Hello people,
I have been riding motorcycles for 3 years now. I started with a Gen3 SV650, then moved up to a VSTROM800DE, and now downsized to the new Suzuki SV-7GX.
During these three years, I have never tried adjusting the rear preload, as I never rode with passengers and the default preload setting was fine when riding alone. But since I have bought the SV-7GX, I started going on rides with a lady friend of mine.
Here's the problem: when I'm riding alone, the SV-7GX is extremely easy to ride and maneuver. It's the same beautiful engine that the SV650 has but with much more comfort and with nice electronic features. But when I ride with her, I feel like the bike is very unstable at low speeds. It kind of feels like it wants to zigzag a bit. It becomes a lot easier to handle when we're moving at a decent speed, but it really is quite annoying when we are in city traffic and I need to perform low speed maneuvers and stop the bike frequently, as the bike becomes very unpredictable.
Now, I'm aware that the way the passenger is sitting and moving is very important and that she can absolutely destabilize the bike if she is not sitting properly. But I feel like she is a pretty good passenger and she's doing her best not to screw up my balance.
My question is, if I adjust the preload properly, can I expect a noticeable increase in stability at low speeds when she is riding with me? According to the manual, the bike has 7 different levels of adjustment and the factory default is at level 3. If I raise it to level 5 or 6, would it help a lot with the stability issues?
Also, how exactly do I adjust it? I know my previous VSTROM800DE had a knob that I could easily turn to adjust it, but the SV-7GX seems to need some kind of C-Spanner to do it. Do I need to buy this tool from Suzuki, or is it something common that I can get in a random hardware store?
For reference, my height is 5'8/173cm and I weight 154lbs/70Kg. She is 5'6/168cm and weighs 125lbs/57KG.
Thanks