. I run with about 4" of sag with me on the bike, and a full tank of gas.
Also, I put a Scott's stainless steel mesh oil filter in my bike after the second oil change. I have been using one for the last 4 years with great success. I find it is a good way to also keep track of how much debris your engine is putting out. They're super easy to clean with a can of CRC lectra solve or equivalent.
I would definitely go to the DVR needle on #5, and the 42 pilot as well. I'm sure you will notice an improvement in the way it starts. Have you checked your plug to see how she's running?
Cheers,
I'm 168 in my birthday suit. Which is probably like 180 ready to roll.
I still have not touched the suspension. The sag and the dials haven't even been surveyed. I've probably pounded it enough to set it up. In my mind I didn't want to do it when it was cold. And it has been cold. Plus, others have posted that a 10-20 hour breakin was needed. So, I've been putting it off. Asside from the twitches. I think the suspension works well and should be fine for my size.
The plug was white. Which was found to be acceptable by many I have spoken too. Keep in mind that I'm at 5200ft.
I'll keep you posted on the suspension settings before and after.
Thanks,
John
I still have not touched the suspension. The sag and the dials haven't even been surveyed. I've probably pounded it enough to set it up. In my mind I didn't want to do it when it was cold. And it has been cold. Plus, others have posted that a 10-20 hour breakin was needed. So, I've been putting it off. Asside from the twitches. I think the suspension works well and should be fine for my size.
The plug was white. Which was found to be acceptable by many I have spoken too. Keep in mind that I'm at 5200ft.
I'll keep you posted on the suspension settings before and after.
Thanks,
John
Suspension settings
Well I finally adjusted the static sag. It was set at 45 mm. So I cranked down on the spring to bring it to 35MM. The shock rebound was set at 15 out instead of the standard 21. So that was changed as well.
The sag was found to be 90MM in street cloths. So, I should be right in there with the riding gear. There was a bit of compressed air in the legs. Other than that, we should be good to go next time out.
All of the clickers were set that standard settings. A quick bounce in the garage and both ends feel very similar.
Would the new settings help to decrease the speed twitch that I experienced over the weekend? Let me think a bit out loud..
I was riding farther into to rear shock, so the rear shock wasn't working until later in the stroke. The rebound was higher so the shock was slow to extend. And the air in the front forks wasn't allowing the forks to compress which put's more pressure on the already not working too well rear shock? OK, I guess the changes should help
John
Well I finally adjusted the static sag. It was set at 45 mm. So I cranked down on the spring to bring it to 35MM. The shock rebound was set at 15 out instead of the standard 21. So that was changed as well.
The sag was found to be 90MM in street cloths. So, I should be right in there with the riding gear. There was a bit of compressed air in the legs. Other than that, we should be good to go next time out.
All of the clickers were set that standard settings. A quick bounce in the garage and both ends feel very similar.
Would the new settings help to decrease the speed twitch that I experienced over the weekend? Let me think a bit out loud..
I was riding farther into to rear shock, so the rear shock wasn't working until later in the stroke. The rebound was higher so the shock was slow to extend. And the air in the front forks wasn't allowing the forks to compress which put's more pressure on the already not working too well rear shock? OK, I guess the changes should help
John
Hi John,
Well, you're definitely moving in the right direction by setting the rear sag properly, as well as making sure that the clickers are set correctly too. Keep in mind that you should bleed the air off your forks while the bike is on a center stand with no weight on the wheels before each ride while the suspension is cool.
One thing to remember about clickers, they have a limited range. In other words, one cannot make up for incorrect internal valving, or incorrect spring rates with clickers alone.
As far as your front end twitch goes......... If the rear end sag was excessive it should have raked the front out some more as well as keeping weight on the back end, whcih in effect should have made the front end more stable. So, by you decreasing the amount of sag to the proper setting, this in effect will rake in the front and transfer weight to the front. And since you have reduced the amount of rebound damping in the rear this will in effect keep more weight on the front. The High Speed compression damping on the rear also plays a role in how the bike is balanced, the higher the High Speed compression damping the higher the bike will tend to ride in the travel. But don't worry about that right now, just set it to the standard setting.
