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Ohlin "Heavy Duty" vs. "Standard" Springs


RamblinGuy

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I've just bitten the bullet and ordered Ohlins for my R1200RT (an '05, no ESA, with 37K on stock shocks). It will be my first time with Ohlins, and I am anxiously awaiting the "epiphany" of increased performance everyone talks about. My question is whether I did the right thing by ordering the Heavy Duty vs. Standard springs. I am 212 pounds with gear on, ride only one-up, always ride with a 28 pound filled top case and often no side bags (which I gather would cancel each other in the weight caculation), unless I'm on an overnight. I believe the "standard" spring is for up to 220 lbs. My parts guy was on the fence about which to recommend, first suggesting Standard since the increased stiffness was so significant compared to stock, and the HD might be overkill. But then we discussed riding style (I conservatively "sport" ride the RT, vs. just straight touring), he suggested the Heavy Duty version. Hopefully this is moot, if the HD has plenty of adjustment. Thoughts?

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ShovelStrokeEd

You won't really know until you install the shock and set it up. The first setting should be both static and laden sag. You want about 20 mm of unladen sag and 40-50 mm of sag with the rider in the saddle. Maybe a bit less. If you back the spring preload all the way off and can't get that amount of sag, the spring is too heavy. A heavy spring will promote a harsher ride as you will have to increase rebound damping to control it.

 

I'm of the opinion that the lightest spring you can reasonable work with in terms of getting the sag correct is the way to go. In particular for street riding where you won't be running at the highest speeds for any significant portion of the time. Racers tend to use a heavier spring to help with maintaining suspension travel under high G loads, something the street rider doesn't encounter all that often.

 

My rule of thumb (actually butt) is that the bike should bottom out on a really knarly bump like a 6" deep 2 foot wide pothole. Take that into account when setting your low and high speed compression damping as well.

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I'm stumped, is the Rt only available with two different springs?

 

The 12GS Ohlins are available with several different springs based on a smaller range of weights.

 

Anyhow, my experience says that Ohlins springs as underrated usually, so the lighter springs are usually the way to go.

 

I did, and am very happy with my new shocks.

 

Jim cool.gif

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Same weight as you and I got standard springs. they are great for me and my 112 lb. biker chick. Works fine fully loaded as well with 2-up. I would not want heavier springs unless I put on 50 lbs.

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