New shocks

[Buckster]

Despite all of your playfulness, I know you only do it because you all feel inferior to me.

I have decided out of kindness to give you a rundown on my research process and what led upto it.

When I lived in the colonies and bought the bike, the standard air assist shocks were never that impressive but were fine as the roads in the USA are damn well made, I had more concerns over the front forks and addressed this with single rate springs and better dampeners. I covered well over 30k miles like that and road all over the states. When I moved back to the U.K. I actually had use of a 950 Adventure for a year while a friend was working in S.A. so I left the Harley in storage in Georgia, the second year I had a Triumph Thruxton R which I really liked but wasn’t a distance bike, so I started making plans to bring the glide over. Almost immediately I realised that the rear shocks were no match for the pock marked cart tracks of Scotland but I soldiered on and eventually I decided to drain the shock oil and put a heavier weight in. This made a big difference but it was still far from good.

So this last year I started researching rear shocks. I knew just about anything would be better than the standard units but the engineer in me meant I needed to learn all the differences in construction and price versus quality. I also wanted them sprung for my weight which is something that made a huge difference when I did the front end.

 

[Marcel le Moose Fondler]

27 minutes ago, Buckster said:

Despite all of your playfulness, I know you only do it because you all feel inferior to me.

I have decided out of kindness to give you a rundown on my research process and what led upto it.

When I lived in the colonies and bought the bike, the standard air assist shocks were never that impressive but were fine as the roads in the USA are damn well made, I had more concerns over the front forks and addressed this with single rate springs and better dampeners. I covered well over 30k miles like that and road all over the states. When I moved back to the U.K. I actually had use of a 950 Adventure for a year while a friend was working in S.A. so I left the Harley in storage in Georgia, the second year I had a Triumph Thruxton R which I really liked but wasn’t a distance bike, so I started making plans to bring the glide over. Almost immediately I realised that the rear shocks were no match for the pock marked cart tracks of Scotland but I soldiered on and eventually I decided to drain the shock oil and put a heavier weight in. This made a big difference but it was still far from good.

So this last year I started researching rear shocks. I knew just about anything would be better than the standard units but the engineer in me meant I needed to learn all the differences in construction and price versus quality. I also wanted them sprung for my weight which is something that made a huge difference when I did the front end.

 

Don't know Buck , but I think whatever shocks you put on there your still going to be limited 2.5 inch of travel...there just isn't enough movement for the suspension to absorb the nasty stuff...layed back riding position... your still going to feel the  impact directed to your spine...

[Buckster]

10 minutes ago, Marcel le Moose Fondler said:

Don't know Buck , but I think whatever shocks you put on there your still going to be limited 2.5 inch of travel...there just isn't enough movement for the suspension to absorb the nasty stuff...layed back riding position... your still going to feel the  impact directed to your spine...

That’s not correct for a number of reasons, but you will have to wait for the rest of my explanation.

[busabeast]

Definitely getting them setup for weight of you plus the bike will/should make some kind of difference, but you'll still be working to the limitations of the limited travel of the rear mudguard?

Or isn't that going to be much of an issue?

[Pedro]

6 minutes ago, busabeast said:

Definitely getting them setup for weight of you plus the bike will/should make some kind of difference, but you'll still be working to the limitations of the limited travel of the rear mudguard?

Or isn't that going to be much of an issue?

He’ll raise it a bit, go more sporty and have more travel.

[Marcel le Moose Fondler]

Should have gone with one of these...no need for shocks. 

 

 

[Marcel le Moose Fondler]

[XTreme]

1 hour ago, Pedro said:

go more sporty

While towing a trailer? 

[Buckster]

So there are basically two types of shocks available readily, emulsion where the oil and gas mix, or gas shock where the oil and gas are separate. With emulsion shocks they may have nitrogen mixed with the oil or they may be air assist as my standard shocks are, with air assist the preload is altered by adding air which also alters the compression and rebound. This drastically reduces shock travel as well and generally this type of shock will have a smaller piston. Emulsion shocks with pre charged nitrogen are better but still have limitations, the general rule is that you can alter the rebound damping but the compression is fixed, spring preload is kept separate which is better. Then you have single bodied shocks where the nitrogen and oil are kept separate, with this type you generally alter the rebound and compression damping together. The only way to separate everything is with piggy back shocks or other layouts that use a completely separate gas chamber. 
 

The other thing to consider is piston diameter, a larger piston diameter will generally mean a shorter piston chamber which allows a longer shock travel, it sounds counter intuitive but it is because it occupies less space inside the spring.

