Front suspension upgrade

[neb4152]

This is my next upgrade after mine gets out of the shop. Upgraded the rear and the difference between front and rear rear is staggering now. Feels unbalanced.

[ScottDR]

This is my next upgrade after mine gets out of the shop. Upgraded the rear and the difference between front and rear rear is staggering now. Feels unbalanced.

Yes, I LOVE the front now. Cringe worthy roads are now only slightly annoying! My YSS rears are over sprung but I will live with it for the times i ride two up. Next front fluid change I will dial the PDC valves from 1.5 to 2 turns.

[ScottDR]

Just a follow up to my upgrade. I am still loving the much more controlled and comfortable front end. My rear YSS upgraded springs/dampers are over spring but this week my Honda rear top box has been hauling about 6KG/13+ pounds of laptop etc. It makes it ride amazingly better. It's like I put a softer rear suspension on!

-Still riding with a smile!

[MacDaddy]

Yes, I LOVE the front now. Cringe worthy roads are now only slightly annoying! My YSS rears are over sprung but I will live with it for the times i ride two up. Next front fluid change I will dial the PDC valves from 1.5 to 2 turns.[/quote]

I'd picked up a slightly used 2018 PCX 150 in late summer. I'm really enjoying the bike but the suspension is definitely the weak point. Not a big surprise since they tend to be that way on their full size motorcycles too, so what chance would their scooters have?

The forks were first up. I checked the stock sag before making any changes. The static sag with just the weight of the scooter by itself compressed the forks approximately 1" (25 mm). Add my heavily rippled self of 220 lbs. (15.7 stone) and the forks compressed another 1". That left me about another inch of travel for everything else as long as I didn't use the front brake.

I purchased the YSS fork kit. The springs are stronger but progressive like the stock springs. The YSS springs however are 1" shorter than stock. Based on what I read here, I set the preload on the valves at 1.75 turns in, starting with no tension on the spring. I used 20 wt fork oil 95 mm from the top of the tube with forks compressed, spring removed but valve installed. The disappointing part of the kit were the external preload fork caps. They are beautiful but useless. The ones I got were threaded and we all know there are no threads on the fork tubes. Not a big deal as I really just wanted heavier springs and the valves. I cut 1" spacers (second try) out of PVC. This gave a sag with me on the scooter at 1". Perfect.

I went for a ride to check it out. The forks felt much much better! Significantly less dive during braking and more travel and control over bumps without that springy feel. But oh my gosh that rear end was bad!

Next up I installed the YSS XL shocks. A much stouter and better constructed shock than the stock ones for sure. I ended up removing the any preload on the springs and got my sag just about right. I don't ride two up on the PCX and wish the springs on these shocks were just a little lighter but the ride is so much better and there is no way I'd put the stock back on. Where I feel the roughness in the ride is on choppy type stuff. I think racers call that feed back and I wouldn't mind a little less. Slower compression like dips in the road are handled beautifully though.

Overall the ride is significantly improved and I can comfortably carry much more momentum (speed) over the poor roads that I mainly ride on. I really like my little PCX now.

[MacDaddy]

YSS spring on the left with valve and fork cap vs. stock spring and cap on the left.








Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MacDaddy]

I don't know what happened to the other three photos but I see them on Tapatalk but not on my computer at home.

[MacDaddy]

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YSS spring, valve and cap on the bottom vs. stock spring and cap on top.

YSS spring, valve and cap on the left vs. stock spring and cap on right.

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[BRTID]

Trick. On my list of mods. Thanks for the info.

[MacDaddy]

An update on my YSS XL shocks. I thought I'd share a recent experience since several members have the same shocks. And like many others mentioned, I too thought the ride was stiffer than necessary.

I found YSSUSA online and sent an email asking if they had a lighter spring for my XL's? Klaus and I emailed back and forth a few times and he told me how to determine which springs I had. The numbers are printed on the outside of the springs but mine were half worn off. But between the two springs I was able to see enough that Klaus figured they were the #46/46-17-25-200. I asked for the next lighter weight springs which Klaus told me were #46/46-13-18-200.

I got them on and they definitely removed a fair amount of the sting the originals had. The ride is much nicer on the beat up back roads I frequent. If money weren't an object, I'd probably order the next lighter spring again and imagine it would be about perfect (for a scooter with 2" of travel and 1" of sag).

Anyway, I'm 6'-215 lbs. The springs (black) were $92 plus $18 shipping for a total of $110. The price of the original shocks along with the al la carte springs added on isn't the cheapest and probably not the best way if starting from scratch but for me it was worth the extra money for an improved ride on the shocks I already had.

