Suspension cam

[martybabe]

Kiwifruit has asked if I will post about the suspension work carried out, so here goes;

FRONT FORKS. Fully stripped and inspected for wear, including condition of bushings. Inspected for truth / straightness. Damper rods machined so that they would actually assemble concentrically inside the forks. Also processed to accept Race Tech Emulators which we also modify / tune to suit the application. Linear wind springs selected in a rate appropriate to the riders personal stats, the bike and the application. Low friction fork seals fitted, its often misunderstood that suspension work is also about reducing friction. Cheap low cost seals all too often create massive friction and that clearly can be felt when riding. Forks filled with super slippery Ohlins fork oil and the level carefully adjusted to set the ''secondary trapped air spring compression ratio''

REAR SHOCK. Custom build Ohlins in a single tube type with an internal gas dividing piston ( to prevent cavitation and fade ) , with rebound adjuster and castellated preload lockrings. A dedicated Ohlins listing has never ever been available for this model so what we first do is to establish the length and stroke required, end fittings and clearance issues to contend with. We then scroll through current listings that Ohlins do make that are as close as possible to the target specification. We then modify to suit and mess around with the spring rate and preload to get it all in the correct window of rider sag and resultant static sag correlation. Once we have got the springing very close that then gives us a pretty reasonable idea of a solid baseline start for an internal rebound valving spec. We will arrange the rebound stack so that the rebound adjuster is in the most responsive range of the needle taper. Most of the work is then done with the internal compression stack, low speed to attain some dynamic holdup but just enough weight transference under power. And a high speed compression stack that is supple enough to allow abrupt bumps to be absorbed. This is all largely done by feel and in the case of this bike we had the shock apart 3 times and successively revalved to get the feel we wanted. The shock absolutely has to match the motion ratio that the swingarm imparts to it. And a rising rate linkage ( where fitted )
Its a big misconception that we send out boxes of pre-built suspension and nothing else. This is in fact time consuming work and while some may freak at the price its likely cheaper than it really should be.

Yes, that's what I thought you'd done Frankly I don't understand most of that but I frequently read that Ohlins transform my Particular bike from good to outstanding. Without tilting my brain off it's axis again, can we start with the price of a new springy shocky thing for the front of a '2000' BMW R1100RS please and take it from there. Pm me if this isn't an appropriate place to discuss business, thanks.

[Robert Taylor]

Yep, he's happy enough to have convinced me that it's a worthwhile mod for the Nightster.

Don't worry, Robert, I really will get those measurements through to you at some point before Christmas.

No worries! We are all a bit chaotic at this stupid time of year.

[Robert Taylor]

Pity there was no 'before' footage, and it would've been nice to see the suspension action against a better reference. I suspect if I did that to mine, the back tyre would be skipping off the ground over ripples (at least, that's what it feels like sometimes).

Good point.

[Robert Taylor]

Yes, that's what I thought you'd done Frankly I don't understand most of that but I frequently read that Ohlins transform my Particular bike from good to outstanding. Without tilting my brain off it's axis again, can we start with the price of a new springy shocky thing for the front of a '2000' BMW R1100RS please and take it from there. Pm me if this isn't an appropriate place to discuss business, thanks.

Will pm you tonight