BMW S1000RR shock conversion question

[JayB]

Yeah far better, can't wait to get it set up properly. Looks loads better too!
 
Very hard on the high speed damping, I set them both to 6, gonna set the spring and set it all properly at the weekend, maybe one lunchtime if I get chance.
 

[JayB]

pic

[richiomtt]

 


Did you notice how light it was versus the original rubbish? It's a quality item and I keep thinking that's it's meant to help deal with 180BHP, so should be more than up to the job.


Rich

[JayB]

Yeah, I did actually, nearly dropped the original one as I cupped my hand under it.
 
I like the fact the BMW one has the rod shrouded too, so it's protected.
 
Bonus, like the R6 one, having high & low speed adjustment. I probably won't bother going for the Honda spring, I've bust my bike budget for the moment now, with new tyres and this shock, plus the chain is looking tired so that is gonna need doing soon.
 

[JayB]

Rich, can you do me a favour next time you are doing something to the bike?
Can you pop out the bolt that clamps the top spring adjuster, like a tit I left mine loose and it's fallen out somewhere outside the house!
 
 
 
Will try and find it but would be great if you could size it up for me please fella...

[richiomtt]

Just to be clear, do you mean the little torx bolt that clamps the pre-load spring?


Rich

[JayB]

yeah that's it mate..!
 
I tried a BMW fiche for the dimensions but it's not featured.... bloody inefficient krauts 

[JayB]

I need to wind the bike up a bit more as I still have a lot of sag (only measured by eye as yet) but the back wheel is very nearly on the floor while bike is on the centrestand. If I go more, I am worrying about the bike bloody rolling away while on the stand!
I may change the dogbones to give it a bit more clearance and make the front-end bias a little less extreme.

[richiomtt]

My back wheel is very close the the ground too with the centrestand - don't worry about it. It rides just great and i can still spin the wheel to lube the chain no problem.


I'm not sure it's going to help you if I remove the pre-load screw and measure it. I won't be able to tell you the pitch and you can work our the length dead easy from the hole. This will be a £2 part at most, so I'd risk a small selection from a bolt manufacturer. It will be standard vehicle thread anyway.


Rich

[JayB]

Just the diameter would help mate, but I will have a look at home and see if it fell out while I was working. I have a patch of concrete out the back I work on.
 
Hopefully once I wind it up a bit more as required, it won't deck out the tyre totally.
 
It is worth it, rides so much better, can't wait til the weekend to do my favourite 60 mile loop!   

[unfazed]

Just to add to this thread about the S1000rr Shock.
I finished fitting the 2012/13 S1000rr shock today and with the settings set to BMW normal number 4 Rebound number 4 low speed compression and number 4  high speed compression. I took it for a spin, what a difference no more wallowing  Must play around some more with the settings, but they are very good at BMW normal settings.
Measurements from Eye to Eye
Standard Fazer 100 shock is 305 mm
The  2012/13 s1000rr shock is 309mm It is easy to tell the difference between the two S1000rr shocks as the fork on the bottom of the 2013/13 shock is silver coloured and the older 2009/10 is bronze coloured like the top. See picture of visual difference in 2010/11 and 2012/13 shocks. The 2012/13 has improved damping control and slightly different standard setting to the 2011/12 shock

You will need the following for fitting:
A 12mm bit
Two 2.65mm thick washers 25mm outside diameter and 12mm diameter centre hole. I made them up as most standard are 2.5mm
A 12mm bolt with the shoulder 41.5mm long.
I used and old shoulder bolt from the top of the 600 shock, ground it to take the shoulder back to 41.5mm, re tapped it to take the standard M10 nut & washer and cut it to clear the dog bones. Original bolt was the correct length but shoulder was to short. The fork of the s1000rr Shock is 2mm wider overall. Using the original bolt was not an option.

Greased up all the linkages and put it back together.

As with previous posts the max preload was giving me 20mm static sag. I measured the thread space at the top of the shock and there is 12mm of  space with the shock on max preload. I will make up a 7 to 10 mm spacer to fit under the spring to allow me add more preload and see how it goes from there. It feels fine at the moment as the laden sag is less than the sag at max preload of the original shock.

[unfazed]

Went for a run with my son on the back today we are both about 13.5stone weight in full bike gear and the shock was outstanding. The spring was a little soft over some exceptionally bad roads (we were watching the West Cork Rally) and some slightly spirited riding but it never bottomed out. Had some fun with a few "wanna be rally car drivers" on the way to some stages. .  A 2012/13 S1000rr shock is definitely a worthwhile investment if you can get it for the right money. It will be fine with my wife on the back as she is only 9 stone in full bike gear. Next stop the North West 200 with a few friends to really test it out.

[bludclot]

zero miles, £40 including postage. i couldn't resist:





going to fit this in conjunction with a forks strip and overhaul. i'll post the results once done. i do my own mehcanical work but know very little about suspension so will be subjective. current shock is the standard fzs unit that i had re-built around 5k miles ago.

[shrekster]

I bid on the same shock from this seller, he listed that he had 2 shocks for sale by mistake. He only had the one, bummer! I already have a BMW shock with a 550lb spring on my Fazer, I've only done a few short runs and the rear end feels brilliant.
Jim.

[NorthWestern]

Check the bottom adjuster on the shock, its a pain to get to from the exhaust side of the bike when fitted. I had to rotate the shock bottom 180 degrees so it was on the chain side.

[unfazed]

zero miles, £40 including postage. i couldn't resist:


going to fit this in conjunction with a forks strip and overhaul. i'll post the results once done. i do my own mehcanical work but know very little about suspension so will be subjective. current shock is the standard fzs unit that i had re-built around 5k miles ago.

