rear shock setting

Hi everyone.
Some months ago i sent my shock to the local GRiSO shock guru to completely rebuild it, because has the bottom end absorber exploded and went fully down on every little drop.
I told him my weight (68kgs) and soon he installed a ohlins spring, 110 kg/mm.

The problem is that i can't find a fully-satisfying setting now: No more bottom ends, but it seems to be a little too stiff and not so confortable.
I did the static and rider sag, reducing the preload and playing with hidraulic settings but with only partial benefit.

During couple ride it handles much better.

Any experience? Did you think that for my weight this spring is too much stiff? Or someone can suggest a basic setting to start with?

The bike is totally stock.
Thank you.

In case it helps.....I'm 75 kgs & have also struggled with rear springs (on Standard shock, Matris Shock & Stelvio Shock).  The lightest I went was 100N/mm (BTW I'm assuming you meant either 110 N/mm or you meant 11 kg/mm...110kg/mm spring would barely move !!) & for me the whole bike went a bit too wobbly on fast long bumps despite it felt great around town & on very sharp bumpy roads. I went back up to 115N/mm (on both Stelvio and Matris) & that seems to be the right spring for me....

Despite all this I still feel the back end is harsh at slow speeds and only smooths out going faster. I've tried optimising sag etc but like you can't get anything that works in all riding conditions.....long & short & despite some people here having good experiences, I'm tempted to think it's just a function of big bike with not much rear travel due to the design of the shock & linkage set up (Stelvio is defo bit better as it has some extra travel).

So, on basis you are a bit lighter, I'd say 110 N/mm is probably about right (assuming the SAG levels sit somewhere near where it should be) ...if you are happy with a bit more 'wallow', you could always live with even lighter spring, but for me it wasn't a good feeling

hi, yes, 110N/mm
i've done the rider sag, around 34 mm if i remember correctly.
some suggestions about hydraulic settings? with stock presets is near to be a wood axle

Stock numbers are always wrong !....obviously SAG should set the preload...but I often just start with none & crank it up until it feels about right (easier with Stelvio shock as it has a manual knob for preload ....stock OEM rings are major Pain in the arse) . For compression/rebound Stelvio is just SOFT-HARD & I tend to run it at soft end of range but for stock shock I used to wind out compression and rebound damping as felt like the thing was just not responding.

A stiffer spring is the way to go, but you should not apply the stock amount of preload. My Hyperpro progressive rear spring is generally stiffer than stock and I ride it with just 10 mm of preload at 78 kg without gear. This was a good starting point, but the bike used up the little travel it has if not supported by "enough" compression damping. You can only get your own personal setting and I recommend to start with 8 clicks from fully open. Every 1/4 turn will make a difference, so adjust in one direction until things worsen, then go back.
The equally important point is to let the rebound happen fast enough! With stock or similar settings the rebound is way too slow, so if the shock gets another pothole or wave quickly enough it had no time to "recover" from the first hit and becomes increasingly hard.
In both cases: set up as hard as required and as comfortable as possible.

Remember that preload only changes ride height and therefore fork angle and therefore steering.
It cannot change the spring rate as that is a function of the steel in the coils.
So if your spring allows too much movement preload wont cure that - it may mask it by taking some of the sag out - but that is not good.

You may want to search for posts by Bulldog 09 (iirc), on his GRiSO OEM suspension settings.

Bulldog 09's suspension settings,were apparently,originally developed by Micha sp? at Moto International.

The shock spring preload wasn't that different;but everything else was far from the OEM settings.

I used Bulldog 09's settings on my GRiSO & found the suspension felt like it was working well for me(185 lbs);much more supple & compliant than the OEM's.

fwiw ymmv

Thank you
As written in first post mu suspension is original unit but with 110 n/mm spring.
With original one the bike was dangerous when in couple ride.

New spring are much less preloaded (about 13/15 mm), i think that rider sag is about 30mm, this morning before coming to work i tried to open a bit more hydraulic registers and now it seems be more comfortable.🤟
Need to test it in the loops, the way to the office is totally straight

Your preload seems to be at a good setting. Don´t take out too much compression (top adjuster screw) as you need it to support the spring! Concentrate on the lower adjuster screw (rebound) and go in small steps. Find yourself a road with a less than perfect surface and make your judgements while accelerating, put the screwdriver in your pocket and adjust (I recommend opening rebound), until it feels worse, then go back. Remember: You can´t judge your suspension when rolling - even a perfect setup feels too harsh when rolling, but may shine under acceleration.

Just came back from the first ride with my wife after the spring-swap of the stock Sachs shock. She instantly noticed a big improvement and when I added another 1/4 turn to compression damping the ride improved further (rebound was already quick before). We had a nice 2-hours-ride on mainly B and C roads going through forests, some spirited riding and never had the bottom-out like on the stock spring. Comfort was also vastly improved.

yesterday we rode about 400 kilometers around south italy with my girlfriend.
The bike feel generally good on normal roads, but some roads here are very very destroyed and also with a lot of tight turns and important slopes.
In these conditions we suffered a bit but with that size only 110mm of travel i dont think that the shock can make a miracle.  [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

anyway i want to try with a bit less preload and more compression (now i have 1 1/2 turns out)

The GRiSO will never be a comfortable pothole-surfer, but making the shock work in the upper/middle part of the stroke is definitely a good way to go. I wouldn´t recommend to reduce preload, as this will not add to comfort - especially two-up. Dialing in the damping is the only solution you got.

During saturday's couple ride (also with rear case installed) we felt a very poor suspension performance: bike seemed a chopper, very bad feelings in tight turns and the rear shock was on the bottom out at every pothole.

So on sunday i tried to readjust suspension.
I set the solo rider sag at 27mm (with a preload increment of about 2-3mm), rebound at 28 clicks from full closed and compression at 1 1/2 turns out.

Went out for a little test (solo) and seems way better. I think that an hydraulic preload adjuster would be very useful on the GRiSO...maybe in the future

I guess your Öhlins-spring is linear, not progressive? My progressive Hyperpro spring benefits from a low amount of preload, as increased preload takes away the softer, more compliant part in the beginning of spring actuation.
Upon your next ride two-up try making the compression firmer in 1/4 revolutions, very likely the ride will improve: What you feel as a harsh ride very likely is the shock going through its travel hitting the rubber bump-stop. More compression damping will keep you higher up in the stroke (and limit the feeling of riding a chopper). The rebound needs to be fast enough to be ready for the next hit, but slow enough to keep the bike from wallowing upon consecutive bumps/waves. You´ll need some experimentation while riding to find your sweet spot, as there are no shortcuts or on-the-spot-recommendations. Go in 1/4-turn increments until the ride worsenes, then go back.
To my surprise the setting established for riding two-up was NOT too stiff upon my spirited solo-ride – but I got the progressive spring as mentioned which is a totally different animal.

Yes, when i go couple ride i already close the compression by 1/4 or 1/2 turn to keep the shock more firm.
Thank you