BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

I've often wondered whether or not the Front Shock Absorber is adjusted by the ESA II.

This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtKuaZNI4yY, shows that there is an electrical connection on the Front Shock Absorber.

The Rider's Manual confirms this is the case,

Suspension adjustments
Depending on the load on the motorcycle, the appropriate load status must first be selected when the motorcycle is stationary. The damping characteristics on both spring struts and the spring mount and the spring rate on the rear spring strut are adjusted on the basis of the riding mode that is then selected. If the selected driving mode is changed, the damping characteristics on both spring struts and the spring rate on the rear spring strut are also adjusted. This allows the suspension to be very accurately adapted to all riding conditions, even when the motorcycle is in motion.

Fancy not reading Manual, I'll have to have a better look next time I'm crawling around the Bike.

Front strut has only damping adjustment, no preload. Its the same on all of them.

I've never noticed any wires on the Front Shock Absorber & this RealOEM Parts List for Spring strut, ESA, front, is confusing,

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showpar ... Id=31_0902

Very easy to feel the difference.  Just change the load setting from rider only to 2 up with luggage.  Back goes up, front doesn't move.  Then feel the difference in the steering  when you go from soft to sport.

When adjusting the Load Settings, the rear of the Bike can be seen & felt to rise or fall.

The Damping Settings are more subtle & less obvious, to the extent that,

Recently, I had the Dealers check whether the ESA Damping Settings were changing from Comfort, Normal or Sport, as, when riding, I couldn't feel any noticeable difference.

The Technician asked me to sit on the bike & bounce on the seat with the different Damping Settings selected, yes, I could feel some changes in the rebound but only small ones.

DaygloDavid wrote:I'll have to have a better look next time I'm crawling around the Bike.

Looking at the photographs in the Haynes Manual has jogged my memory.

There is a wire which comes from the bottom of the Shock & runs along the Telelever Arm (Wishbone),  silly me.

My 2011 has ESA, I aren't convinced that its any better than the manual to be honest, if I had the choice when buying (secondhand) I would have preferred the manual.
I feel that I had more suspension variations on my 20005 model and I also think I set it better for my style of riding than the ESA does lets be honest once set its not something that you have to set each ride or each day and it only takes a minute. If I was going 2 up I would set it night before when I altered the tyre pressures. Sometimes the ESA just doesn't feel right for me plus theres the cost if it goes wrong but if it packed up I would revert to manual.
Hope this makes sense.
Mind you (might be a dinosaur but) this one has the electric tyre pressure monitors and heated seats once again I wouldn't have got them if I had bought the bike from new (more to go wrong. Ive never needed to use the seat heaters and I do ride in winter.
But I do reckon the cruise control is excellent. Just my opinion obviously

Interesting comments, my first RT (2007) didn't have ESA & I certainly wasn't going to pay £500 at the time for the option.

I would manually pre-load the rear spring for the load on the Bike, i.e. Solo, Rider plus Pillion & Rider, Pillion plus Luggage.
Didn't usually make any adjustments to the Damping, a bit hit & miss I think.

On the 2010 & 2012 SE Models, ESA is standard.
I find it much more convenient to adjust the suspension at the "touch of a button", particularly as a chop & change from riding Solo, riding with a Pillion & riding fully loaded.

As already mentioned, I really cannot feel any significant difference in the Damping settings, e.g. Comfort, Normal & Sport.

DaygloDavid wrote:I really cannot feel any significant difference in the Damping settings, e.g. Comfort, Normal & Sport.

Have been doing some reading about Suspension settings, in a Honda Manual, it says "Soft" Damping for a Smooth Road & "Hard" Damping for a Rough Road.

I've always used "Comfort (Soft)" for Rough Roads & "Sport (Hard)" for Smooth Roads.

The RT Rider's Manual says, (for Bikes without ESA),  the Damping Setting for "An uneven surface requires softer damping than a smooth surface".

Have I got it the wrong way around, what do you do & why.

On my LC 2 years ago I set it to Normal and forgot it.  I only occasionally change the load setting.  Works for me.  But yes soft on smooth roads Things can get a bit wallowy on rougher surfaces, or they did on my 09.

RTman10 wrote:But yes soft on smooth roads Things cab get a wallowy on rougher surfaces.

Have BMW got it the wrong way round.

When setting a bike up for racing you soften the bike off for bad surfaces, when the surface is smooth you stiffen it all up as you do not need so much, and do not want so much suspension travel.

It is exactly the same on the road, soften for rough and stiffen for smooth, ideally you want a compromise on the road, therefore the beauty of being able to adjust on the move.

Personally i could get the bike to handle better with manual adjustments, but the convenience of the ESA is great, i have Wilbers shocks fitted on mine and it is superb.

badger wrote:When setting a bike up for racing you soften the bike off for bad surfaces, when the surface is smooth you stiffen it all up as you do not need so much, and do not want so much suspension travel.

It is exactly the same on the road, soften for rough and stiffen for smooth, ideally you want a compromise on the road, therefore the beauty of being able to adjust on the move.

Thanks for clarifying that, looks like Honda have got it wrong, I'll stick to what I was doing, "Comfort (Soft)" for Rough Roads & "Sport (Hard)" for Smooth Roads.

The LC hand book for dynamic ESA makes no mention of road types.  Just Soft for comfortable riding, Normal for normal damping and Hard for sporty damping. As I said I leave mine on normal and the bike figures out the road surface.

I think speed in addition to road surface is an important factor. For example, when tootling through town on a poor surface I would set to comfort. Same surface but quicker road out of town would be normal and if a good surface with plenty of twists, then sport. On my 2011 TC 7k miles, there is an obvious difference in the damping modes. Tyres also seem to have an effect in that changing from Bridgestones to PR4s on an older RT made a significant difference ie. a road previously requiring comfort was quite comfortable on normal.


Must admit I am constantly adjusting my damping to get the best ride. No point paying through the nose for technology and then not using it.  ???