Suspension adjustments ... what do I adjust?

[bikermeow]

Hiya,

Need to sort out my ride. My ride came with a set of Ohlins, and I suspect that since its' installation no one had ever serviced it. Before going down that path, I am thinking no harm in tweaking it myself and see whether things can be better.

Now the ride is, well, "soft". The front definitely, for when I go over a hump, it compresses loads and pogo somewhat. Rear as well, but not so bad. 2 questions:

a. Do I adjust the compression to "harden" the shocks? i.e. using the C spanner to turn the rings to compress the springs?

b. Do I have to adjust the rebound and the pre-load? My inclination is no, but I stand guided by the old hands here.

Really appreciate advice.

Cheers

Cat

[CycleRob]

bikermeow,

I also have a set of Ohlins on my 2002 R1150R.
The one problem with fully adjustable shocks is there are too many wrong answers possible with just turning the screws and spring preload adjusters. Being in Singapore adds even more mystery for me to your solution. The easiest way is to seek professional help. A good place is at the nearest motorcycle track day. That's because racing sorts out the correct setups in a hurry. Word-of-mouth (asking around in the pits) inquiries will find the expertise.

The setup on my bike was done years ago by my New Jersey shop's suspension doctor. The TeleLever suspension's normal 50% of travel static sag doesn't play by the minimum sag rules desirable for telescopic forks. I also found that to duplicate the stock shock's overall length, the front shock had to be at it's shortest length (no threads showing below the bottom nut). The spring preload also had to be loosened for my 152lb weight.

To set the rebound damping front and rear you'll need top compress the suspension, one end at a time, as hard as you can, then let it go rapidly without pulling it up. It should pop up quickly WITHOUT ANY BOUNCE. That's push down hard, let go fast, pop up and stop. Less compression damping is better than more. The wheels need to follow the bumpy road surface without skipping across the tops or pogoing after a single bump.

When you finally get the settings right, the handling will be neutral, willing, feeling totally confident, even at crazy lean angles -and- a very bumpy sharp curve will be a "Non event" - - - like it was a smoothie.

.

[Ves]

Don't the Ohlin's only have a rebound adjustment... no compression? That's what I was told when I looked into buying them.

First thing is set your sag... that has been covered in other posts... do a search.

Once you have your sag set, start turning up your rebound until the bike stops wallowing in turns. Like CycleRob said, don't use more than you need to.

A good check is to have a friend hold the bike steady for you. Get on it, sit normal, then stand on the pegs and bounce it. Front and rear should move up and down at approximately same rate.

[Mtnbiker1966]

also found that to duplicate the stock shock's overall length, the front shock had to be at it's shortest length (no threads showing below the bottom nut).

i'm finding the same thing. the front shock was shipped with about 6 threads showing, but the bike just seems too high in the front. thanks for the tip Rob, i'm going to adjust it where there are no threads showing.

[shake1150]

I just got a set of Ohlins dealer-installed on my Roadster last winter. huge difference compared to stock.
bike sag was setup as per the manual at the dealer with me...

on my first ride home with the new ohlins, quick acceleration would cause a slight wobble in the front... I added more rebound dampening (clockwise) a few clicks at a time until it went away. I ended up at 9 clicks.

when I got home, I put the bike on its centre stand. it doesnt balance itself on the centre stand anymore (so both wheels are off the ground and the bike "floats" in the air). not a big deal really... I just didnt expect that to change with new shocks.
I assumed the rear shock absorber was just "heavier" and the added extra weight caused the unbalance. but I could be wrong....

I also added some preload to the rear and 6 clicks of rebound dampening over the next 2 months of recreational riding.
feels real good now... very smooth, solid and a little soft... on bumpy turns (at least where I ride) both front and rear feel solid and planted.
huge upgrade for sure.

after reading this topic, I went out and checked how many threads were showing from my front shock absorber...

I have about 2 millimeters of threads showing... not really much.

i'm going to assume then, by shortening the front shock so zero threads are showing, would lower the front end by 2mm...
lowering the front end would cause quicker handling? or a more stable front end?

does anyone know if there a length adjustment for the rear Ohlins shock as well? and what should it be to match the stock length?
or does the rear shock come at the right length? i.e. non-adjustable? Cyclerob?

if both are out by 2mm or so, i'd just get the dealer adjust them the next time to the correct lengths. lowering the front and back seems like a good idea to me for some reason.

[CycleRob]

The rear is not adjustable for overall length.

I hope the suspension setup dealer is familiar with the TeleLever's much larger static sag. The rules for conventional or inverted telescopic forks do not apply to the BMW TeleLever front suspension. Specifically, the normal static sag (bike @ balance point, no rider) is about 2 inches (51mm).

Shortening the front shock's overall length will make the bike "fall into" corners easier. That's the solution if your bike has to be forced into a corner and rights itself if you release your cornering input midcorner.

The correct front preload and overall length adjustments made a huge difference on my 1150R. It takes a suspension pro to get it right the first time, starting with duplicating the old front shock's overall length. I had racebike handling and amazing stability in bumpy curves.