There are two types of front end twitch, or rather two different things that can cause it. The first is a geometry twitch, that is what we have been talking about here, and the second is the suspension itself. The amount of stability of the front end is influenced by the rake, or steering head angle, and the amount of trail which is controlled by the offset of the triple clamps, and how far the front axle is set in front of the fork tubes, the more trail the more stable a bike is and visa versa. Trail is as follows: Draw a line from the center of the steering head to the ground. Then draw a verticle line through the center of the front axle to the ground. The distance between where these two points touch the ground is trail. Just for clarification, the vertical line drawn through the front axle is going to contact the ground behind where the line from the steering head hits the ground. There's a great article in last months Moto Cross Action magazine about all of this. As the suspension compresses in the front, the more weight is transferred to the front, and the steeper the front rake becomes in relationship to the ground. So, if your front springs are too soft, the front end will tend to ride too far down in the travel transferring too much weight to the front, decreasing the rake, and effectively making the bike unstable. This will also put you into the midstroke of the fork which is firming up as it hits this point. This inturn is going to make the front end skidish as the front will tend to deflect off of objects instead of absorbing them. Which brings us to the suspension part of the twitch problem. If the forks are too stiff valving wise, the front end will tend to deflect instead of absorbing the hit. You can solve some this by going to a softer setting on the compression clickers on the front end, however, if your springs are too soft you'll end up getting further into the travel of the front end, and the aforementioned side effects of this. That's why it's so crucial to have the proper spring rates at both ends so that the chassis is balanced.
Keep in mind too that the shock has a needle in it that goes into the top of the shock shaft when it reaches close to max. compression that effectively radically increases the compression damping. This is to help with bottoming. If the spring you are running is too soft, and you start to get into this area of damping the bike is not going to work very good at all. Now since you have set the static sag at 35mm, and it would appear that you will have the correct rider sag when geared up you should not have this problem. If in fact the rebound was too slow as you described, this would cause the rear end to Pack, which inturn would cause the bike to swap in the whoops, or successive hits. The only reason I'm harping on the spring rates is that my suspension tuner told me that stock rear spring should be on a 125, not an open four stroke, and I totally agree. And I personally feel that the stock fork springs are too soft as well.
Well, you're definitely moving in the right direction by setting the rear sag properly, as well as making sure that the clickers are set correctly too. Keep in mind that you should bleed the air off your forks while the bike is on a center stand with no weight on the wheels before each ride while the suspension is cool.
One thing to remember about clickers, they have a limited range. In other words, one cannot make up for incorrect internal valving, or incorrect spring rates with clickers alone.
As far as your front end twitch goes......... If the rear end sag was excessive it should have raked the front out some more as well as keeping weight on the back end, whcih in effect should have made the front end more stable. So, by you decreasing the amount of sag to the proper setting, this in effect will rake in the front and transfer weight to the front. And since you have reduced the amount of rebound damping in the rear this will in effect keep more weight on the front. The High Speed compression damping on the rear also plays a role in how the bike is balanced, the higher the High Speed compression damping the higher the bike will tend to ride in the travel. But don't worry about that right now, just set it to the standard setting.
There are two types of front end twitch, or rather two different things that can cause it. The first is a geometry twitch, that is what we have been talking about here, and the second is the suspension itself. The amount of stability of the front end is influenced by the rake, or steering head angle, and the amount of trail which is controlled by the offset of the triple clamps, and how far the front axle is set in front of the fork tubes, the more trail the more stable a bike is and visa versa. Trail is as follows: Draw a line from the center of the steering head to the ground. Then draw a verticle line through the center of the front axle to the ground. The distance between where these two points touch the ground is trail. Just for clarification, the vertical line drawn through the front axle is going to contact the ground behind where the line from the steering head hits the ground. There's a great article in last months Moto Cross Action magazine about all of this. As the suspension compresses in the front, the more weight is transferred to the front, and the steeper the front rake becomes in relationship to the ground. So, if your front springs are too soft, the front end will tend to ride too far down in the travel transferring too much weight to the front, decreasing the rake, and effectively making the bike unstable. This will also put you into the midstroke of the fork which is firming up as it hits this point. This inturn is going to make the front end skidish as the front will tend to deflect off of objects instead of absorbing them. Which brings us to the suspension part of the twitch problem. If the forks are too stiff valving wise, the front end will tend to deflect instead of absorbing the hit. You can solve some this by going to a softer setting on the compression clickers on the front end, however, if your springs are too soft you'll end up getting further into the travel of the front end, and the aforementioned side effects of this. That's why it's so crucial to have the proper spring rates at both ends so that the chassis is balanced.
