Wilbers

[fritz]

Having returned from Morocco I now thinkthe rear shock is somewhat knackered. It's a blue spring variet of the Wilbers.

Thought is seemed maybe a bit soft before trip, but the hadling was fine (that said if you put a wooden stcik in place of the forks and the rear shock I'd probably stil not notice )

During off roading a squeek developed and though no leaking oil or anything the shock sagged under load to point of rubbing mudguard on the bumps (there are a few in Morocco off road).

Back on Spanish asphalt it was fine again (well, as in could get tyres edge to edge on the twisties and no muguard rub).

What I can't figure is it would appear to have lost damping, but no sign of oil loss. Shouldn't it look knackered? or is just it's set up for a lighweight and not for us two with (light) luggage off-road?

So I'll have to consider getting it rebuilt, or sticking the Ohlins off the other one on. The Ohlins has done stirling but is too stiff (never failed though).

Ohlins/Wilbers....if you had both, which one would you get rebuilt?

There's also the Fournales in the garage...

 

[Rob Farmer]

My Wilbers is about knackered as well. Similar problem. The damping's rapidly disappearing with no sign of an old leak. Par for the course with these shocks in my experience. Vastly overrated shite unfortunately.

 

[fritz]

My Wilbers is about knackered as well. Similar problem. The damping's rapidly disappearing with no sign of an old leak. Par for the course with these shocks in my experience. Vastly overrated shite unfortunately.

Ohlins it is - wonder if I can palm the Wilbers off here shhhhh

 

[David Nimrod]

Ohlins it is - wonder if I can palm the Wilbers off here shhhhh

I'll giver you a fiver for it

 

[Bill-H]

I'll giver you a fiver for it

Your Hagon that bad 'eh

 

[David Nimrod]

Your Hagon that bad 'eh

Actually, it's rather good

 

[bernardofeio]

Hello

I’m using a Ohlins but had exactly the same problem when I went off-roading to Marrocos this year.
On the tracks, after 5 minutes riding, the shock started to work very soft sagging in all smalls bumps… I had to put it in the harder position but it didn’t solve the problem

I’m guessing that I need to rebuilt the shock or at least to change the oil…

 

[fritz]

Hello

I’m using a Ohlins but had exactly the same problem when I went off-roading to Marrocos this year.
On the tracks, after 5 minutes riding, the shock started to work very soft sagging in all smalls bumps… I had to put it in the harder position but it didn’t solve the problem

I’m guessing that I need to rebuilt the shock or at least to change the oil…

One thing I did when we got the Ohlins for the South America bike was we had it re-sprung and valved to suit our plans. It never let us down - in fact is still fine, but was always a bit too firm. 5 years old and around 20,000+ miles. An off the shelf Ohlins will be set for road use, and I have seen standard units broken, but I guess that's because they've gone beyond their remit.

If yours isn't an 'off the shelf' one completely ignore my comments

The wilbers is on our 'new' travel bike in case of even further confusion.

The lack of suspension off road the other week in Morocco gave the sump a 'boing' tickeled the underside of the PD (a weak point for tickling) and the bike keeled over in convulsions of laughter.

Luckily the route was well used....we saw another vehicle later....and it was only about 2400m altitude at upper 30sC My how we laughed

 

[fritz]

I'll giver you a fiver for it

I don't think so

The shock is actually fine for one up road use - provided the rider is not standard UKGSer build It's just not fit for hard use it appears.

 

[Crapaud]

Totally disagree with Rob Farmer re the Wilbers. I fitted a set on my 1100 a few years ago and they have been excellent. They were originally set up exactly for my weight and for off-roading including when loaded up with luggage. I've since done tens of thousands of miles including the Calum's Road trip to the Gambia and competing in Dawn to Dusk and the shocks have been perfect and are still like new.

Ohlins are OK but massively overpriced and you are paying a big premium for the name. Remember all the failures with the Ohlins on the Long Way Down. Hagon shocks are total utter crap and I would never knowingly ride a bike with their shocks fitted. A chap at Horizons Unlimited showed a picture of a Hagon shock for a Honda compared to the Honda original. The Hagon one was about a quarter of the structural strength in every part of its design.

