900ss ie Shock - Sachs or Showa?
 

The suspendies on my streetfightered 900ss ie are so harsh its actually deeply unpleasant to ride the bike on some roads. My bike has been heavily messed around with by previous owners, including work being done on the suspension. There's a hyperpro sticker on the forks and the shock has a white spring instead of the standard yellow. This bike feels like it's set up for the track rather rhan the road, or that it's been set up for someone of Shrek-like proportions (which I'm not).

I put all the settings back to standard but it's not made much difference which suggests to me that the springs are too stiff.

Hence, I was thinking of swapping the shock for a OE unit to see if this improved the rear at least, but there's so much conflicting info about what shock came fitted to a 1999 900ss ie. Some sites say Showa, some say Sachs. It's imoortant to get it right because I undestand that the ie shock is longer and so has an effect on steering.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks

900SS has a 330mm shock as does the 600SS and 750SS
900SSie has a 335mm Shock, same as 620S, 750SSie, 800SS and 1000SS

As far as I know they were both Showa shocks where as the 600/620/750 versions had a Sachs shock

Spring rate should be around 9.0kg/mm

If on a budget, check out Hagon shocks...

Thanks to both of you.

Tbh, I am leaning towards getting a hagon shock actually because I've been looking for a secondhand Ohlins for 2 months with no luck, and I've just bought what was advertised as a 900ss ie shock on eBay which now having been able to see it in front of me, I'm pretty sure is a shock off a Monster. It's got no reservoir, there is only one damping adjustment screw and it's the wrong length (305mm eye to eye). Here is the eBay linky: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item...d=331589420790

There's absolutely no consistency to the used shocks on eBay - some which are described as carby shocks look like fuelly ones and vice versa and the net forums are full of conflicting info.

I definitely need to sort it out one way or the other though, as I'm pretty sure I'm going to shake my eyeballs loose or bite through my tongue soon!

Shock in the Ebay link is identical to the ones found on a Monster 620, 305mm Sachs

Photos of a few of my Non standard SS shocks, all been used on the races bikes at one time or another

Thanks for confirming my suspicions. The seller hasn't replied to my message sent this morning so I sent another one giving him until tomorrow evening to respond or I'll start a PayPal claim and neg his feedback. In pre purchase messages he said it came off his own 1998 900ss ie (I thought ie bikes are all 1999 on, but I may be wrong on that) and he does have other parts for sale which are definitely from a fuelly so maybe unknown to him the bike had been fitted with the wrong shock at some point and it's a genuine mistake. We shall see. Annoying though as I imagine a 30mm difference in length won't do the steering much good and the spring and damping rates are probably all wrong, so I can't use it even though it seems to be in good nick

Thanks again for your replies ��

I looked for a second hand Ohlins for ages but when they come up the prices are silly.
Bought a new one for £570. I know it's a lot but got to be worth £400 if I ever want to sell it.

Thanks for that. If you don't mind me asking, where did you buy it from? If you don't want to post it publicly, please PM me.

I think plan A is to take it to a suspension guy to see if a decent base setting can be found on the existing suspendies but then if that doesn't make much difference, I will consider replacing the shock and fork internals.

Hi, omnia racing off eBay. They do a discount now and then just keep an eye on the listing.
Send your weight and they set it up accordingly.
Might be cheaper now the euro has lost a bit to the pound .....

Good deals on Wilburs at the moment

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wilbers-St...em487f4 18ab2