Best suspension setup within stock bones

[mattfeet]

Tom - are your Ohlins the 13.3" or the 14.33" models?

[Tim Tom]

Toss me in the longer shock camp too. I had 14.25" Ikon's on my 850G and they were a vast improvement over the stock setup. Handling was sped up, the bike being much easier to transition from side to side, and still very stable. It also had the affect of giving me some more ground clearance, meaning I wasn't gonna drag my pegs or hard parts any time soon, even when leaned over with a mid-corned bump. The wheelbase is long enough on a GS that you can add quite a bit to the rear ride height and not affect stability in a negative way. On that bike I had a set of Sonic springs, 15 wt fork oil, and the Ikon shocks. I liked the way it handled quite a bit. I never tracked it, but it was great for carving up backroads while still being all day comfortable. I had the stock wheels and I found Sport Demon's to be very good choice of tires.

[mattfeet]

Great info, thanks.

[mattfeet]

Just ordered the 14.3" Ohlins S36P. Cannot wait!!!

[tkent02]

My Ohlins are the 13.3", the Progressives on the 750 are the longer ones.

One thing to think about, if you care, is that the longer shocks make it super easy to put the bike on the center stand, and also to take it off the center stand. That may sound like a good thing, but it's so easy that you can't use it to park pointed down a slope, the bike will simply roll forward and fall over. You can't use it to do something like lube the chain, or run the engine in gear for some reason, as the tire touches the ground and you can't spin the wheel. You can if you put the center stand feet up on boards, it takes thicker boards (2x4) to remove the rear wheel.

Not sure this would be a factor on all GSes, but it is on my '77 750.

[mattfeet]

My bike doesnt have the center stand anyways so that's a non issue. Exhaust clearance issues.

[RichDesmond]

Thanks for chiming in, Rich. I will likely place an order with you for springs. I may go with some racetech emulators as well, to maximize performance. Do you feel the 14.25" Ohlins I listed are too long? I can likely get stock length Ohlins for the same price but if I will see a benefit (eg. sharper steering) by going with the longer units, then I am all ears. My bike will rarely, if ever, see speeds in triple digits aside from idiotic on-ramp shenanigans.

The 14.25" Ohlins should be fine. Just pay attention to how the bike feels at higher speeds.
The fact that they are good shocks will help. Most people don't realize is that higher speed stability issues are highly dependent on the rear of bike, more so than the front. They'll get some weave or wobble and start with fork oil or springs or steering head bearings, when the problem is more likely to be worn out shocks or sloppy swingarm bearings.
It sounds like you're going through the bike completely and doing things right, so I highly doubt that you'll have a problem with the longer shocks.

On the handling impact: Shock length is arguably the single most important parameter in setting up chassis geometry. It affects wheelbase, CoG, swingarm angle and trail. On the GS, the longer shock improves everything, as long as you don't go too far. It's a shame that there aren't length adjustable shocks available for the older bikes like the modern single shock bikes have. On my race bike (SV650), even a couple of mm is noticeable. Granted, that's working though the linkage leverage ratio, but would be roughly equivalent to 4mm on a dual shock bike.

[posplayr]

The 14.25" Ohlins should be fine. Just pay attention to how the bike feels at higher speeds.
The fact that they are good shocks will help. Most people don't realize is that higher speed stability issues are highly dependent on the rear of bike, more so than the front. They'll get some weave or wobble and start with fork oil or springs or steering head bearings, when the problem is more likely to be worn out shocks or sloppy swingarm bearings.
It sounds like you're going through the bike completely and doing things right, so I highly doubt that you'll have a problem with the longer shocks.

On the handling impact: Shock length is arguably the single most important parameter in setting up chassis geometry. It affects wheelbase, CoG, swingarm angle and trail. On the GS, the longer shock improves everything, as long as you don't go too far. It's a shame that there aren't length adjustable shocks available for the older bikes like the modern single shock bikes have. On my race bike (SV650), even a couple of mm is noticeable. Granted, that's working though the linkage leverage ratio, but would be roughly equivalent to 4mm on a dual shock bike.

Even with my first set of SU-143's which had too soft of springs (200 lbs rider) the bike was great until I was doing sweeper turns with an undulating road surface. The bike would not just weave but it would want to lay down and come back up as the rear shock compressed due to the undulations (60-75 mph). I have probably 70 lbs of rear in saddle bag perched right on the rear that was not helping any of this.

The SU-145 are fully adjustable but are close to "unobtainium"

[mattfeet]

Yea, I am getting the HD springs with my Ohlins. That, alongside the Sonic Springs and cartridge emulators, should get me in pretty nice shape. I cannot wait.

[bwringer]

Just to add another direction to the generally good advice above, I'll mention training.

Learning to be a better, smoother rider is a little harder than bolting on bits, but time and money spent improving your skills pays off handsomely in terms of speed and safety no matter what you're riding.

http://totalcontroltraining.net/ is probably the most widespread and offers excellent results for street riders.

If you can find one nearby, a good track class focused on street riders is also incredibly valuable. It can take a little digging -- you'll want to avoid the ones focused on sportbikes and racing (unless that's what you're into, of course...).

[limeex2]

I'd go with the longer Ohlins, springs from Rich and the emulators. It should ride and handle great compared to the stock stuff.

The Roadriders are great tires. Unlike car tires, I have not seen any advantage to radial tires unless you are talking about the very wide ones on modern sport bikes. The old bikes on skinnier wheels don't get any better traction, radial tires don't last any longer, and when a radial motorcycle tire gets to the wear bars the carcass is paper thin, which to me is very scary. The radial tires are a little bit lighter, on a sport bike with huge tires and modern suspensions it matters a little, but on these big old klunkers with their heavy wheels and brakes there just isn't any advantage. Unless you just want to spend money.

As far as radial vs bias tires. Pick them up side by side. WAY lighter. More selection of tires and compounds. Close to same price.Sport Touring,Street,Sport. This person could use sport touring and be just fine.I got 10k out of my last set and work great. If you have wire wheels,they make wider rims that will lace up. I have 2 sets now that work fine. 1 is a 18 inch front,helps a lot with turn in with no lose of high speed stability. Heck they probably have 17" rims now to run modern rubber. Yes you can run a tube in a radial, it bumps the speed rating down 1. Thats a good price on a Ohlins, Check out Bi-tubo's for the rear also. Imo and other forums as good as the Ohlins, but less $$$ Before I went an inch longer,I would order those extenders and check 'em out. It would be a $10 experiment. I wanted to go 1/2 inch longer with my Bandit conversion and was told not to. With RT and sonic springs,salty monk brakes w/steel lines and HH pads,wider rims with Avons and a set of old rebuilt Fox shocks on a alum swinger my bike works great. But wait until the next build...

[limeex2]

Yea, I am getting the HD springs with my Ohlins. That, alongside the Sonic Springs and cartridge emulators, should get me in pretty nice shape. I cannot wait.

A good ohlins dealer would ask for the weight of the bike and the rider and install the correct spring accordingly. If running a longer rearshock is that good, I am using My ZRX shocks on my 1100 resto-mod. They are 1' longer and were just rebuilt by Daughtry Motorsports. A local shop could change the clevis.

[mattfeet]

Good thing I have a good Ohlins dealer. I sent them all of that info so the spring is matched perfectly.