Set it as standard first all the damping settings at 4, but wind the preload up full. 

[bludclot]

fitted this and rode the bike yesterday. ride is definitely improved.


unfazed is absolutely correct - the bottom bolt needs to be 41.5mm shouldered, i have the standard bolt in there but this means that the nut end of the shoulder is only within the shock fork by 2mm (or so) of the 6mm available. an option i did consider was taking 1mm off each of the shock fork legs - seeing as the original shock fork legs are 5mm it should be ok - but i would rather fit a longer shouldered bolt. so, can anyone supply me or point me towards such a bolt please?


i did not find it necessary to glue washers to the top of the shock for fitting. it was straight forward to slide the mounting bolt through the frame then through the first washer then through the shock then slide the second washer into the gap then tap the bolt home, easy.


my other issue is at the top of the shock however. the original shock when bolted in just at the top had no real lateral movement. the bmw shock moved all over the place however, not encouraging at all. the shoulder of the bolt was a snug fit into the drilled bushes so i figure the issue is elsewhere, most likely with the washers.


so to conclude, good upgrade but not a straight forward bolt in job as has been suggested in the past.

[NorthWestern]

Odd, mine went straight in.  The only thing I did was make some new bushes for the top, I didn't fancy washers so removed the original bushes and made new ones.  (and put a stronger spring on). The bottom bolt went through fine, like standard.

[unfazed]

Odd, mine went straight in.  The only thing I did was make some new bushes for the top, I didn't fancy washers so removed the original bushes and made new ones.  (and put a stronger spring on). The bottom bolt went through fine, like standard.

Was yours the 2010/2011?

The spring on the 2012/2013 is a heaver rated spring and should suit anybody up to about 150kg.

Combined weight of my wife and I is 140Kg and it handles great with the two of us on it.

The top of mine was sloppy loose until I torqued up the bolt/nut properly.

I would not advise touching the fork, but get a top shock bolt from a breaker and cut it down to fit. The ones from the 600 and 1000 are the same so plenty of them out there.

Collected the 10mm spacer for the spring today and will fit it over the weekend to allow me play with the static sag.

[NorthWestern]

2013. The spring was stiffer than the std fazer one but not by much.  I do a lot of two up riding so put a stronger one on

[unfazed]

2013. The spring was stiffer than the std fazer one but not by much.  I do a lot of two up riding so put a stronger one on

Any idea what the spring rate of the spring you put in is? I have an old Fireblade shock in the garage and the spring is the same size but I must check the spring rate of it as I cannot remember which year Fireblade it was taken from.
Out of curiosity any idea of the combined weight of both of you, I was out with my eldest son on the back and our combined weight was about 170Kg and the spring felt a bit soft only on really bumpy roads. If I go touring on it this year I might need to upgrade the spring if increasing the static sag does not help.

I should be able to adjust the static sag more when I fit the 10mm spacer to the bottom spring seat..

[NorthWestern]

I don't unfortunately, we had a few springs and this one was the same thickness as the BMW spring but had less coils hence stiffer (and felt stiffer when fitted).  I think its off a ZX10R.  Combined weight probably around 170/180 + top box and contents)

[JoeRock]

2013. The spring was stiffer than the std fazer one but not by much.  I do a lot of two up riding so put a stronger one on

Any idea what the spring rate of the spring you put in is? I have an old Fireblade shock in the garage and the spring is the same size but I must check the spring rate of it as I cannot remember which year Fireblade it was taken from.
Out of curiosity any idea of the combined weight of both of you, I was out with my eldest son on the back and our combined weight was about 170Kg and the spring felt a bit soft only on really bumpy roads. If I go touring on it this year I might need to upgrade the spring if increasing the static sag does not help.

I should be able to adjust the static sag more when I fit the 10mm spacer to the bottom spring seat..

That's really not the way to do it mate - for linear springs increasing the static sag isn't going to make a blind bit of difference (it'll just make the ride height about right), it's just where the suspension sits in its stroke. Practically all it means is you'll have a lot less suspension travel to cope with any big bumps you hit, and if the spring is that soft it'll bottom out!

[unfazed]

Joe

Appreciate the comment, but I am aware that changing the static sag cannot change the spring rate, but if you read what I said "If increasing the static sag does not help."  and since it never bottomed out with the combined weight of 170Kg, I was more concerned about the drop in ride height.. It felt softer than I liked which is why I will consider changing the spring. The spacer I had made was to allow me play around with the ride height since the standard shock set up will not allow me go lower than 20mm static sag and I would like to try it at 10mm.

The reason I asked the question about the Spring rate of the spring North Westerner used is that I have 2 springs which are the same dimensions as the S1000rr one, 14.7Kg 600 fazer and a 12Kg RR Fireblade. Just checked the Ktech site and they list all RR Fireblades from 2004 to 2013 at 12Kg and since it came off a RR Fireblade solves the problem not being able to  remember which year it was.
The 2012/2013 S1000rr is as far as I can make out is about 9Kg and 12Kg is to big a step since it is pretty good as it is.

Unfortunately K Tech do not cover the later S1000rr or ZX10 on their site.


When I fitted the Hagon Shock to the 600 it was 14.6Kg and it felt a bit on the soft side 2 up and I changed it to a 16KG one which was perfect. Based on this, ideally I would like to try a 10.5 Kg spring first before going higher.

[nsr500v4]

Look what the postie brought me today 

Details Shock

Shock

 All we need is some posts on how everyone sets their shock up with rider weights, spring preload etc etc to give everyone the benefit of the knowledge built over over the months of set ups