[Gil]

Thank you Oyabun for all the helpful information in this thread. I followed your recommendation for the YSS spring kit with the PD valve. I did this for my 2013 Honda PCX with the YSS kit for the 2019 model with the circlip preload adjusters, PD valve and springs. I drilled the holes to 6.5mm, used the 15w oil and 1.6 turns on the allen bolt of the PD valve.

I noticed a definite difference on the front suspension. It feels like its actually working now. It was too soft before. The rear YSS shocks still feel a little bit too hard, but I will live with it for now. My rear shocks are the YSS TG302-335TRL-04-J. They are 25mm longer, but they were 70 dollars cheaper. I have 15 clicks on the rebound adjustment knob, as the rear shocks were too stiff at the default setting.

Here are some pics of the parts that came in the kit.

Front fork kit link.
https://bikerzbits.com/honda-pcx-150-20 ... 1-017.html
Rear shocks link.
https://bikerzbits.com/honda-pcx-150i-y ... tr-06.html

[tomtomclub2005]

I received some YSS springs to replace mine- i have been cursing The YSS from the beginning as being really too hard and only comfortable when two up which almost never happens for me. I was really surprised at how easy it is to remove the old spring - i thought it would be a nightmare without the right tools. It will take some time before i test ride them back, with the confinement i decided to strip the bike almost completely to do the valves etc. It really would have helped if YSS would consistently print the spring ratio on their shocks and sellers would announce it.

Brooksbarn in UK has the following spring sizes at more reasonable prices that what i have read here:
YSS Black Progressive Twin Shock Springs 46-10-15-200
YSS Black Progressive Twin Shock Springs 46-13-18-200
YSS Black Progressive Twin Shock Springs 46-17-25-200
YSS Black Progressive Twin Shock Springs 46-20-30-200
YSS Black Progressive Twin Shock Springs 46-25-35-200
YSS Black Progressive Twin Shock Springs 46-25-45-200

I went for the 10-15 and if too soft i might order the 13-18 as another member mentioned here.
Top of pic is the old one, bottom the new.

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[tomtomclub2005]

PS: Thanks MacDaddy for sharing the info on the springs!

[ScottDR]

Wow, great info. Cheers!

[MacDaddy]

PS: Thanks MacDaddy for sharing the info on the springs!

Well thank you for following up on this some more. Curious as to what you think about your new springs. I’d love to hear about it because mine are still a little too stiff for my liking.

[ScottDR]

Tom, just wondering what you weigh. My rear YSS's are too stiff one up as well and I weigh ~190 pounds(86kg).

MacDaddy, at my weight would you go one step further than you did or two?

[MacDaddy]

Based on TomTom posting the different weight springs I would say that the 46-10-15-200 is the way to go. That would be the next step down from where I'm at and should be close to perfect. Well thanks to this thread, I just ordered a set from Brooks Barn thanks to TomTom. About $50 US. I went with the cheaper shipping so it might take a while to get here. I think the last set of springs cost me a little north of $100 (Ouch).

https://www.brooksbarn.com/en/search/ys ... cle/648877

[tomtomclub2005]

Hi Scott, Macdaddy

I'm in the same ballpark of weight, around 90 Kg with my gear on. I went for 10-15 based on solely on Macdaddy's feedback since i have no way to know what my original ones are. My target was to have the springs around 50% softer as mine, but it's shooting in the dark really. As i mentioned my bike is stripped down to the bone for now, but i did mount one of the springs on one shock- was surprised how easy it is to adjust pre-load compared to the original. Certainly softer for sure but only a test ride on the terrible roads here in Belgium will tell if they bottom out too easely or not. It will be a matter of days before i can test them, and i still have to mount the stronger springs on the YSS valves that are already in front forks.

[tomtomclub2005]

Just a quick feedback- i went to put some petrol and check tires pressure ( first outing on bike since two months). As you can see i still have to mount dashboard and windshield. I also changed the front springs with harder ones from YSS. I was worried the 10-15 springs for the shocks might be too soft- they're not. Still feels firm. I tested on terrible cobblestones street next to my place- never had the bike staying composed on this kind of roads, it felt like a constat hammering - not anymore, no more kicks in the back. Have not tested at high speeds yet if there are bottoming issues but i'm quite confident it should be ok. I preloaded the shock with 2 cm of preload i will fine tune that maybe a tad less. I'm happy.

First ride since so long, i had forgotten how agile and nimble the pcx is. More feedback when i ride it more in the next days.

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[ScottDR]

Congratulations, so glad it worked well for you. I now know my next uprated exactly. Now go finish assembly and enjoy your much better ride!

[tomtomclub2005]

I finished monuting everything and went out for a longer and faster trip on horrible B roads close to here. You will not regret it - My back and more notably my neck with full face helmet are saying thanks... Amazing it took me 4 years to find this balance. My bike is 30.000 kms now. Will never again buy rear shocks without knowing their spring rate.