Jamie Daugherty CBRF4i built shock in my 02

I just spent a few hours riding and tuning a new shock in my 02. It's a built for me CBRF4i by Jamie Daugherty.
First let me say he was quick, is available to chat online, and the workmanship is real fine. The shock was clean, new spring and collar, and was in pristine condition.
It arrived quick. Installed quick, and well it's made me a happy camper.
Stock front end; which works for me. After setting preload I worked on rebound in back to get the kerthunk out of the shock (hardness) to the point where the back didn't want to catch up to the front in corners.
Rebound Compression to remove hardness, but paid attention to how much squat I was getting on acceleration and dialled in some but not much past 1.5 turns back from full hard.
Then back to damping. Push down on seat hard and adjust until it takes almost a second for the shock to come back up to ride height.
Cornering is a joy. There's enough squat on acceleration to catch up with how hard the rear want's to swing out, and at the apex everything comes together to get you back up and out.
This is just laying around corners not pushing hard.
On a short ride Saturday with the roads still a bit on the cold/hard side, i was dragging the side of my foot flat on the pegs.
Thank you Jamie. What a terrific product.
Touring to Texas this spring. Can't wait.

 

Glad to hear it Wayne, enjoy!!!!

 

Should be getting my shock soon from Jamie. What do you weight oops? If we're close you could save me a lot of trial and error.

 

As all shocks I build, your shock was delivered with baseline settings already in place. You should ride it for at least 250-300 miles before making any changes. It will take you that long to get used to the new setup and determine if any tweaks are needed. In most cases there are none, but sometimes a 1/2 turn or less will dial it in.

The last thing you want to do is make changes "because so-and-so did it". This is probably the #1 biggest mistake I see made when dialing in a bike. You need to focus on what the bike is doing (or not doing) and make changes to address that specific area. If you aren't experienced enough to know that - keep riding until you gain enough understanding about what the bike is doing under you. If it feels ok then just enjoy riding your bike. You can quickly make yourself miserable by chasing an imaginary setup when all you need to do is leave it alone and ride!

 

Believe me Jamie, I'm not touching this shock for awhile. I've road raced an RX-7 Mazda for the past 10 years. I kept a log which tracked the smallest change I made, and then only after carefull consideration and seeking out more experienced techies. I know what great suspension did to the car handling on that Mazda. I look forward to the experience on my VFR.

 

Jamie I've been on tour for two weeks. Bags full and a tank bag. I have to say through interstate, back roads, twisted road; the bike is a time machine. Solid never wavering, pushed hard in high wind. The F4i shock is the best thing I've done to my bike. You can feel the back to front transition on acceleration and braking controlled with throttle. Thanks again.

 

I've ridden with the f4 shock for awhile now. It's great. But it does, unfortunately, seem to make the fork even more harsh than before. I'm sure the fork hasn't changed, but with the rear tamed it's more noticeable. Time to order the fork cartridge kit from Jamie. Once installed I'll give a report.