F850GSA Suspension Upgrade - Touratech progressive fork springs

I am considering doing a suspension upgrade to my F850GSA. I ride mostly forest service and fire roads in SW Idaho and would like a stiffer front end. Touratech sells a kit: TOURATECH PROGRESSIVE FORK & SHOCK SPRING KIT, BMW F850GS / ADV https://touratech-usa.com/store/Progressive-Fork-Shock-Spring-Kit-BMW-F850GS that looks like it might give me what I am looking for without spending the $1100 that they want for the drop in fork TOURATECH FORK CARTRIDGE CONVERSION, BMW F850GS & ADVENTURE https://touratech-usa.com/store/Touratech-Fork-Cartridge-Conversion-BMW-F850GS-Adventure. Has anyone upgraded there F800GS or F850GS bikes with one of these kits? Were you happy with the results?

I put the progressive spring kit in my 2016 f800gsa and it was definitely an improvement and I believe great bang for the buck for the pretty hard riding I was doing it wasn't quite enough. YMMV

I contacted Ted Porter at the Beemershop to ask his opinion on this upgrade

Ted: I have an 2019 F850GSA which I am very happy with in general. I do about 50% of my riding in SW Idaho on logging and USFS roads with some time spent on the southern half of the IDBDR which runs about 30 miles from my home. I am looking to improve the front end of the bike. I weigh 215 lbs. without gear and generally carry about 25 lbs. in my bags. I would like your opinion on would the kit below work for me, or do I need to splurge on the drop in cartridge? I am 70 and while I have been riding 50+ years, do not consider myself a bold or aggressive rider.

Hi Rob: Thank you for your email. The springs are Hyperpro/Yacugar spring kit in a Touratech box at a higher price, we sell the exact same kit for $311.00. The cartridge kit is a Tractive Suspension product in a Touratech box (with a Touratech sticker of course) we represent both companies in the USA so I can reply intelligently.

I would not recommend the Hyperpro spring kit, especially not the rear shock spring, since it is a one size fits all progressive spring. Everyone gets the same spring regardless of your weight and loads. Even though we sell these products, we don’t generally recommend them for an application like yours. The fork springs are not bad and we sell them, but you do have a very “price point” cheap single cartridge kit on this bike. If you really want to improve it for adventure riding, I would drop in the Tractive cartridge kit. It is a closed nitrogen system which will not foam when ridden hard which is critical on your bike since you only have a single cartridge in the right fork. IT won’t foam up and fade, and of course you get the wide range of adjustability so you can get the ride quality and performance for any condition.

I have the cartridge kit in stock under the authentic original name which is Tractive Suspension. Touratech does not make suspension parts as you might imagine, they just label other brands. We are the USA importer/distributor for Tractive Suspension and have everything in their catalog.

The advantage of buying from us is that we are an actual suspension shop with decades of suspension experience. We were teaching suspension seminars long before my friends at Touratech were even selling suspension.

We have been a bit slow in getting these products on our shopping cart even though I have them in stock, we’re just really busy. I can offer you 10% off the kit if you’re interested. We also offer installation if you need it, but it does come with some basic instructions if you’d like to do it yourself or have it installed locally.

Thanks for getting in touch, let me know if you have any questions or would like to get a kit on its way. The improvement is dramatic, especially over rough roads and terrain.

Best regards,

Ted Porter
Ph: 831-438-1100 X 113
Fax: 831-438-1104

BeemerShop, Inc.
5100 Scotts Valley Drive, Unit #100
Scotts Valley, CA 95066
www.beemershop.com
www.gs911usa.com
www.wilbersamerica.com

That's good information, thanks for sharing that. I'd like to improve the feel on the front end of my GSA as well. My issue is that the forks seem overly harsh on rough roads which seems to have the front wheel wanting to dance when going over multiple bumps like washboard surface or several small potholes. It also puts a lot of that harshness into the feel at the bars.

Installed the front fork cartridge in by F850GSA

See post : 2019 F850GSA - Right Front Fork Leaking