new shock installed

[Lars1974]

hi all,

i change my rear shock to the new one i got from ebay.
it should have been straight forward...but as usual it was not!
the exhaust pipe going from my Y-piece to my Laser's was preventing the bottom bolt to come out. which meant i had to loosen the entire exhaust from front to rear and shuffle it out of the way.

here are some pics.


new shock installed


old shock



anyway, havent road tested it yet, but might do that tomorrow morning..

thx Lars

[plivez]

Looks a lot better. What did the new shock cost?

[Lars1974]

£235...on ebay...

[timbox2]

has it jacked the back up much Lars??

[Lars1974]

not really...but i have not ridden it yet. just sat on her briefly...
if a lot firmer...i will take he out on a run tomorrow...
i will report back, but its got to be better than the old one..

if this yellow on is from an S/S...

[Lars1974]

guys,
i just came back from the test ride with the new shock.

Yes, the bike is higher at the back, but not by much.

i set the shock up as follow:

tension: all the way to H and than half turn back to S
preload: all the way to LOW and than 3 clicks to HIGH.

Front was set up: with all the way to H and than 6 clicks back to L

the rear was very hard, but very planted too..
i think the preload may have to be a bit higher as i am 17.5 stone.
the front felt fine.

anyway, any other setup tips you guys have?
let me know
lars

[Yankee Lima]

Does anyone know how much the seat height is altered by going from Blue to Yellow shock spring unit?

(Lars I've dropped you a private message on this as well)

Regards

[Lars1974]

got your msg.

i dont know exactly the height difference but it is noticeable when riding...
my ass is just a little bit more in the air...
however itcant be by much... maybe 20-30mm

i should have measured it.

[winger]

I did this mod nearly 8 years ago,it won't work,the only reason Lars is getting away with it,is a combo of how heavy he is(it worked well for me two up!!) and his bizzar shock settings,loads of compression/rebound and no preload

If your in the 11/12stone bracket it'll shred your tranny like it almost did mine,when we rode it two up,even with plenty of preload it was fine and the steering was much quicker(which is why i did it),when i put the yellow shock on the front took me back to the standard wheel barrow steering of a normal S just higher of the ground.

I marked the height of the seat,and got the same setup with an Ohlins shock and a Verholen arm,and have ridden the bike with the same setup for the last 7 years.

The difference between the blue and yellow shock is 4mm,it doesn't sound a lot,beleave me it is.

[scotty]

Just fitted new front and back EBC units mine. Although they are a big improvement over the knackerd standard units I feel they are a tad soft. These units were set up for my weight etc before being posted to me and have pre-load and damping adjustment front and back but the trouble is I don't know how much I should adjust each shock to keep them balanced.

They look well made though and are rebuildable at the factory for about £100 the pair.

[winger]

You've already found the answer,you set suspension for how you ride the bike,they ask your weight,to know what spring to put on.

Remember,there's no such thing as a stock setting,it's what ever works for you,go out to the bike with a pen and paper,jot down the settings,go and ride the bike for 10 miles,pull up,alter the settings drasticaly,make a note of them,ride the bike for another 10 miles,feel what the bike is doing.

Certainley if you have separate compression and rebound,when you get a feel for the bike,a click either way,will be very noticable.

[scotty]

Winger - I understand what you're saying. It just sounds like a whole lot of palaver and depends on rider feedback which will probably be highly suspect in my case. These units have tons of preload adjustment and the damping adjustment is miles better than the standard units. Hopefully they are going to last soem serious miles.

I just think we are all ripped of totally when it comes to suspension. How much are perfectly good car ones ? I paid over £500 for these units and they were cheap. Christ knows what Ohlins would have cost front and back.

[POB]

I just priced it up, and the cheapest I can source Wilbers is about 450 GBP for a rear, WP is 435 GBP with remote preload. Not sure about others. If I find a new BMW sport shock on the 'Bay Iwill buy it - at 40k miles mine has given up and leaked it's oil.

[winger]

Were at different end of the spectrum here boys,40,000 miles on an original shock,hmmm,i don't think we ride out bikes the same way.

As for getting ripped off,maybe,i felt the same way when i was quoted 500 quid for a mountain bike shock and thought jeez i can buy an Ohlin for that,as for wear and tear,bad news i'm afraid most Ohlins need rebuilding a 25,000 or less!!,mine has settled a lot,and while i've been getting away with a lighter spring(160) it's going to have to be replaced as i'm haveing use too much preload.

It's a bottomless pit i'm afraid,i put a completely different rear tyre on last week to go to the NW200,something i'd never used before,completely knackered the suspension,as the profile was totally different,and took some twiddling to sort out

[r550s]

...yep...had the ohlins 2 years/12,000 miles, handling now gone wrong - leaking from the rear unit. Rebuild 205 plus VAT for the pair!
The Ohlins guy tells me this is normal - who am I to argue?
(seriously, I think that maybe the rear unit has a hard life controlling that heavy rear.)