Keep in mind too that the shock has a needle in it that goes into the top of the shock shaft when it reaches close to max. compression that effectively radically increases the compression damping. This is to help with bottoming. If the spring you are running is too soft, and you start to get into this area of damping the bike is not going to work very good at all. Now since you have set the static sag at 35mm, and it would appear that you will have the correct rider sag when geared up you should not have this problem. If in fact the rebound was too slow as you described, this would cause the rear end to Pack, which inturn would cause the bike to swap in the whoops, or successive hits. The only reason I'm harping on the spring rates is that my suspension tuner told me that stock rear spring should be on a 125, not an open four stroke, and I totally agree. And I personally feel that the stock fork springs are too soft as well.
Hi John,
Well, you're definitely moving in the right direction by setting the rear sag properly, as well as making sure that the clickers are set correctly too. Keep in mind that you should bleed the air off your forks while the bike is on a center stand with no weight on the wheels before each ride while the suspension is cool.
One thing to remember about clickers, they have a limited range. In other words, one cannot make up for incorrect internal valving, or incorrect spring rates with clickers alone.
As far as your front end twitch goes......... If the rear end sag was excessive it should have raked the front out some more as well as keeping weight on the back end, whcih in effect should have made the front end more stable. So, by you decreasing the amount of sag to the proper setting, this in effect will rake in the front and transfer weight to the front. And since you have reduced the amount of rebound damping in the rear this will in effect keep more weight on the front. The High Speed compression damping on the rear also plays a role in how the bike is balanced, the higher the High Speed compression damping the higher the bike will tend to ride in the travel. But don't worry about that right now, just set it to the standard setting.
There are two types of front end twitch, or rather two different things that can cause it. The first is a geometry twitch, that is what we have been talking about here, and the second is the suspension itself. The amount of stability of the front end is influenced by the rake, or steering head angle, and the amount of trail which is controlled by the offset of the triple clamps, and how far the front axle is set in front of the fork tubes, the more trail the more stable a bike is and visa versa. Trail is as follows: Draw a line from the center of the steering head to the ground. Then draw a verticle line through the center of the front axle to the ground. The distance between where these two points touch the ground is trail. Just for clarification, the vertical line drawn through the front axle is going to contact the ground behind where the line from the steering head hits the ground. There's a great article in last months Moto Cross Action magazine about all of this. As the suspension compresses in the front, the more weight is transferred to the front, and the steeper the front rake becomes in relationship to the ground. So, if your front springs are too soft, the front end will tend to ride too far down in the travel transferring too much weight to the front, decreasing the rake, and effectively making the bike unstable. This will also put you into the midstroke of the fork which is firming up as it hits this point. This inturn is going to make the front end skidish as the front will tend to deflect off of objects instead of absorbing them. Which brings us to the suspension part of the twitch problem. If the forks are too stiff valving wise, the front end will tend to deflect instead of absorbing the hit. You can solve some this by going to a softer setting on the compression clickers on the front end, however, if your springs are too soft you'll end up getting further into the travel of the front end, and the aforementioned side effects of this. That's why it's so crucial to have the proper spring rates at both ends so that the chassis is balanced.
Keep in mind too that the shock has a needle in it that goes into the top of the shock shaft when it reaches close to max. compression that effectively radically increases the compression damping. This is to help with bottoming. If the spring you are running is too soft, and you start to get into this area of damping the bike is not going to work very good at all. Now since you have set the static sag at 35mm, and it would appear that you will have the correct rider sag when geared up you should not have this problem. If in fact the rebound was too slow as you described, this would cause the rear end to Pack, which inturn would cause the bike to swap in the whoops, or successive hits. The only reason I'm harping on the spring rates is that my suspension tuner told me that stock rear spring should be on a 125, not an open four stroke, and I totally agree. And I personally feel that the stock fork springs are too soft as well.
Well, you're definitely moving in the right direction by setting the rear sag properly, as well as making sure that the clickers are set correctly too. Keep in mind that you should bleed the air off your forks while the bike is on a center stand with no weight on the wheels before each ride while the suspension is cool.
One thing to remember about clickers, they have a limited range. In other words, one cannot make up for incorrect internal valving, or incorrect spring rates with clickers alone.
