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I've been working on my suspension and I've managed to somewhat dial in the front and have the plushness I hoped to get, but this has made me notice how overall harsh the rear shock is. The rebound and damping feel equal and I want to soften up the overall feel. My questions: Are the clickers a one-to-one adjustment? As in if you soften the rebound clicker one click, you soften the damping clicker one click? Or is it not that simple and it's somethin like a one-to-two, or even something not at all linear? Also, how fine is the adjustment per click, as in do 3 clicks each at a time or you won't notice anything?

My race sag is currently at 4 3/4" but I'm going to get that up to 4". The measurements I took on the spring show that it is still in the stock position.

If someone has a good combo for the clickers I'm all ears!

Me:
6' 4" tall
230lbs fully geared up
Older than the dirt we ride upon...
Ride rocky, technical terrain and want to be able to use every inch of the suspension that the Kawasaki Gods have bequeathed unto us....

Thanks!

How long has it been since the shock was rebuilt?

How old is the oil?

What is your weight in full riding gear, tools, parts, extra gas, water backpack, etc.?

With a shock with proper mechanical condition and reasonably fresh oil, set the sag at 100 mm. Then check the race sag from there. It will never work GREAT without the shock working properly on good oil and the correct spring rate.


Going from clicker position one to three is going to be more noticeable than going from 21 to 23. The closer it is to fully closed, the more it has an effect.

I would move it 5 clicks one way to notice a change. Just think of it as oil restriction.

One does not have to adjust compression and rebound at the same time.

KDXGarage wrote: 03:49 pm Sep 17 2025 How long has it been since the shock was rebuilt?

How old is the oil?

What is your weight in full riding gear, tools, parts, extra gas, water backpack, etc.?


With a shock with proper mechanical condition and reasonably fresh oil, set the sag at 100 mm. Then check the race sag from there. It will never work GREAT without the shock working properly on good oil and the correct spring rate.


Going from clicker position one to three is going to be more noticeable than going from 21 to 23. The closer it is to fully closed, the more it has an effect.

I would move it 5 clicks one way to notice a change. Just think of it as oil restriction.

One does not have to adjust compression and rebound at the same time.

A full rebuild is my winter project but that being said, I've had this bike since it was a few hours old and I've never noticed a change in the performance of the rear suspension. Unfortunately I don't put many hours on it every year. That's changing though and that is why I'm finally having the time to dial this in. I get your point though and for now I want to start the tweaking so I can get more familiar with the process.

I weigh 230lbs fully geared up including recent breakfast...

I am on the stock spring.

When you say set the sag at 100mm (which I am guessing this is what I call static sag: weight of bike only), then set race sag from there, I'm confused. Isn't the race sag supposed to be 100mm?

Thanks as always for your great insights!

The rear shock is harsh because it is designed to carry a passenger/dual sport, this never seems to be mentioned, it can only be adequately softened by changing the shim stack

Another reason for harshness is if it has previously been rebuilt but has the incorrect oil in it, people talk about weight of shock oil but this is incorrect, it has to be measured in Cst and the original kyb shock oil is closer to a 0 weight. I think it's about 9 Cst from memory

My current kdx220sr shakes my fillings out but has never had a rebuild, just bought the shim's and correct oil and spring weight, will try for a full rebuild this month, I've already rebuilt the shock on my kdx200 in the same manner

kdxdazz wrote: 09:07 pm Sep 18 2025 The rear shock is harsh because it is designed to carry a passenger/dual sport, this never seems to be mentioned...

That's because most are in the US and we never had a street legal dual sport version that was meant to carry passengers.

SS109 wrote: 01:10 am Sep 19 2025

kdxdazz wrote: 09:07 pm Sep 18 2025 The rear shock is harsh because it is designed to carry a passenger/dual sport, this never seems to be mentioned...

That's because most are in the US and we never had a street legal dual sport version that was meant to carry passengers.

The only difference is the footpegs, everything else internally is the same, same seal head, valve, shim stack, it's the same with all dual sport bikes, stiffer in the rear to carry extra load
If you look at your bike you should see it has the bolt holes for passenger footpegs, that's the reason people often complain about too soft in the front and firmer in the rear, yes change the spring rate to suit weight but the shim stacks don't quite match

kdxdazz wrote: 01:08 am Sep 20 2025 The only difference is the footpegs, everything else internally is the same, same seal head, valve, shim stack, it's the same with all dual sport bikes, stiffer in the rear to carry extra load
If you look at your bike you should see it has the bolt holes for passenger footpegs, that's the reason people often complain about too soft in the front and firmer in the rear, yes change the spring rate to suit weight but the shim stacks don't quite match

You may be right on the shock, I don't know for sure, but what you're saying does make sense with how the KDX's came setup here in the US. Oh, BTW, US spec frames do not have mounts for passenger foot pegs.

SS109 wrote: 02:00 am Sep 20 2025

kdxdazz wrote: 01:08 am Sep 20 2025 The only difference is the footpegs, everything else internally is the same, same seal head, valve, shim stack, it's the same with all dual sport bikes, stiffer in the rear to carry extra load
If you look at your bike you should see it has the bolt holes for passenger footpegs, that's the reason people often complain about too soft in the front and firmer in the rear, yes change the spring rate to suit weight but the shim stacks don't quite match

You may be right on the shock, I don't know for sure, but what you're saying does make sense with how the KDX's came setup here in the US. Oh, BTW, US spec frames do not have mounts for passenger foot pegs.

I thought the US model maybe the same as the Australian model in that it doesn't have footpegs but there is threaded mounts for the footpegs, the Australian model is a hybrid of the R and SR model but all use the same shim stacks
The SR model shock only difference being lower ride height
The klx250 uses the same 14mm kyb shock but it's shim stack is even heavier again and has a 5.6kg spring from memory

Yup, no threaded mounts or anything. I wonder why they changed for the US market?

Get a 5.4 spring.

Set the sag of you fully geared, sitting on the bike to 100 mm. Check the "bike only" sag after that.



USA KDX's were never sold for street use or more than one person.

What is the valving for your 1999 KDX220R-B5? I can look up the specs on the USA shock if I have not already posted them on this site.

1999 KDX220R-B5 shock has a different part number than the 1995 - 2004 USA shock.