Rebuilding Koni shocks

[Voltaire]

I recently sold my Thruxton but kept the Ikon shocks as they are way better than the Triumph ones.....in fact I like them so much I got a set for my Commando off TM. I fitted them but the ride was horrible, due to the springs being for a big fat Hinckley Bonnie.
I contacted Ikon and they sent me some 215 springs for them and wow....much nicer. Static sag of about 25/30 mm and able to adjust the rebound.
I built up an R90 track bike last year and borrowed the Commondo Ikons, they proved to be very good on the track and for some reason I am not even aware of the jacking effect of the shaft.
Recently bought a BMW r65 and its shocks were tired.....but a new set if Ikons were nearly $600 so picked up a set of Konis on Ebay to play with.
Pulled them apart using the Workmate, make sure you wear eye protection.
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...Compressor.jpg
Made 'special too" to take them apart

Drained out the 35 years of splooge.

Emailed Ikon and got a new seal kit and some 215 springs.

Assembled them with 85mls of 10 weight fork oil.

Put the new springs on.

Put them back on the R65.
Initial impression is a far more compliant ride, only set on position 1 and click 1 so can experiment with them.

So if you have an old set of Konis and the shafts are not pitted, you can get the seals and springs and give them a new lease of life.
Ok they might be old tech but they work ok and are rebuildable.
I suspect a lot of them are over sprung and the oil is stuffed.
These are the 76 series 'dial a ride' models.
I'm going to put the longer 14" ones on the R90 track bike for the summer, sharpen the steering and raise the rear slightly.

hmmm for some reason the pics are displaying......have to have a think about that....

[pete376403]

These are the ones with the 4 position damping adjustment under the rubber cover at the top mount? Does it do anything? I've got a set of these on the GS1100 and could never really notice any difference between pos 1 and pos 4.

[Paul in NZ]

These are the ones with the 4 position damping adjustment under the rubber cover at the top mount? Does it do anything? I've got a set of these on the GS1100 and could never really notice any difference between pos 1 and pos 4.

Got some on the Guzzi - yeah you 'just' notice the damping change.... Basically dial not much really

[AllanB]

I remember buying a set of them new around 1985 for my 750 twin Kawa.

Street Strokers with the blue tops and springs were another period favourite.

[cs363]

Street Strokers with the blue tops and springs were another period favourite.

Ha!...That brings back memories, had some of those on one bike (can't remember for sure but I think it might have been an RD400).
In hindsight I don't think they were that good, though better than the Japanese OEM stuff of the time!

[Voltaire]

These are the ones with the 4 position damping adjustment under the rubber cover at the top mount? Does it do anything? I've got a set of these on the GS1100 and could never really notice any difference between pos 1 and pos 4.

The dial operates a rod that opens and closes regulating the flow of fluid thru on rebound.
I flogged off all my old konis a few years ago as I found them heavily spung.....
As mentioned I had a Triumph Thruxton and the stock dampers are over sprung and under damped, the Ikons I got to suit my weigh were a huge step up. I'm not saying they are the best of anything but with correctly chosen springs and new modern fork oil they are not bad on the old twin shockers.
The oil in your GS ones....has it ever been changed?
You can get an idea on the springs using a drill press and bathroom scales..... put the shock one the scales, zero it, and measure the travel over 1" and compare to Ikon chart.
I now own 4 sets of them and they will do as far as I'm concerned on the old 50 HP machines.

You can probably get a racetech emulator kit for the front end too, I did my BMW and I'm happy with it.
All that a nice set of BT45's make for a pretty good handling 70's bike.

I flicked off a set of Marzocchis recently as although they are rebuildable I was not able to find parts.
Bought an R80 to part out last year and it was fitted wtih Progressive shocks.....with my full weight they would hardly move.....off to TM land they went...

[Kickaha]

I flicked off a set of Marzocchis recently as although they are rebuildable I was not able to find parts.

What parts did you need? If it was the piggyback ones the rebuild kits are readily available

[Voltaire]

What parts did you need? If it was the piggyback ones the rebuild kits are readily available

ok ....... I replace them with Works Street Trackers from Bevel Heaven as the guy on there runs them on his SS...... the was before I looked at pulling shocks to bits....and getting into suspension more.....
Can't say they have much of a rep apart from looks....
...anyway back to my Ignitech project....

[Kickaha]

ok ....... I replace them with Works Street Trackers from Bevel Heaven as the guy on there runs them on his SS...... the was before I looked at pulling shocks to bits....and getting into suspension more.....
Can't say they have much of a rep apart from looks....
...anyway back to my Ignitech project....

I used to lust after back in the eighties but having now had to bikes with them fitted as standard I think they're fucking rubbish, although if I could be arsed playing with the spring rates and the shim stack inside them they could probably be turned into something better than a solid strut

[Robert Taylor]

Not much latitude with ''shim stacks'' as what is inside them is very crude compared to dampers engineered to a high standard rather than budget price. Konis/ Ikons only achieve a crude form of ride height control by having as much as 40mm of preload on the springs. This because there is next to no low speed compression damping control. They are essentially ''single acting'' dampers much the same as is evidenced in many low cost passenger cars.
A well engineered ( and of course higher priced ) shock set can run lighter springs with much less preload because there actually is properly arranged low speed compression damping that takes over a lot of the duty of ''rate of change of position'' control. Springs themselves are undamped. If you go to firmer springs to attempt more squat and ride height control you may crudely achieve that but then because the springs are heavier in rate you impinge even further on an inability to absorb abrupt bumps to a standard that they jolly well should absorb at.
Rebound damping is also little betteer than ''fixed orifice'' damping and a dyno curve of such shocks is a dead giveaway.
Yes indeed such shocks may often ( but not always ) work better than the originals. But with the technology and experience available the scope for further large improvement is very much there. And Im not talking about racing, real world very plausible improvements such as ride comfort being dramatically improved, tyre life, less sensitivity to load changes, better contact feel with the road and more mechanical grip.

