New suspension arrived - yay!

[Blackbird]

The replacement for my stuffed OEM shock arrived not half an hour ago, 5 days after being sent via the US postal service from North Carolina.

It's a Penske 8983 with remote damping adjustment, specifically set up for me. What a lovely piece of engineering:niceone:. It also comes with a very detailed technical manual covering installation, tuning, parts and a force/velocity graph for the Blackbird. I can see that I've got a bit of a learning curve ahead of me!

I got it as part of a group buy through the US Blackbird website but even individual purchases are very sharply priced, even with the current exchange rate. It was bought through Cogent Dynamics and the email exchanges and service I had from the owners, Rick and Joyce Tannenbaum; was simply outstanding. They supply suspension products and other componentry for race bikes, offroaders and roadbikes. See www.motocd.com.

I'll do an evaluation when I've installed it which might be a week or two away as house deck building is the current priority (by order, hehe:nono:). It's going to be hard waiting, but at least I can play with it in the lounge:clap:

[98tls]

:niceone:very tasty indeed,thats the thing i love most about bike specific websites,the group buys are awsome then theres the clever buggers who make one off stuff if they get 30 or so to buy it.

[Jerry74]

Sweet as keep us posted mate

[Blackbird]

:niceone:very tasty indeed,thats the thing i love most about bike specific websites,the group buys are awsome then theres the clever buggers who make one off stuff if they get 30 or so to buy it.

Thanks. Yep, bike specific websites are great for all manner of reasons. I bought a footpeg lowering kit late last year which an American 'bird owner makes because I have knee cartilage damage. They are only 15mm lower than stock but the difference in comfort is amazing.

[vifferman]

Good stuff, Geoff! :niceone:
Good luck with the deck too. I'd come and help you with it, so you can get on to the shock quicker, but I think we're booked to go visit the mothers this weekend. :(

[Blackbird]

Good stuff, Geoff! :niceone:
Good luck with the deck too. I'd come and help you with it, so you can get on to the shock quicker, but I think we're booked to go visit the mothers this weekend. :(

Hahaha - thanks Ian. Should be clear in a couple of weeks or so; so come down, enjoy a feed on the new deck and bring a memory stick with all your trip photos on it!

[kiwifruit]

Very nice, you'll enjoy that

[insomnia01]

looking sharp there Geoff !!!::2thumbsup will be interesting to hear your feedback on the Penske so I may compare to the Ohlins unit I have just had installed & the transformation is amazing to say the least. I'll need to work on catching up with you at some stage, but will have to wait until the GC is over:headbang:

[riffer]

I would have thought force/velocity graphs would be eaten for breakfast by an engineer like yourself Geoff!

Did you give them the specs yourself, or did they work it out?

It'll be interesting to find out what difference this shock makes to your rear tyre wear now. I suspect you may end up wanting to do something to the front forks now...

Looking forward to the evaluation report.

[Blackbird]

I would have thought force/velocity graphs would be eaten for breakfast by an engineer like yourself Geoff!

Did you give them the specs yourself, or did they work it out?

It'll be interesting to find out what difference this shock makes to your rear tyre wear now. I suspect you may end up wanting to do something to the front forks now...

Looking forward to the evaluation report.

Hahahaha - Coromandel does funny things to your brain Simon :cool:. I gave them my togged-up weight so they could sort out the spring rate and they also asked some questions about the sort of riding I do for damping etc. It was quite a thorough process but they were superb to deal with.

I suspect you're right about the front end and I'll be altering that in a month or two. Yep, the tyre wear may well improve dramatically with good suspension and I'll try to get an objective assessment of that.

Edit: Found the attached document on suspension on the Visordown website. Quite an interesting primer for an ignoramus like me.

[vifferman]

... bring a memory stick with all your trip photos on it!
Hmmm....
That means I'll have to buy a 32Gb one (17Gb of images).
Hopefully, by then I'll have sorted them out, weeded out the boring ones (about 16GB of those? :confused:), and created a slideshow. I really need a PC of my own. If I wasn't having to ferry the wife around I could stay late at work and use my work PC....

[skidMark]

I'd get it in then take it to that suspension feller, whats his name? imports all the ohlins n shit hes on here lol, im drawing a blank

[crazybigal]

how much did it work out to including freight?

[Blackbird]

how much did it work out to including freight?

