Rear shock or spring upgrade/change

[Fashp]

I wonder if anyone can give me some advice on this. I've had my bike in use since passing my DAS a few weeks ago and today I thought I'd set up my rear shock pre-load and I had to max it out in order to get it to 45mm. The front I have at 40mm and the screws have one more graduation to go down.
Is this best dealt with by replacing just the spring to get the correct range of adjustment back or should I be considering a complete assembly? I assume the front is OK.
I'm tall, 6' 2" which is why I chose this bike (and I like the riding position) and for info I weigh 221lbs.

Thanks 

[greywolf]

You don't need 45mm on the rear. I recommend 40mm at each end. You have a little wiggle room to add some weight. If you still want a better rear suspension, I'd change the shock to get better damping and a slightly stronger spring. The stock shock would be hard pressed to set for proper damping with a stronger spring.

[sv1000]

go for a Nitron after market shock, far superior to the saggy standard shock. they will tailor it to suit your weight etc

[Fashp]

Thanks for the replies, food for thought...

[CARL.BRIDGES]

Hi , just to add to the debate! The old standard shock was OK for steady sedate riding but if pushed it could be , lets say a little too soft and under damped ( it had done 30k miles too)!
  I have just added a new Nitron rear shock , Nitron asked for all my details, for the Type of riding I do plus weight of myself and passenger, as we do lots of two up touring with luggage !! I also like to get out on our local mountain roads alone to have a more spirited ride !
Result Nitron fitted a spring to try and meet these varied riding requirements !
Yes I think they have got it about right , I still need to experiment with the preload and damping ! But what I have learnt is not to overdo the preload but to check out the damping when two up ! I took advantage of the Nitron offer of a remote preload adjuster and have to say go for this option too! I have a standard non remote version of the Nitron shock on the old Fazer 1000 I have, its more of a fiddle to adjust this as you need the short rod of a two part screw driver to put into the holes provide for the turning of the adjuster !
All told happy with the new shock copes well with most things .The only downside is it shows up the weakness of the front suspension ! Do I now need dual rate springs to match the quality of the rear suspension ?   

[greywolf]

I don't like dual rate or progressive springs front or rear. The rear linkage design already makes the rear suspension progressive. Also, damping has to be adjusted to match the spring rate. Damping settings have neither a dual rate nor progressive nature so can't be matched to the spring rate. Straight rate springs work fine and the damping rate can be matched to the spring rate. Finally, in most situations, the low end of the spring rate gets coil bound quickly so the travel is effectively reduced.

[Fashp]

Hmmm, some interesting replies. Maybe I've gone and bought the wrong spring. My shop had a look at fitting it and found that it wasn't as simple as first thought in that it became clear to them that the shock would need to be refilled on reassembly (or words to that effect) which wasn't what they expected. I'm no expert so I'm going with that advice. The upshot is that the spring isn't fitted yet and it looks like I could with an appointment at a specialist like Steve Jordan Motorcycles http://www.stevejordanmotorcycles.co.uk/

I'm not sure if I'll get my money back as the box has some oily prints on it now from the technician, I'll Sportsbike Shop all the same.

I really didn't want to get into mega £'s of suspension upgrades on this bike, it's my first and I may not keep for too long. The idea was to 'learn the craft' on it while I worked out what it was exactly I wanted/needed from a bike.

Needs must though, I'm out of pre-load and beyond optimal settings and I need to address this in an one-extravagant way...

[porter]

You can fit a new spring without having to refill the shock. You need to remove the shock ftom the bike and use a spring compressor to remove the old spring and fit the new one. I have a hyperpro on mine, a 1000 but lots of folk have them on 650's too. Sounds to me like your dealer hasn't a spring compressor r its to big a job, not just an oil change!
If on a budget consider a hagon shock, not flash but works better than oe and is cheap at 300 quid. Good luck

[Fashp]

I would have hoped that they had a spring compressor. A basic piece of workshop kit I imagine. It certainly is for cars, of which I know much more.

They had the assembly off the bike and expected to be able to complete the work but found themselves unable to.

Maybe I should request some more detail by way of an email. At least then I'll have something to tell any other workshop what the issue is (or isn't).

[Fashp]

Just had a look at their site and I couldn't select my model year. I could only choose 2003 - 2010. After calling them I discovered that they don't have a listing for a bike later than 2012. They offered to prototype one for me if I could leave the bike there for 2 or 3 weeks though.

[Fashp]

I don't like dual rate or progressive springs front or rear.

Thanks, Steve Jordan echoed most of this. I have a price to fully sort both front and rear now. Not the kind of price that I was hoping for but it's the right thing to do. So, either I keep it for a while longer (2 years maybe) and get the work done or sell it and buy something already suitably equipped.

They proposed a Nitron rear shock absorber, with or without remote and new fork springs with emulators and a different oil. This is in response to my asking what I needed to do to properly sort this out, not the bare minimum. Cost of this kit is around £1000 fitted. There will be cheaper options I'm sure but this solution sounds right and appeals to me as an engineer.

Just got make my mind up. I would wonder if this modification would add anything to the bike in terms of residual value? My instinct tells me not.

[Gassoon]

keep the old shock if you go that route and sell your expensive one separately when you trade your  bike in/sell it on?

The rear spring can be changed (see here, many bike shops would do it, or I can even be done by making a rig at home, using ratchet straps etc.