Telelever & Front End Dive?

My ÔÇÖ01 R1150GS was my first BMW. It felt strange at first but I grew to love the nearly-no-dive nature of the telelever front end.

More recently I rode an ÔÇÖ02 Adventure and there does seem to be some front-end dive ÔÇô maybe not as much as other brand bikes, but more than my ÔÇÖ01 GS. I canÔÇÖt figure out why that specific Adventure dips more than my old ÔÇ£standardÔÇØ GS. Suspect theories include:

1) there is a problem with the ÔÇÖ02 Adventure that needs to be addressed
2) not necessarily a problem, this is likely a set-up issue and can be tuned to preference
3) not necessarily a problem, Adventures are supposed to have a bit more dive than the ÔÇ£standardÔÇØ 1150GS

Any thoughts on this? Thanks!

(IÔÇÖm a newbie to BMW MOA ÔÇô I searched the forums and donÔÇÖt see this specifically addressed ÔÇô none-the-less, sorry if this is an old topic)

Paul Brown

I would expect number 2 on your list is the case.

Nevel let it be said that lack of experience or specific information kept anyone from responding to a post on the forum.

Option #4

Longer suspension travel and more compliant off-road springs.

Option #5 More fuel at times.

I ride an '02 'standard' with Ohlins which are different than the Showas in "Great" way.

I recently learned again what brake-dive is with my F650GSD.

Here's my take:

(1) Earles fork BMWs (1955-1969) would actually rise slightly under hard front braking.

(2) Telescopic fork BMWs (1970-1995) would dive precipitously under hard front braking.

(3) Telelever fork BMWs (1995-present) dive slightly under hard front braking. The factory could tune this out through revising fork geometry, but chose to keep some small amount of dive.

telelever

Paul:

The analyses that I have read indicate that BMW deliberately designed a bit of dive into their telelever front ends because most riders like that characteristic.

Rinty

I ride an '04 Adventure and I can get a small dive with the front shock at the weakest/softest setting but it can be tuned out by adjusting to your weight and riding conditions etc. At the second setting though it is practically gone.

Just to scratch your head...

Are you feeling front end dive, or rear end lift??

Can you tell the difference??

I can tell the difference between front and rear yes...the pointy end goes forward right?...lol. I find it much easier to steer from the front too...lol.

On mine I can get the rear to lift if I adjust the rear shock just so, although it is for that reason that I keep the adjustments as good as possible to counterract that effect. A good observation as it is often over-looked. A lesson that I learned on this bike as on the UJM's it is somewhat hidden in amongst the real dive on the front.