The off the shelf Ohlins springs are about 10% lighter than standard. they are also linear rather than progressive rate. I modded mine last year and have been pretty pleased with them. You can also go as far as having an Ohlins damper cartridge fitted to them to. This make them virtually the same as the OE Ohlins fitted to the SPS/R models.
how come the topic has drifted from shock to forks, anyway yes you can fit a Ohlins spring to a showa shock, or a WP spring or any other 2 1/42 diameter spring to the shock, Demon tweeks sell a good range of suitable linear rate springs, used one of theirs on a friends 600SS.
As for Showa doing Ohlin stuff< I wouldn't have thought so personally as yamaha have a big stake in Ohlins and I believe Honda have a big stake in Showa.
When i tried to upgrade my showa fronts (2002 998s) I was told by a uk ohlins dealer that ohlins dont do an upgrade as they cant better the std spring. This applies only to the 2002 onwards nitrided bottom showas.
Originally posted by Guido Rumour has it that that's how the road Ohlins are produced anyway cos Ohlins don't have the mass-market facilities that Showa do. The Ohlins roads forks are apparently built at Showa to Ohlins' spec and badged up accordingly.
R&T forks (and car R&T shocks?) are made in Japan, but not by Showa.. No..