1200GSA Excessive bounce on rear suspension

[EasySushi]

Hi Guys,

On a trip to Europe recently a friend I was travelling with notice that my rear wheel seemed to be bouncing rather allot. I had the pre load wound full up and the shock turned up height. Towards the end of the journey we switched bikes and his was very stiff with no bounce. My bike was fully laden weighing in at 189Kg of added weight leaving 30Kg of the maximum allowable.

Any Idea's what the problem is or am I worrying about nothing. Should I be concerned about the weight I was carrying, would it cause final drive failure?


Cheers



tyrone

 

[Gog yn y De]

Hi Guys,

On a trip to Europe recently a friend I was travelling with notice that my rear wheel seemed to be bouncing rather allot. I had the pre load wound full up and the shock turned up height. Towards the end of the journey we switched bikes and his was very stiff with no bounce. My bike was fully laden weighing in at 189Kg of added weight leaving 30Kg of the maximum allowable.

Any Idea's what the problem is or am I worrying about nothing. Should I be concerned about the weight I was carrying, would it cause final drive failure?

Cheers

tyrone

How loaded was your mates bike?

 

[Shep]

I must admit mine seems under damped at the rear, especially when fully loaded

It gets all ungainly, but never out of control.

Im toying with new units but am a bit concerned with the ohlins only lasting 10,000mls between services (twice a year for me )

How do you find the front unit? I was getting a vibration when braking hard from high speed, and thought it may be a warped disc (it may still be ) but after a bit of experimenting, when i look down the forks and grab the brakes you can see the forks chatter for an instant before settling down, this could be the vibration i was feeling, i would have thought it was down to damping, but could be due to tyre deformation or even spring load setting (one stop from softest)

All to complicated for me

Shep

 

[EasySushi]

How loaded was your mates bike?

About the same loading.

 

[EasySushi]

I must admit mine seems under damped at the rear, especially when fully loaded

It gets all ungainly, but never out of control.

Im toying with new units but am a bit concerned with the ohlins only lasting 10,000mls between services (twice a year for me )

How do you find the front unit? I was getting a vibration when braking hard from high speed, and thought it may be a warped disc (it may still be ) but after a bit of experimenting, when i look down the forks and grab the brakes you can see the forks chatter for an instant before settling down, this could be the vibration i was feeling, i would have thought it was down to damping, but could be due to tyre deformation or even spring load setting (one stop from softest)

All to complicated for me

Shep

Hi Shep

No vibration from front, bike performs great

 

[cookie]

Im toying with new units but am a bit concerned with the ohlins only lasting 10,000mls between services (twice a year for me )


Shep

i think that's a rather pessimistic view. just done 13k on a s/h unit with no probs at all

rode a demo 12GSA last week & will very likely be fitting a better shock (at least on the rear) to the one i bought when i can find someone who lists one, but preferably a WP unit with compression adjustment.

 

[Shep]

i think that's a rather pessimistic view. just done 13k on a s/h unit with no probs at all

rode a demo 12GSA last week & will very likely be fitting a better shock (at least on the rear) to the one i bought when i can find someone who lists one, but preferably a WP unit with compression adjustment.

Yeah, fair comment i suppose, but it was a figure that has been mentioned on this site before and it just stuck in my brain, it just seems that Ohlins are servicable but need to be serviced often to maintain performance where as others may not need so much attention, i've really not made my mind up either way

What has sent you in the WP direction?

Shep

 

[Gog yn y De]

i think that's a rather pessimistic view. just done 13k on a s/h unit with no probs at all

rode a demo 12GSA last week & will very likely be fitting a better shock (at least on the rear) to the one i bought when i can find someone who lists one, but preferably a WP unit with compression adjustment.

I'm getting a set of WP's fitted this weekend at SPC Motorcycles, Alton to my 12GSA.

 

[wilbjr21]

Ive just been on a camping trip to Corsica with my GSA1200; my bike must have been very close to the max allowed weight (maybe even over) with two of us on it and all the gear. To get rid of wallowing (underdamping) on undulating fast roads (motorways etc) my rear shock rebound had to be a quarter turn out from closed and then it was ok. Ride height adjustment on max couldn't quite restore the ride height but was acceptable. Front shock on number three from softest. This is a marked improvement on the GS1200, as I had to have on Ohlins fitted on the rear to restore the handling fully loaded.
Very happy with the way that my GSA1200 performed in that biking Nirvana of an island.

 

[cookie]

Yeah, fair comment i suppose, but it was a figure that has been mentioned on this site before and it just stuck in my brain, it just seems that Ohlins are servicable but need to be serviced often to maintain performance where as others may not need so much attention, i've really not made my mind up either way

What has sent you in the WP direction?

Shep

they have compression damping adjustment, which ohlins don't. might help cover the range of use between solo & 2 up with luggage better.

they are works of art compared to ohlins too.

WP need same sort of servicing as ohlins anyway. had my airhead WP done a couple of years back when it went off.

also considering hyperpro, maxton etc. i don't really care as long as it works.

 

[cookie]

I'm getting a set of WP's fitted this weekend at SPC Motorcycles, Alton to my 12GSA.

couldn't find the GSA listed on WP's website, must need updating.

 

[Gog yn y De]

couldn't find the GSA listed on WP's website, must need updating.

Sorry, my mistake - I meant Wilbers.

http://www.wunderlich.de/html/cat/eng/1200GS.pdf and take a look at page 104

 

[Captain Pugwash]

So people are upgrading their shocks with KTM equipment !

Interesting !!

 

[Wizard]

 

[chasr]

Having sat on the Eurochunnel observing my (GS) and my mate's (GSA) bikes, both with standard settings and similar loads, his was bouncing up and down like the proverbial compared with mine. I can only conclude that the stock damping on the GSA is set lower than the GS.

ps. I think Manny's new GSA has rusted away by now

 

[cookie]

Having sat on the Eurochunnel observing my (GS) and my mate's (GSA) bikes, both with standard settings and similar loads, his was bouncing up and down like the proverbial compared with mine. I can only conclude that the stock damping on the GSA is set lower than the GS.

ps. I think Manny's new GSA has rusted away by now

different shocks though.

 

[chasr]

different shocks though.

True. Forgotten that. But why?