As far as your front end twitch goes......... If the rear end sag was excessive it should have raked the front out some more as well as keeping weight on the back end, whcih in effect should have made the front end more stable. So, by you decreasing the amount of sag to the proper setting, this in effect will rake in the front and transfer weight to the front. And since you have reduced the amount of rebound damping in the rear this will in effect keep more weight on the front. The High Speed compression damping on the rear also plays a role in how the bike is balanced, the higher the High Speed compression damping the higher the bike will tend to ride in the travel. But don't worry about that right now, just set it to the standard setting.
There are two types of front end twitch, or rather two different things that can cause it. The first is a geometry twitch, that is what we have been talking about here, and the second is the suspension itself. The amount of stability of the front end is influenced by the rake, or steering head angle, and the amount of trail which is controlled by the offset of the triple clamps, and how far the front axle is set in front of the fork tubes, the more trail the more stable a bike is and visa versa. Trail is as follows: Draw a line from the center of the steering head to the ground. Then draw a verticle line through the center of the front axle to the ground. The distance between where these two points touch the ground is trail. Just for clarification, the vertical line drawn through the front axle is going to contact the ground behind where the line from the steering head hits the ground. There's a great article in last months Moto Cross Action magazine about all of this. As the suspension compresses in the front, the more weight is transferred to the front, and the steeper the front rake becomes in relationship to the ground. So, if your front springs are too soft, the front end will tend to ride too far down in the travel transferring too much weight to the front, decreasing the rake, and effectively making the bike unstable. This will also put you into the midstroke of the fork which is firming up as it hits this point. This inturn is going to make the front end skidish as the front will tend to deflect off of objects instead of absorbing them. Which brings us to the suspension part of the twitch problem. If the forks are too stiff valving wise, the front end will tend to deflect instead of absorbing the hit. You can solve some this by going to a softer setting on the compression clickers on the front end, however, if your springs are too soft you'll end up getting further into the travel of the front end, and the aforementioned side effects of this. That's why it's so crucial to have the proper spring rates at both ends so that the chassis is balanced.
Keep in mind too that the shock has a needle in it that goes into the top of the shock shaft when it reaches close to max. compression that effectively radically increases the compression damping. This is to help with bottoming. If the spring you are running is too soft, and you start to get into this area of damping the bike is not going to work very good at all. Now since you have set the static sag at 35mm, and it would appear that you will have the correct rider sag when geared up you should not have this problem. If in fact the rebound was too slow as you described, this would cause the rear end to Pack, which inturn would cause the bike to swap in the whoops, or successive hits. The only reason I'm harping on the spring rates is that my suspension tuner told me that stock rear spring should be on a 125, not an open four stroke, and I totally agree. And I personally feel that the stock fork springs are too soft as well.
Joined Sep 2004
163 Posts | 0+
Reno, NV
Here's my view; sounds like you were on the gas (weight bias rearward from acceleration)when the bike got twitchy, which is a sign of not enough weight on the forks or to stiff of valving in them, causing the front end to wander. I would think that setting your sag in the manner you did should eliminate most of it.
Whoa DalEO!
Thanks a bunch for the lesson and the feedback 8O . I never knew how the trail thing worked. So this is great!
I'm going to review it again tonight with my son. We have been setting up the bikes together. I figure the more we both know the better off we will both be.
I haven't checked the fork sag yet. Could it be possible that the preload is not enough? I can see that the forks may require the increased rate.
Thanks again for taking the time to provide all the info..
Thanks a bunch for the lesson and the feedback 8O . I never knew how the trail thing worked. So this is great!
I'm going to review it again tonight with my son. We have been setting up the bikes together. I figure the more we both know the better off we will both be.
I haven't checked the fork sag yet. Could it be possible that the preload is not enough? I can see that the forks may require the increased rate.
Thanks again for taking the time to provide all the info..
Joined Sep 2004
163 Posts | 0+
Reno, NV
Thanks for letting me take your 550 for a spin John. WOW what an awesome bike. I did notice the front end felt a little nervous, but other than that it was awesome. It soaked up the terrain very well for a stock bike. I can't wait until I get mine! Anyone know anyone who wants to buy a 2001 520MXC, so I can get a new Berg?
WOW what an awesome bike. I did notice the front end felt a little nervous, but other than that it was awesome. It soaked up the terrain very well for a stock bike. I can't wait until I get mine! Anyone know anyone who wants to buy a 2001 520MXC, so I can get a new Berg?281Mi. 12 Hours
Still running awesome. I did a bit of maint tonight. Paper filter, fresh oil, cleaned screen (still some flakes), drain plug cleaned (still a couple spikey things). Air filter cleaned with Notoil.
