In my shock re-build experience, in addtion to the above, I learned really quickly how important front and rear ride height and pre-load is to keeping the bike balanced, initially more so than any other settings. Compression, rebound, and sag are all important as well, but until the ride height/pre-load were right they had minimal impact on the handling especially cornering. This is what I learned spending the last few nights and early mornings on a country road in Lavon Tx. When cornering hard If I felt that the front wheel was unstable (or heavy), Like it wanted to wash out, I needed to either decrease the pre-load/ride height on the rear or increase the pre-load/ride height on the front. Same for the rear, when cornering hard if the rear wheel felt unstable I needed to decrease the pre-load/ride height on the front or increase it on the rear. Changing the pre-load was a quick way to make adjustments on the road, and eventually had to raise the ride height on the front because increasing pre-load was creating too much stiffness and not enough sag to have a comfortable or safe ride. This may also require some hardware changes, springs, cutting spacers, etc... in my case a 15mm Spring plate in the rear and a 6mm front ride height increase and then my Uly started to track in the corners like a Buell should. Now that I am in the ballpark again will start twisting the throttle harder in the corners and hopefully get that Buell slingshot effect again, oh what a joy that is!