Im not rattling this all off to ''beat up'' on budget priced dampers as such, but you only get what you pay for and to quote a leading suspension engineer ''the best youve ridden is the best you know''

[Voltaire]

Yes you are absolutely correct, no ifs buts or maybes. I got you to do a SS rear for me and it was a huge improvement on stock.

Since then I have take a bit of interest in suspension....in a bloke in shed sort of way.... and I take on board what you are saying.

Last year built up a BMW 900 out off Tm and Ebay bits and pieces, partly for the satisfaction of the build and partly to tick off motorcycle racing....its non competitive but its a lot of fun.
I had a set of Ikons on my Triumph Thruxton as they were an improvement on the originals that had 60k on them.
The Ikons as you say were the best I knew....... at Puke it became very apparent that the front end was too soft........but really for everyday use it was ok .
I could have gone mad on it but decided to sell it instead as it was heading to towards being overcapitalised.

I picked up a set of Ikons for my Commando and they were 'better' than the Girlings that were on it....as you would expect for 40 year old dampers.
The Ikons were then 'borrowed' for the BMW, and after doing a bit of research, including your comments on Ractech kits I had a go at the BMW forks.
I had a mate make me up some better parts to go on either side of the valves.
I was well impressed with the BMW at Puke and HD, faster and better handling than the Triumph ( the previous best I knew).
Would it be better with an Ohlins front and rear end? undoubtedly.....but then its not really in the spirit of running a pre 76 race bike....( and not in my budget)

The Koni rebuild was just to demonstrate that you can pull them to bits, put them back together. Its on my ride to work R65 so performance is not really an issue, more to reduce the jarring from the road surfaces.

Out of interest are any of the pre 76 bikes running Ohlins?
I bought a Lansdown kit for my Commando to fit later in the year, should be interesting being able to adjust rebound and compression from the fork caps

[Robert Taylor]

Yes you are absolutely correct, no ifs buts or maybes. I got you to do a SS rear for me and it was a huge improvement on stock.

Since then I have take a bit of interest in suspension....in a bloke in shed sort of way.... and I take on board what you are saying.

Last year built up a BMW 900 out off Tm and Ebay bits and pieces, partly for the satisfaction of the build and partly to tick off motorcycle racing....its non competitive but its a lot of fun.
I had a set of Ikons on my Triumph Thruxton as they were an improvement on the originals that had 60k on them.
The Ikons as you say were the best I knew....... at Puke it became very apparent that the front end was too soft........but really for everyday use it was ok .
I could have gone mad on it but decided to sell it instead as it was heading to towards being overcapitalised.

I picked up a set of Ikons for my Commando and they were 'better' than the Girlings that were on it....as you would expect for 40 year old dampers.
The Ikons were then 'borrowed' for the BMW, and after doing a bit of research, including your comments on Ractech kits I had a go at the BMW forks.
I had a mate make me up some better parts to go on either side of the valves.
I was well impressed with the BMW at Puke and HD, faster and better handling than the Triumph ( the previous best I knew).
Would it be better with an Ohlins front and rear end? undoubtedly.....but then its not really in the spirit of running a pre 76 race bike....( and not in my budget)

The Koni rebuild was just to demonstrate that you can pull them to bits, put them back together. Its on my ride to work R65 so performance is not really an issue, more to reduce the jarring from the road surfaces.

Out of interest are any of the pre 76 bikes running Ohlins?
I bought a Lansdown kit for my Commando to fit later in the year, should be interesting being able to adjust rebound and compression from the fork caps

Indeed yes we are building more and more Ohlins twin shocks for older bikes. Single tube in the spirit of the times, black springs. Some chrome spring options are available.No external adjusters in the entry level range sans for spring preload adjustment but absolutely its whats on the inside that counts! To not put too fine a point on it many external adjusters on budget level shocks are little better than ''decoration'', except perhaps where there are rebound adjusters. There is a higher level of ''single tube''Ohlins with length and rebound adjusters.

Where a ''box sale listing'' exists in Ohlins for a specific make and model of bike $1099 per pair gst incl or if custom build is required around $1200 to $1250 ( this is labour intensive ) Shocks are built specific to the bike and therefore the leverage and motion ratio that the bike applies to the shocks. Arguably moreso than any other shocks on the market Ohlins have great residual value secondhand so a purchase is not ''once only dead money''. Also their modular construction means they can be respec'd to suit a different bike. Or if there are too many parts involved we trade used Ohlins for new.

And as a major point of difference to every other reseller of motorcycle shocks in this country we have a sophisticated suspension dyno, so we can graphically view alternate settings. We are not ''flying blind''!!! Ohlins are also made to be pulled apart and serviced and we have full parts and service infrastructure, it is all we do.