[Six30]

5 hours ago, Buckster said:

Despite all of your playfulness, I know you only do it because you all feel inferior to me.

I have decided out of kindness to give you a rundown on my research process and what led upto it.

When I lived in the colonies and bought the bike, the standard air assist shocks were never that impressive but were fine as the roads in the USA are damn well made, I had more concerns over the front forks and addressed this with single rate springs and better dampeners. I covered well over 30k miles like that and road all over the states. When I moved back to the U.K. I actually had use of a 950 Adventure for a year while a friend was working in S.A. so I left the Harley in storage in Georgia, the second year I had a Triumph Thruxton R which I really liked but wasn’t a distance bike, so I started making plans to bring the glide over. Almost immediately I realised that the rear shocks were no match for the pock marked cart tracks of Scotland but I soldiered on and eventually I decided to drain the shock oil and put a heavier weight in. This made a big difference but it was still far from good.

So this last year I started researching rear shocks. I knew just about anything would be better than the standard units but the engineer in me meant I needed to learn all the differences in construction and price versus quality. I also wanted them sprung for my weight which is something that made a huge difference when I did the front end.

 

nothing wrong with the shocks on it .... its cause your lugging round a ridiculous fucking trailer.

[Buckster]

16 minutes ago, Six30 said:

nothing wrong with the shocks on it .... its cause your lugging round a ridiculous fucking trailer.

The trailer only adds 8kg to the back of the bike.

[Buckster]

So continuing, remote reservoir or piggyback shocks are overkill in most road bikes, they give the widest range of adjustment but need to be adjusted more often. The sweet spot is a single body gas shock, a good emulsion shock is generally better than stock but still has limitations. 

As far as piston diameter is concerned for a 12 to 13 inch shock the sweet spot for shock travel and good damping is 35 to 36mm. This will allow just under 4 inches of travel.

[Six30]

9 minutes ago, Buckster said:

So continuing, remote reservoir or piggyback shocks are overkill in most road bikes, they give the widest range of adjustment but need to be adjusted more often. The sweet spot is a single body gas shock, a good emulsion shock is generally better than stock but still has limitations. 

As far as piston diameter is concerned for a 12 to 13 inch shock the sweet spot for shock travel and good damping is 35 to 36mm. This will allow just under 4 inches of travel.

i was just going to say that .

[Buckster]

At this point I had narrowed things down to a few preferred shocks, 2win are very good on price but the specs are hard to get, Ohlins are well reviewed but at a price, YSS do what is probably the best emulsion type shock and then the wild card is the Nitron twin shock R1.

I decided against the YSS as I do not want another emulsion set up. I had pretty much settled on the 2win but two factors put me off, I found it only has a 26mm piston and the resellers are twats, I never trust anyone that needs to slag off their competitors. 

I spoke to Brook suspension a few times, I was getting very interested in the expensive but highly rated Ohlins, they were very helpful and very honest, they even suggested having another look at the YSS which are £400 less than the Ohlins.

Then I brought up the subject of Nitron, we had a long discussion on the difference between Nitron and Ohlins. The Nitrons use machined components throughout as opposed to a mix between machined and cast. It seemed that Nitron are about the best made shocks currently available and they offered the adjustability I wanted, I could also specify a 12.5 inch shock so I was very interested.

After doing some additional research to verify what I had been told I have ordered Nitron shocks.

[Buckster]

8 minutes ago, Six30 said:

i was just going to say that .

Pete was a great help during my research.

[Pedro]

[XTreme]

1 hour ago, Buckster said:

Pete was a great help during my research.

[Buckster]

[boboneleg]

I bought a Nitron for my previous DR650, they are very well made

[Buckster]

19 minutes ago, boboneleg said:

I bought a Nitron for my previous DR650, they are very well made

They better be, I spent £800 on these bad boys.

[XTreme]

7 minutes ago, Buckster said:

I spent £800 on these bad boys.

Doubles the value of the bike though!

[skyrider]

1 hour ago, Buckster said:

bet they aint cheap  

 

[Marcel le Moose Fondler]

1 hour ago, Buckster said:

Not seing a rubber bumper...?

[Marcel le Moose Fondler]

1 hour ago, Buckster said:

They better be, I spent £800 on these bad boys.

Expensive...that's like 1500 canadian tire money...

[Buckster]

9 minutes ago, Marcel le Moose Fondler said:

Not seing a rubber bumper...?

Try again with your glasses on.