Suspension advice

[Neil W]

Some good experienced knowledge required here please, as I'm at my wits end, and so is the ohlins dealer I'm sure. R1150gs 2003, I had my rear Showa Shock refurbed at a cost of £250......it felt exactly the same afterwards, very harsh, infact It may not have been opened up as I wasn't shown any photographs ....we just trust people dont we!!
So after much thought I went straight to the top and ordered an ohlins BM940 rear shock with upgraded 160nmm spring as advised. I weigh 95kg kitted up, plus I usually carry a 5kg top box, I also removed my ABS servo and lines, about (5-6kg) if that makes any difference.
So the 160 sounded good for the job and allowed for a big load when touring.
I fitted it, and it was very harsh, despite going through lots of settings and trying to persevere, I could only get 48mm sag with zero preload. The dealer kindly changed the spring back to the standard 140nmm ...... now I'm having the same issue!! .... now my pre load is close, at 58mm (with top box) and zero preload ..... my static preload is 24mm.
Ohlins recommend 12-14 clicks out from closed on the rebound clicker, but it was ridiculously hard on my back and I'm having to go down to around 40 clicks to be somewhere near comfortable. The shock is still harsh, and I can't get the plushness I want....the swingarm and paralever are working fine with no binding.
And the front shock has also been renewed. I believe I am well within the weight range for this shock ..... any thoughts please?

Have owned two r1150gs's and on standard Showa suspension they have never felt harsh , yes they may be on the firm side but no worse than that.

At 95kg with bike gear on you should be right in the middle of the weight range for the standard rear set up.

I wonder if the Ohlins has been tested on a shock dyno to confirm that it is working correctly as it sounds like it may have issues

 

[Guru Gora]

How do you know if your suspension is losing performance? I have had the bike 8 years and it is now on 100,000 miles and still on the standard suspension which I have never touched from the day I picked it up. We just load up and go, whether that is solo or two-up. There is no sign of a leak or anything, so I wonder what people have to do to their bikes to break them in so few miles (I read one bike on 30,000 with the suspension knackered )
Our bike is an 1150 Adv 2-spark.

Because they believe some of the bollocks spouted about amazing changes having ‘dialled in 2 clicks’ blah blah.

Majority of riders, majority of bikes, majority of the time, standard settings work fine.

 

[King Rat]

Because they believe some of the bollocks spouted about amazing changes having ‘dialled in 2 clicks’ blah blah.

Majority of riders, majority of bikes, majority of the time, standard settings work fine.

I just ride around any misgivings! The CS was a bit unnerving at 6000+ rpm this morning..... 4000 is between 70 and 80mph!

 

[Johny w]

Have owned two r1150gs's and on standard Showa suspension they have never felt harsh , yes they may be on the firm side but no worse than that.

At 95kg with bike gear on you should be right in the middle of the weight range for the standard rear set up.

I wonder if the Ohlins has been tested on a shock dyno to confirm that it is working correctly as it sounds like it may have issues

Thanks Neil, yeh that's a thought. I'm on 45 clicks out now and it feels pretty good. But ohlins recommend 12-14 clicks, im baffled.