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I ride a TVS Star City 110 CC 2012 Model bike weighing 109 Kgs. I am feeling uncomfortable with the bike suspension. When I checked with my mechanic, he said it is fine. I can feel it is jumping even in small potholes found in the road.

In a country like ours, it is very difficult to avoid potholes. When I ride a Honda Dio, I feel comfortable with its suspension.

Can you guide on how to improve the suspension in my bike/if I am considering to upgrade my bike's suspension, what type of suspension upgrades to go for.

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  • @DucatiKiller - Can you help on this brother?
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦
    Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 20:32
  • @Paulster2 I wish I could. I've never even seen one those. I think they are sold exclusively in India and Southeast Asia. I can't even find an aftermarket suspension for it on the Interwebs.
    – DucatiKiller
    Commented Apr 24, 2015 at 6:24
  • @DucatiKiller ... talk about it in chat?
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦
    Commented Apr 24, 2015 at 15:18
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    Can you provide some information regarding a statement you made? You said the bike is 'jumping'. Can you describe that please?
    – DucatiKiller
    Commented Apr 24, 2015 at 17:32

1 Answer 1

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The TVS Star city is a commuter level bike sold in INDIA. It has a very basic suspension set-up.

enter image description here

You can adjust the pre-load using a wrench-

  • There will be a small lever on top of the suspension which is noticeable if you have the older version. However if you have the newer version, like shown in the above picture, then you need to open the rear cowl

That said on finding the lever using the wrench twist it to the right which will soften the suspension and improve the ride.

If its already all the way to the right, then take it to the service station, they should remove the outer coil and replace it with a new one.

Improving the ride quality:
You can improve the ride quality of the bike by upgrading to a better suspension, though you will have a hard time finding out which suspension suits you the most.
There are three options I know you could go for. The main issue being that these might increase or decrese the ride height. I am listing out the closest available suspension options -

  1. Go with the Bajaj SNS suspension, widely available, the one with an orange spring inside the main coil (for secondary damping) commonly used in the discover range.

  2. Go with the Baja pulsar 135 LS suspension which is gas charged and will provide higher deal of comfort.

  3. A much better option and cheap on your purse/wallet would be to increase the padding of the seat. This will make the ride a bit unstable at like 100kmph but I don't think you will ride anywhere near that speed(considering the bike has around 9hp power). Your back will thank you! We did the exact same thing on a Yamaha Libero and it worked perfectly.

Note: Please do not compare the Honda Dio suspension with the star city suspension. The Honda (mostly every scooter) has a tiny mono shock which is far softer and feels comfortable than the ones found in the bikes but it cannot handle heavy weights.

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    Scooters (dio and it's contemporaries) have very minimal suspension travel which easily bottom out over even smallish potholes (especially the front). They're only good for smallish undulations on tarred roads.
    – chilljeet
    Commented May 25, 2015 at 11:23
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    Exactly! but feels comfortable on slightly rough roads(not potholes) hence the popularity :-)
    – Shobin P
    Commented May 25, 2015 at 11:25
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    agreed . They're soft and for the use case scenario they're meant for, offer a comfortable ride.
    – chilljeet
    Commented May 25, 2015 at 11:31

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