With 12 hours I'm sure the valves need to be checked. I'll be doing that tomorrow.
The tire is rubbing on the headers and hit the fender as well.
DaleO - did you ever get yours replaced?
I did as you suggested AJT. I upped the compression on the front (2 clicks in) and slowed down the compression on the rear (2 Clicks in).
I also slowed the rebound on the forks 2 clicks. It seems to working much better giving a more positive feedback in the steering dept. Is still takes the small stuff with ease.
I'm glad you enjoyed the 550 AJT Thanks for letting me ride your 520. It was a nice ride as well. I like the dampner alot. I'm going to put some Christmas cash down on a dampner on Tuesday.
Not much else needing attention. The bike starts/runs great. No leaks etc..
Still running awesome. I did a bit of maint tonight. Paper filter, fresh oil, cleaned screen (still some flakes), drain plug cleaned (still a couple spikey things). Air filter cleaned with Notoil.
With 12 hours I'm sure the valves need to be checked. I'll be doing that tomorrow.
The tire is rubbing on the headers and hit the fender as well.
DaleO - did you ever get yours replaced?
I did as you suggested AJT. I upped the compression on the front (2 clicks in) and slowed down the compression on the rear (2 Clicks in).
I also slowed the rebound on the forks 2 clicks. It seems to working much better giving a more positive feedback in the steering dept. Is still takes the small stuff with ease.
I'm glad you enjoyed the 550 AJT
Thanks for letting me ride your 520. It was a nice ride as well. I like the dampner alot. I'm going to put some Christmas cash down on a dampner on Tuesday.Not much else needing attention. The bike starts/runs great. No leaks etc..
Yes I did get my header replaced. However, it did not fit properly, see my post in the dealer section.
It only required one cut and weld.
Not much of a problem.
It only required one cut and weld.
Not much of a problem.
Joined Dec 2003
587 Posts | 2+
Where ever we park the motorhome, USA
Re: Another 17 miles on the 550 - Picked up the 02 400
It took just about 110 hours to wear my front sprocket into a hooked shape. I lube my chain every ride, so hopefully, this will give you a good indication.
jmumme said:
It took just about 110 hours to wear my front sprocket into a hooked shape. I lube my chain every ride, so hopefully, this will give you a good indication.
Ouch!
110? Man I hope your wrong.
If your right, then the only good thing I could hope for is that this machine has had some of the updates applied.
Other than warm starting issues. Turning the idle up a bit helped.. Thanks AJT.
It's been a good runner.
He rides it pretty much non-stop. I think he went thru 15 gallons last week.
John
110? Man I hope your wrong.
If your right, then the only good thing I could hope for is that this machine has had some of the updates applied.
Other than warm starting issues. Turning the idle up a bit helped.. Thanks AJT.
It's been a good runner.
He rides it pretty much non-stop. I think he went thru 15 gallons last week.
John
If the previous owner was running the chain too tight, this would radically shorten sproket life.
Floppies - Not for the computer
Gone are the Husaberg floppy hand guards the came with the bike. It now has the Moose "Magura" type (aluminum,black) with the yellow hand protectors. It was interesting.. The mounts that came with this set are designed (machined) to go onto the bars a certain way. Meaning that I had to rotate my bars forward to keep the hand guards from pointing to the moon. I was OK with moving them foward a bit. It actually opened up the riding area a bunch.. I could have forced them into a position, but then the mounts would not have contacted flush with the bars.
John
Gone are the Husaberg floppy hand guards the came with the bike. It now has the Moose "Magura" type (aluminum,black) with the yellow hand protectors. It was interesting.. The mounts that came with this set are designed (machined) to go onto the bars a certain way. Meaning that I had to rotate my bars forward to keep the hand guards from pointing to the moon. I was OK with moving them foward a bit. It actually opened up the riding area a bunch.. I could have forced them into a position, but then the mounts would not have contacted flush with the bars.
John
Cabin Fever!
Doesn't look like we'll be doing much riding for a while. .
The snowberg has refused to contend with the 3ft of snow in my front yard. There are two more days worth of snow on the way.
John
Doesn't look like we'll be doing much riding for a while. .
The snowberg has refused to contend with the 3ft of snow in my front yard. There are two more days worth of snow on the way.
John
Similar threads
Register CTA
Register on Husaberg Forum! This sidebar will go away, and you will see fewer ads.
Sign Up
