Senior Member
Farkle Trainee
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Prairieville, Louisiana
Posts: 785
Seems to me that all of you are saying pretty much the same thing but using different languages.
Bill is correct regarding what the manual says. As he admits, I can sit on my '15 ES and switch preload settings and it does raise or lower the chassis accordingly. It's a matter of terminology.
Ditch, the "Is it Worth it to get ES" question has been argued back and forth for 5 years on these forums. There is no right or wrong answer.
I am about 200 in my gear, I sometimes go on long trips with lots of luggage. Sometimes I ride locally with some faster guys. Sometimes I have to get on the interstate and drone along on a rough and choppy surface. For ALL of those things I make changes to my ES. I move it all the time.
Yes, if I am going to be riding through some serious twisty stuff with faster folks I will increase my preload, usually to 1helmet +1 suitcase. (That's what the pics look like on my screen!) Yes, that raises the rear. Yes, that increases the steepness of the front forks. Yes that gives me slightly (very slightly) more ground clearance before I scrape my pegs.
The A model when ridden by a decent rider really does not give up much in the corners to an ES model. A dear friend of mine who is a much better/faster rider routinely smokes me on his A model. It isn't the bike, it's the rider that makes the most difference.
FWIW, the suspension of the '13 and newer A models is significantly better than the '06 to '12 (Gen2) bikes.
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