Putting Wilbers Shocks on an R1200GS

[Emoto]

Threw some shocks on a couple of weeks ago and finally got around to putting up a quick page about it. Enjoy!

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/emoto1/wilbers.html

P.S. I used HMarc's excellent site for the torque values posted. HMarc, if you object, I will dig the numbers out of my manual and post them in lieu of your spiffy little table.

 

[nadeem]

Quite a few of the images aren't showing mate...but more importantly how are you finding the Wilber Shocks...both on road & off?

 

[IanC]

Yes, I'd like to know what they're like too.

I thought about buying them, and got a price a month or so ago (from SPC I think??), who seem to be the Wunderlich disributors in the UK. From memory, I think they worked out at something like £1100 a pair?

My main reason was to increase the ground clearance, which seems to me to be the biggest stumbling block when taking the 12 off-road. I seemed to knock the not-too-strong bash-plate quite a lot, and in fact managed to rip it right off in the Brecon Beacons!

My conclusion was that for £1100-ish it might be better to trade in for the 1200 Adventure when it arrives (especially as I'd like a bigger tank and a lower 1st gear) but if I heard very good reports on the Wilbers I might be tempted. Would the ground clearance then be less or more than a 1150 Adv? And how is road handling changed?

 

[jnrobert]

Emoto mate, you just have to fix your path statement

"file:///C|/comcast%20web%20pages/lower_muff_clamp.gif"

to

"http://mywebpages.comcast.net/emoto1/lower_muff_clamp.gif"

and you should be good to go

 

[(RIP) Gerry Huxtable]

Wilbers

I bought direct from Wilbers in March prior to Morocco trip.

£950 including remote preload adjuster and remote hi/lo compression adjuster and shipping.

Helpfull company and have some english speaking staff.

Go to-

http://www.wilbers-products.net/shop/index_shop.html?8lauf.htm

produkte

630 Front

640 Rear

429 Euro each plus 209 Euro for remote adjuster.


cheers

Gerry H.

 

[nadeem]

So how are you finding them Gerry - an improvement or not? Off-road / Road capabilities ...?

 

[IanC]

How do they compare? Money well spent?

 

[(RIP) Gerry Huxtable]

Recommended

I was not happy with the standard shocks on the 1200, but had WP on the 1150 so used to better springs.

3 weeks and 5000 miles in Morocco including off road and crap roads,
wet and dry performed faultlessly.

Worth the money in my opinion.

cheers


Gerry H.

 

[IanC]

Does the bike *feel* a lot higher on general road riding, and do the longer shocks make a significant/noticeable difference to ground clearance?

 

[Emoto]

Quite a few of the images aren't showing mate...but more importantly how are you finding the Wilber Shocks...both on road & off?

My apologies to all!!!

Had me effing hrefs all wrong. Would you be kind enough to try again?

Thanks,

Bob

 

[Emoto]

Emoto mate, you just have to fix your path statement

"file:///C|/comcast%20web%20pages/lower_muff_clamp.gif"

to

"http://mywebpages.comcast.net/emoto1/lower_muff_clamp.gif"

and you should be good to go

Yeah, thanks, that's what I did. Put the page together quickly and somehow Dreamweaver was adding all that useless hard drive path info. It never used to do that before. A quick search and replace was all I needed to get rid of it all. Again, sorry for the inconvenience.

 

[Emoto]

To answer the question about how I'm finding them, I haven't had them off road yet, but generally my impressions on the road are that the ride is firmer but more compliant than the standard dampers.

The extra height is apparent (but not problematic) when mounting the bike and when putting it on the sidestand.

I've backed the front preload off about a half a turn and removed one click of damping front and rear. I may back off the rear preload 1/4 or 1/2 a turn as well. Backing off the settings a bit is mostly for my daily 92 mile commute, where I don't get to go "hammer and tongs" due to the traffic. Having taken a few short rides at speed, I would say that they work extremely well in that mode exactly as delivered, so when I go off on that sort of ride, I will consider putting things back to the stock settings, but that will by no means be manditory for a good ride.

Overall, I am pleased and will enjoy these for a long time. The build quality is beautiful. Wilbers sets each shock up individually for each customer, and I think they generally go firmer than Ohlins do. I found the Ohlins on my R1100RS to offer a softer, more plush ride than these do, but on the other hand, I told Wilbers that I ride pretty hard and sometimes pack a lot of stuff, so this is to be expected.

Overall, very happy.