Any suspension unit can fail if given a hard enough use. Why not get the Wilbers rebuilt professionaly and get them to set it up ezactly to your weight and riding style. You might be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Rob Farmer]

Of course you're entitled to your opinion Sid. This is the Third Wilbers I've been disappointed with. The first, fitted to my Mono gave such a poor ride I refitted the knackered original unit because it rode so much better. The third (current failing shock on my Para) has run out of damping adjustment is getting progressively bouncier. A previous one had an annoying habit of suddenly dumping the oil and ran me up a considerable expense at a shock re builders before I finally threw in the towel and dumped it.

A Technoflex (Wilbers) gave me similar problems years ago.

At some point you have to simply give up on something.

 

[David Nimrod]

re. the Wilbers. I fitted a set on my 1100 a few years ago and they have been excellent.

This is the Third Wilbers I've been disappointed with. At some point you have to simply give up on something.

"O Deep Thought Computer," he said, "the task we have designed you to perform is this. We want you to tell us ..." he paused, "... the Answer!"

"The answer?" said Deep Thought. "The answer to what?"

"Suspension!" urged Sid.

"On an Airhead!" said Rob.

"A GS!" they said in chorus.

Deep Thought paused for a moment's reflection.

"Tricky," he said finally.

"But can you do it?"

Again, a significant pause.

"Yes," said Deep Thought, "I can do it."

"There is an answer?" said Sid with breathless excitement."

"A simple answer?" added Rob.

"Yes," said Deep Thought. "What's the best rear shock for the back of an Airhead Paralever GS. There is an answer. But," he added, "I'll have to think about it."



With Apologies to Douglas Adams

 

[Redboots]

I agree with Crapaud on this.
My Wilbers, (forget the model but the one with the remote ressy), took me to India using some roads, some off roads and some road that used the term very loosely.

Never a problem and still running good after some 40k kms.
The unit was supplied with valving and spring set for me and my gear and ride heights set correctly.

I have an Ohlins on the PDClassic and that required a re-build after the trip. It also looked shite with flakey paint on the spring and corrosion on the preload threads. Pricey re-build as well at PDQ.

My 2p

John

 

[Crapaud]

The unit was supplied with valving and spring set for me and my gear and ride heights set correctly.


John

I think this is the key point. If you have the shock custom set up for exactly you and your riding weight/style it will do the job.

I know from working with our endurance racing team that it is impossible to please riders with suspension. For a 24 hour race we have 3 riders sharing the same bike. It can be terribly subjective. The set up is sometimes amusing. One rider wants more rideheight/pre-load, the second one wants the complete opposite and the third one thinks its fine as it is. The team manager tells each rider privately that they are right and he has adjusted it to their spec. In truth he has left it as it is. They all then go out for their next session and pronounce the suspension fine now!

Go figure.

Incidentally, we ran Ohlins on the race bike and even two identical units could give different results.

Suspension can be as subjective as tyres and many people can have a lot of preconceptions about what is good or not.

The finest suspension in the world is useless if it is not set up correctly.

 

[Rob Farmer]

Mine are set up correctly and were ordered to match my weight and use. My dissatisfaction with Wilbers and Technoflex is that they have either not been right from day one or have not lasted an acceptable length of time before screwing up.

This is my fourth unit you can't say I haven't given them a fair opportunity to prove their worth.

 

[g.s.john]

Got wilbers on my 1100 set up for me been on the bike just over two years now had them serviced by the importers last christmas to get the full five years warranty no problems at all.

 

[Rob Farmer]

This is the airhead section Were not interested in fecking oilheads

 

[cookie]

This is the airhead section Were not interested in fecking oilheads

are you suggesting that wilbers shocks made for oil heads are better than the stuff they turn out for the old shitters?

 

[g.s.john]

Used to get this crap off the airhead owners in the o.c if BMW and everyone else had this attitude there they would have been history and we would never discovered the isle of wight

 

[Rob Farmer]

Try that again in English.