85-86 250R rear suspension (how do you like it?)

[Dynofox]

How do you guys like the rear suspension on your trikes? Too soft/too hard? I have access to a softer valve stack from the 88 250r shock I just bought and was wondering if I should use it or the stiffer valving from the stock 86 R shock? I've never had a chance to really ride the trike with the stock shock, not that it would have mattered since it needed to be rebuilt anyway. I weigh 160lbs with my riding gear and do normal to hard trail riding with some jumps here and there.

[ATC crazy]

If it were me, I would go with the softer shock. I like a soft ride however, and you may have different tastes. But since you dont weight much (compared to me) the '88 shock might suit you just fine.

[Louis Mielke]

It surprises me sometimes hearing about these really light guys ridding these trikes. I mean, I'm 210lb. and my R can really put a hurtin on me after a good hard full day of riding...I can only imgine how rough they are on some one so much lighter....

BLah...Course....everyone on the rest of the planet is tall too....i hate the fact that the newer bikes are so uncomfortable for me. I can handle just about anything power wise...but when I can't put my feet on the ground the machines just to freaking tall...and of course there never really have any adjustment. What is it, is everyone who rides bikes nowadays freakishly tall...or am I just a runt? *sigh*

[deathman53]

my 250r has a 310pv motor, aftermarket carb, reeds, esr pipe, and cr ignition and I'm 180lbs wet, when I had the stock ported and a esr 330 is wasn't too bad of hurting, but the 310pv(lrd) is a huge hurting, I think I found the point of too much. And about the shock I have a elka 88 trx shock on mine, yes it was expenisive, but worth it. I don't understand why all the new bikes are so tall either. It started with the raptor, then z400 and all of its copies, next the preditor, then the trx450r, any others that I missed? The only new bike that isn't real tall is a yfz450, I think its too low.

[jenndnn3]

Dyno, if you find you dont like it lets talk. I am with the minority, I would love a softer ride. The extension helped some, and having a fresher shock helped as well. I may need to just dial in a little more, plus I need to still fix the front.

Louis if it will make you feel better, I am only 5 feet tall.

[Dynofox]

Well I've run into a little snag with that 88 R shock, as of now it will not bolt up since the angle of the rezzie hose is different than thr ATC. The hose comes straight of of the left and hits the air intake boot. I have to have the shock torn apart anyway to install a new rubber bumper so I may have all the internals put into the ATC shock body.

[Oldshell4481]

6'2" no bike too tall for me, i need bigger. i prefer a softer ride, i have a bad back and the 200e with no suspension kills me.

[Dammit!]

It surprises me sometimes hearing about these really light guys ridding these trikes. I mean, I'm 210lb. and my R can really put a hurtin on me after a good hard full day of riding...I can only imgine how rough they are on some one so much lighter....



I'm down to 151lbs (from a little over 200lbs a year ago). I figured it would be cheaper to just lose weight myself instead of installing lightweight parts on the R. :D I think I can probably get back down to 145lbs which was my high school weight. Not bad at 32.

It puts a hurting on me now but when I was 18 I could ride all day and not even be sore the next day. It's just strength and more importantly, conditioning. Both of which I'm sad to say have dwindled in the past 14 years for me. Getting better though. First long ride I went on after getting the R running I was hurting pretty bad. That was after a 7 year layoff. The dunes kicked my butt pretty good too. Arms were like jello by the end of the day. Good thing I had someone around to help me lift the thing into the truck that evening.

[hotroddal]

im 15 years old 135 lbs and i ride my 85 350x,84 250r,81 250r,82 250r all the time and i have yet to get sore from riding and when i do go riding about half the time im riding her hard with some friends.