TracerBullet Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 How do you tell when shocks need replacing? Do you replace them at a certian mileage? Riding so much I would imagine that the "ride" changes ever so slightly but accumulates over time. How do notice when the change is enough to warrent replacement. Link to comment
David Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 How do you tell when shocks need replacing? Do you replace them at a certian mileage? Riding so much I would imagine that the "ride" changes ever so slightly but accumulates over time. How do notice when the change is enough to warrent replacement. About 30k is when they went out on me, and I think that's pretty typical--unless you ride very conservatively and don't really know what a bike feels like without a good suspension and ride blissfully unaware of what's underneath you. 1) Leak. 2) Preload no longer effective. 3) Rebound damping is anemic.* *This is the primary symptom, typically. You'll feel it in two ways: 1) Going over a bump, rear will bounce past it's normal rider sag position and then settle back down. 2) In a corner, rear will skate out a bit on bumps. To check rebound, sit on the bike with your feet on the pegs. Have someone balance it at the rear and push it down, releasing it quickly. The bike should pop up but not beyond the resting point, only to settle back down to that point. If it does, add more rebound. If there isn't enough rebound adjustment to adjust it properly, time to start shopping. Link to comment
Bob Palin Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 It definitely can creep up on you, I rode my RT 75,000 on the original shocks, I did know that they were "sloppy" by then but the true realization of how bad they were was when I rode with the new Ohlins - it was like getting a new bike! I'm betting none of the original shocks are good past 40,000. Link to comment
Lion_lady Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 Anywhere from 25 to 35 K is a good time to replace your shocks. If you hope to have something to install for use while your upgrade shocks are being rebuilt at a later date, then switch earlier. I changed out my OEM shocks at 21K for Ohlins. As others have said, I was surprised at how great the new shocks felt. The OEMs were still perfectly servicable, but the new shocks felt really nice. P Link to comment
bwr Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 If 25-35K is the accepted life-span of the stock shocks, do Ohlins have a similar life-expectancy between rebuilds? Or will they go longer? Link to comment
Paul Mihalka Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Ohlins has about the same life expectancy than stock shocks but can be serviced/rebuilt at much lower cost than replacing the stock ones. For a high mileage rider I consider that the biggest benefit of going to Ohlins - or Wilbers. Link to comment
Lone_RT_rider Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Ohlins has about the same life expectancy than stock shocks but can be serviced/rebuilt at much lower cost than replacing the stock ones. For a high mileage rider I consider that the biggest benefit of going to Ohlins - or Wilbers. As much as I love Wilbers, they have pulled the plug on the main reason I purchased them. Klaus at Run-n-lites used to be the sole distributer in the US. Now he WILL service your existing shocks but is not taking new orders. Klaus is a class act and one heck of a technician. It's to bad Wilbers couldnt see that. Shawn Link to comment
Dave_zoom_zoom Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 Great advice COACH ! To the point & well put! Link to comment
GrayBeard Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 Can anyone tell me their experience with rebuilding Ohlins? Cost, Time, etc? Link to comment
keithb Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 No experience yet with Ohlins but I will have in the future with my Wilbers shocks. I have heard from Ohlins owners that it runs about $100-$175 per shock and it takes about 2 weeks. Link to comment
elwoodpone Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 Ohlins has about the same life expectancy than stock shocks but can be serviced/rebuilt at much lower cost than replacing the stock ones. For a high mileage rider I consider that the biggest benefit of going to Ohlins - or Wilbers. As much as I love Wilbers, they have pulled the plug on the main reason I purchased them. Klaus at Run-n-lites used to be the sole distributer in the US. Now he WILL service your existing shocks but is not taking new orders. Klaus is a class act and one heck of a technician. It's to bad Wilbers couldnt see that. Shawn This http://www.wilbersusa.com/wilbers/Services/serv01.htm isn't useful? Not being smart 'cause I haven't done a rebuild yet but the original options and dialog from the factory were terrific--of course Dirk may have reached back to a shelf and pulled out a standard shock and . . . who knows, but the web site really worked out for me, in fact I couldn't be happier for the moment. My options for the old bike were limited and Wilbers seemed to have what I needed, good response, and at a decent $. With that experience I had thought to go the same way with the r11s. Link to comment
GrayBeard Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 Well that's certainly cheaper than new! Sounds like a February project. Thanks! Link to comment
keithb Posted June 22, 2007 Share Posted June 22, 2007 The cost up front seems high but the rebuild is very reasonable. I would recommend you keep your eyes open for a set of used shocks. They will run you approx. $600-$900 and are worth every penny compared to the initial cost of $1200-$1400 for new shocks. If you see some used shocks pull the trigger quickly. They do not last long on this board or any other board. Then you just rebuild them every 25K-30K miles. Link to comment
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