Help with new shocks and bike lowered or not?

[Steve in Kent]

I've got a 2002 R1150GS with 78k miles, so think it's time for new shocks.

I'm now in a quandary about what to order.

The previous owner said he had it lowered by using shorter springs, (I have the receipt dated 2015), but he can't remember by how much.

He also said that the side and centre stands were not modified.

With the rear wheel on the ground, bike on centre stand, the front wheel has 15mm clearance to the ground.

If it had been lowered I would have thought that this would be more than 15mm, he did say it was harder to put on the stand after the change.

To see how much it had been lowered I asked on Facebook for other owners measurements.

As the bike has a bespoke seat I could not use seat height, so asked for the distance from the floor to the top of the rear bolt on the Throttle Position Senor.

This is 580mm on my bike, and the two answers came back as 570mm and 580mm.

I am 6'3" so do not need it lowered, so I could buy standard shocks, but if I do and they are say, 30mm longer, then when I try to put it on it's stand, the stand will not touch the ground.

This is even though the stand wasn't shortened, so I'm very confused.

So may I ask anyone who has a standard height bike from around the 2000 era to measure the distance from the floor to the top of the rear bolt on the Throttle Position Sensor please?

This is with the bike off it's stand, wheels on the floor, no rider.

Also, if anyone can come up with an explanation why, when it's on it's centre stand there is only 15mm clearance, or why the measurement from the ground to the TPS is the same for my "lowered" bike, and a standard height one.

Any help would be appreciated.

Steve

 

[Santa-2512]

I cant offer help for an 1150,

but i can tell you what we found with my 1200 hexhead

I'm a hobbit, so needed a lower seat

Std seat & lower seat, with std suspension & stands apart form bum to floor height,

There were no issues getting the bike on and off side and centre stands

I replaced the suspension F&R for 30mm lower units ..

This is where the fun starts

With the lower suspension, it was a battle royale to get it onto the centre stand

( the fulcrum points change, so you need a hell of a lot more leverage to get the bike onto the centre stand)

Side stand was no problem, but the bike sat up hell of a lot more say 85 degrees as opposed to 50 degrees

to rectify the problem 30mm was removed from the centre & side stands

normal service was resumed

have a look at you centre and side stands on Realoem.com

if they look different, or appear to have welds midway in them, they may have been shortened.

or ask a nice oilhead owner to measure the centre & side stands as a comparison

 

[buellzebub]

Another thing to take into consideration is pre-load adjustments. All measurements need to be taken with the same amount of pre-load, preferably zero I would say. Otherwise you will see differences between bikes with identical shocks in the height to the reference point bolt.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

[Two wheels good]

At 6ft3 you will want standard spring and standard seat - maybe even a bit higher.

You seem to doubt that the main stand is indeed standard. Maybe measure that or look for cut and weld evidence.
If you remove the seat is there access to measure the shock spring. I didn't check on mine.
Measuring to the TPS isn't ideal.

Second-hand OEM standard shocks are available. Of course it's difficult to rely on condition.
If you can get one in half-decent condition you could start with that. Or a knackered one as a donor of a spring to have yours set to standard and refurbed at the same time. Refurbing the OEM shock is very effective and inexpensive , ~£100

 

[mikeyboy]

Might just have had lowered springs,in which case the extended shock length would be as standard