Shocks & Swingarms

[ali]

Hi all,

I'm thinking of blowing the lion's share of my salary on a metmachex swingarm and an ohlins shock for the SL. Has anyone done this conversion before? Significant probelms encountered etc...

I'm a bit lost as to exactly which model Ohlins to get, or whether to bide my time, pick one up on ebay and get it serviced.

Any advice always welcome.:)

Cheers,


Ali

[DanShapotsky]

Hi There

..cant say about the ohlins, but I've had both a JMC and Metmachex aftermarket swingarms on previous bikes, and the Metmachex as a piece of engineering takes it on that score... absolutely lovely thing, and as well put together as you'll get imo - quality man.. top quality :D

Cheers :cool:

Dano

[FiscusFish]

I can understand spending cash on a better shock but why are you looking at spending hundreds on an alloy swingarm to replace an alloy swingarm that's more than up to the job...?

That's cash you could spend on getting Maxton or the like to sort your forks (£240 +worn parts and VAT)... or a set of SBK forks and Cyclecat yokes... or put towards a set of 41 mm Keihins...or a set of HiComp pistons... or a load of track days... or some training... or........

Then again if your swingarm is one of the handfull that developed cracks I can understand it....

[Steve M]

Got to agree with FF on this one. Go for the shock, the swingarm is already a good bit of kit. What about some lighter wheels (you could put some wet weather tyres on the others for trackdays)?:bouncy:

[Edited on 16-6-2004 by STEVE M]

[DanShapotsky]

On that score I dunno what year they stopped cracking but I've had 3 from 3 so far... albeit 90's and 91's but this one's showing the same signs as the other two.. if you've ever had a monoshock go I'd seriously suggest a darn good once over on your swingarm... dont take much to wreck em, but again, I'd hope they've gotten over that particular tendency long since...

Cheers :cool:

Dano

[chicken]

Have to agree with the others on this Ali - I love my Metmachex but if I didn't have one it would be relatively low on my priority list.

If you are doing the rear suspension, it makes sense to do the front as well and the cost will be similar to the metmachex.

cheers, Chi

[ali]

Don't worry all, the sbk forks and cyclecat yolks are at the top of the list! They'll probably get done first, but I'll almost certainly go ahead with the back end as well.

I've always loved Metmachex swingarms, so it's a bit of a lifelong dream (how sad is that!). I'd love to go to spondon and get one crafted to spec but I don't have a required mortgage facilities!

As for track days, I'm there. Just got to give the missus a couple of weekends after 6 days with the SL at Le Mans.....

Thanks all. Will post piccies once the cash has finished buring the hole in my pocket.

Cheers,

Ali

[Rushjob]

Ali - Can't fault Metmachex for quality...mine was basically ignored for nearly 2 years and still shone like a shiny thing when I could be bothered to clean it.
Having had one fitted to my ST2, there is one change I would make if having one fitted again and that is to stay away from the eccentric chain adjusters.
I know that some folk see them as a good idea, but over a few months I found I was having to reset my ride height as chain adjustment rotated the eccentric and altered the ride height a bit each time you did the chain.
A small point I know, but something to consider nonetheless.
They will make themwith the "traditional" linear adjusters too.
And last I heard they still did the DSC member discount I negotiated with them.
They were running at about £450 - £500 and they have the 900ss specs so can quickly knock one out for you.
Andy

PS They aren't in Spondon...they're in Alfreton.

[Iconic944ss]

Ohlins - details are on their website for my 93 900ss = 46PRCLS

http://www.ohlins.com

Penske also do a highly rated shock in the States and you could do much worse than check out Chris Kelley at .....

http://www.ca-cycleworks.com/shop/catalog/ducati/chassis.html

Good luck and let us know how things are progressing :-)