Modern Vespa

Been doing a bit of searching to see how you guys and girls with Bitubos set them up but can't get any real answers so bear with me.

Fitted front and rear on the LX a couple of weeks ago and must admit I'm a bit stumped. The front shock seems to ride really hard - the manual (translated badly from Italian) is quite difficult to understand with regard to the pre-load and rebound settings.

I've twisted the settings on both all over and although the handling is out of this world compared with the stock shock, I'm finding the harshness over bumps and ridges quite disconcerting.

Sydney has terrible roads with potholes, ridges, undulations etc. and if I've got the throttle madness hitting these can seem like I'm bouncing down the road, not a soft bounce either!

Can anyone give me an idea where I should start with the relative settings on preload and rebound? I'm a porky bloke - 5' 8" and 200 lbs.

Dave(Silverstreak) I'm thinking you may have the answers as we seem to lead a parallel (Vespa-wise anyway) life.

Real suspension adjustment require a sag adjustment first, This will set the plushness of the shock- You do not want to bottom out the shock, But you do want to use the full range... Delicate balance.

Sag with your full weight on it should be around 10% to 25% of the full range... It is different on all my 2 wheelers.
You need to measure from the ground to a fixed point on your scoot nearest the shocks, front and back (both need to be adjusted equally)

Rebound takes the bounce out of shock.
I have never used Bitubo shocks but have set up high end shocks on my 600rr track bike, supermoto and Mountain bikes (same concept for different uses)

What I do is start from full open, close down rebound fully (clockwise) - Count the clicks, Then go halfway back, This lets you know where you are in the settings.

More than likely you will need to go for slower rebounding, So adjust clockwise.

I have done this so many times, I generally just close it down, back off 3-5 clicks and do fine adjustment from there.

You don't want so little rebound that your shock packs down (doesn't rebound) on a really bumpy road and you don't want it to bounce back up giving you that bucking feeling.

If you happened to buy "Sport" shocks, The ride can be adjusted but it will still be a stiffer ride and is meant to be for performance sport needs.

Hi Mark. I'm even porkier than you at 225 lbs. (on a good day).

It's been a long time since I put the Bitubos on my LX, and I'm not sure I remember the details, but I pretty much adjusted them by trial and error. My recollection on the front shock was that it did indeed seem too stiff, and I backed off just slightly on both the preload and the rebound. It felt fine then, so I stuck with that. For the rear shock, the loaded ride height was the same as it was for my normal stock-shock preload adjustment (3rd click out of 4), so I left it at the factory setting.

Thanks guys. Still not sure I've done the right thing here in getting the Bitubo on the front. It handles great but it's killing my wrists and fingers! I have mild/moderate arthritis and my hands/wrists get it the worse. Think I'll have to start wearing padded cycling gloves over my scoot gloves!

have a read through this thread: Adjusting Bitubo shock?

DougL and i used this to set up my front Bitubo, and it seems to have worked

Thanks Genie. I hadn't found this thread. Thanks for all your input. Appreciate it.

Mark

Great thread. Thanks Genie!

For the front I backed the preload all the way out. Claus engine mounts help immensely with potholes