Approximately NZ$1000 including freight. It would have been a bit cheaper but between ordering it and the supplier actually billing my credit card, the NZ$ had started to slide more than a bit. Getting into a group buy saved me close to $500 compared with buying it here. I actually ordered one through Shaun originally but it never eventuated. As previously mentioned, I'd prefer to support local businesses, but the difference was substantial in this instance. Will see what local suppliers can do regarding the front end.

[Robert Taylor]

Approximately NZ$1000 including freight. It would have been a bit cheaper but between ordering it and the supplier actually billing my credit card, the NZ$ had started to slide more than a bit. Getting into a group buy saved me close to $500 compared with buying it here. I actually ordered one through Shaun originally but it never eventuated. As previously mentioned, I'd prefer to support local businesses, but the difference was substantial in this instance. Will see what local suppliers can do regarding the front end.

You may be happy to know that we stock the most generic spare rebuild parts for Penske and are trained and fully conversant in servicing them. To my knowledge no-one else in the NZ motorcycle industry has recieved specific offshore training and certification with this product.
We have upgrade components in stock for the front end of that model and importantly the experience to fit this stuff properly. Sure you may get a little cheaper off the net but the money is not flowing back into the NZ economy nor are you going to recieve full backup and a guarantee that the job is done properly and warrantied, one of the many benefits of local purchase.

[Blackbird]

PM sent explaining the compelling reason for going offshore.

Geoff

[Robert Taylor]

PM sent explaining the compelling reason for going offshore.

Geoff

Thanks, it makes sense

[vifferman]

So... is it fitted yet?
Or are you still <s>drinking beer</s> working on your deck?

[Blackbird]

So... is it fitted yet?
Or are you still <style> /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Verdana; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:536871559 0 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:595.3pt 841.9pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><s>drinking beer</s><s><o:p></o:p></s> working on your deck?

Smart arse:laugh: No time for drinking! Labouring for the builder is on hold whilst he has the week off with his grandkids so I'm labouring for SWMBO trying to find space for the contents of our other house which has just sold. I know what side my bread is buttered on:love::love:.

Hope to tackle it later this week.:done:

[Blackbird]

Well, I’ve just got back from the maiden test ride with the new Penske shock in place of the OEM Honda unit. For a cynical bastard like me, the difference came as rather a shock and was pretty profound! Gurus like Robert Taylor would say that this is stating the bleedin’ obvious but sometimes, something like this simply has to be experienced!!

It might sound contradictory but the most noticeable difference was that you simply didn’t notice the suspension doing its job and maybe that’s the biggest compliment that it’s possible to give. On the OEM unit, rear wheel chatter over the Coro Hill was really noticeable and with the wheel not having constant contact, the impact on handling was way less than optimal in terms of grip, rate of turn-in and a whole load of other factors. With the new unit, the chatter had completely disappeared and I was able to corner with greater confidence because the bike felt much more stable.

As I previously mentioned, the shock was set up specifically for me in the USA and I haven’t played with ride height, sag, preload or any of the damping options. I don’t doubt that that a god like Robert Taylor could extract even more performance from it, but I’m leaving well alone for a while! Top suspension units like Penske and Ohlins are always going to outshine OEM units by a country mile but I’m also wondering how much of the improvement has been due to that imperceptible performance decline of the OEM unit over time which is very difficult to detect when you ride regularly.

If there is a downside to fitting the new unit, it’s because it’s magnified just how crap my stock front fork setup is! Fortunately, the new internals arrived from the UK yesterday so I hope to address that shortly.

Good suspension doesn’t only give benefit to good riders but clearly applies to the whole spectrum of abilities and type of bike; conferring increased grip, quicker handling and probably a significant increase in tyre life which is another thing I’ll try and monitor. Again, it’s probably stating the bleedin’ obvious but from my experience today; I’d opt for good suspension way before aftermarket cans, Power Commanders or any other form of tweak!

Save your pennies and go for the best suspension you can afford - you won't be disappointed!

[vifferman]

So, I take it the install went well then, Geoff?
You can probably leave the settings alone if you're happy with them, but you might want to at least check the sag, and adjust the preload if it's not right.

The Elka was OK to install, once I worked out there was a mistake in the instructions, which were writtne for a '99 VFR, not a 2000/2001 (which have the catcon). I had to remove the top mount and bolt it to the shock once it was in place. The preload and compression adjustments were fine from the factory (sag was exactly right), but I had to adjust the rebound setting, as there are a series of ripples on my homeward commute that the rear wheel felt like it was responding a bit slow.

Anyway, it's great that you're so pleased with the Penske - I'm sure you'll be even more pleased once you've got a correspondingly good front end (something I don't yet have - damping needs some attention).