Why an Oil Shock?

Ok, call me ignorant, but why are people replacing the air shock with an oil based one, be it Ohlins, Wilbur or whatever.

I can understand on a long trip and the air shock springing a leak and leaving you stranded, but so would a hydraluic one (happened to me on a yama-ha-ha) in Turkey.

Whats wrong with the air-shock?

I think there are many HP2 owners that are running the bike with the Supermotard rims and using it as a street bike. That's what I'm doing.

Would have purchased a R1200S; however, I'm ......my back couldn't take the riding position. The HP2's air shock isn't firm enough for hard street riding.

Can't comment on riding it in the dirt. I may not get to do that for some time.

The air shock is awesome in the dirt

I can't understand it either,you can set the air shock rock hard if you want to,so I can't see the benefit of an oil shock at all,apart from if the air shock goes bang,you're stuck(still get homeable though!)

Have a look at www.pgdakar.com and see who breaks what

How high were you landing that from then JK,any bother at all?

ohlins

The air shock... I rode for 10,000 kms around europe and hated the shock, actually the hole suspension setup. The king dude shredding the track says its good and he can ride like a dog shot in the arse but my experience told me to buy an ohlins, which i have and will pass on all info re the front and back changes

beachman said:

The air shock... I rode for 10,000 kms around europe and hated the shock, actually the hole suspension setup. The king dude shredding the track says its good and he can ride like a dog shot in the arse but my experience told me to buy an ohlins, which i have and will pass on all info re the front and back changes

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Would be keen to hear of the experiences, particularly on the front changes as I find the Shock too soft for my weight and road use. Have been considering the WP rear as have heard good things from Vines in Guildford.

I had HM Racing have a look at my HP's suspension and they reckon there's not much you can do with the stock stuff. They set up the front end as stiff as they could and changed the oil in the forks to something heavier. Even then there was 30mm of sag which isn't ideal. At the back, all that can be done is adjustment the air pressure - no rebound damping adjustment.

To sort it out, I'm having the forks re-valved and stiffer WP springs in the front and a new WP suspension on the back. I'll let you know how it turns out when it's all done

mrTickle said:

I had HM Racing have a look at my HP's suspension and they reckon there's not much you can do with the stock stuff. They set up the front end as stiff as they could and changed the oil in the forks to something heavier. Even then there was 30mm of sag which isn't ideal. At the back, all that can be done is adjustment the air pressure - no rebound damping adjustment.

To sort it out, I'm having the forks re-valved and stiffer WP springs in the front and a new WP suspension on the back. I'll let you know how it turns out when it's all done

Click to expand...

You'll be painting it Orange next.

...actually... i'm thinking about nitrous now ( using a blue nitrous bottle of course )

http://www.diy-nitrous.fsnet.co.uk/

An extra 50HP for around £200 quid. It's just the extra weight that's putting me off

How high were you landing that from then JK,any bother at all?[/QUOTE]

Vern,

The top jump is about 6' high on an uphill table top, and the second jump is a double jump with 7' high point.

(Beachman)The air shock... I rode for 10,000 kms around europe and hated the shock, actually the hole suspension setup. The king dude shredding the track says its good and he can ride like a dog shot in the arse but my experience told me to buy an ohlins, which i have and will pass on all info re the front and back changes (Quote)

I agree with you, I put in a set of progressive front springs, and 20wt oil in the front forks, with 2 3/4'' from the top. With those setting I still have the compression and rebound on the forks at thier maxed out point. That keeps me from going metal to metal. They are pretty good right now.

The back shock is just OK, it lacks all kinds of features. I would swap it out if I got paid to race on sundays (but I don't and I'm not that good). A few of the problems you have with the air shock are,

1, you can't set body wieght sag
2, you can't set static sag
3, no adjustment as to comp & reb.

BUT, I have to say I can't believe how good the air shock works with just the setting it has. I have gone over some jumps that I thought I would die on, and it did a great job.

With that said, I did break my frame in a couple of spots, and remember when I say I broke my frame I am jumping some huge stuff. If your not doing the same I would not worry. On the right side of the bike next to the rear brake where the lower frame bolts to the bottom of the motor, I broke it 6'' from the bolt. On the upper frame (behind the plastic by the air filter) there are a couple of cracks at the upper motor mounts on both sides of the bike. My dealer A&S Cycles in Sacramento CA, warrantied the whole thing no questions asked. The owner even knows how I ride the bike, and they did not say something like "It's not designed for that kind of ridding, thats abussive". So just check yours out, and look closely at all the welds.


On another note, does anyones rear shock sqeak when you bounce up and down on it, and if so have you lubed something to get rid of the sqeak?

Thanks Jerry