749 Showa rear shocks
 

As mentioned in another post, I got my suspension set up by Colin of 100% Suspension whilst at Cadwell yesterday. Learnt a lot about how it should all work, and I jsut wanted to pass on some snippets for your information.

It seems that one some (earlier?) 749 bikes the rear Showa was not brilliant. Seems this is acknowledged in the trade (at lease he said it was). The problem seems to be that on some the oil gets too hot under "track conditions" and then the damping characterstics change. Whilst setting the rear compression damping he did point out that it was within .5 turn of "running out of adjustment", which is not a good sign.

How to tell: the "not so good" ones have an allen key adjuster for the damping, compression at the top on the remote cylinder and rebound at the bottom under the srping. The "better version" has a flat screw adjuster for these.

I was a bit disappointed to find that my 2003 749S has the "wrong damper" and my mate's 2003 749 has the better one. B**ger. :sniff:

Colin's recommendation was to fit Ohlins and be done with it. Price was £600. Anyone had any experience with changing to Ohlins on 749s? Not doing it this year, too expensive, but I like to keep in mind future mods!

yes, i have an Ohlins shock now. Had the bike set up by Rob at Protwins. 60mph bends are now 80mph bends, for me anyway, so a better performance upgrade than Termi's, PC111's or anything else that could be mentioned, IMHO

The base 749 has a Boge shock not a Showa. That's why your S is different to your mate's base 749.

I'm not convinced the S shock is worse than the base 749...

Ah right, yes I remember that detail now. I can only go by what I was told, and it depends then whether I choose to beleive the guy or not. Apparently they are fine for the road, but if you use it on track it is not so good. Apparently.

One point, I'm sure you can find an ohlins shock a lot cheaper than £600!!

Just checked and the base 749 have a Sachs shock not a Boge.

If you're a track addict, then I guess both the forks and the shock are worth of an upgrade.

I seem to have become addicted to the track after trying it this year, so I might consider an upgrade next year.

TP, the list price on the Harris Performance website (Ohlins importers) is £552 +VAT. There are different ones for other models, such as for 748/916 at £371 + VAT.

One bonus for buying from 100% Bikes Supsension, they did say that it would include getting it set up too. Price has to be right though, so will do more research when ready to part with the cash.

:bouncy: Not wanting to appear rude guys but unless you are a **** hot rider the difference in the standard well set up 749s showa and ohlins is negligable. Sort the standard showa out sag spring rate etc then for most of us it will be more than enough. Keep your £600 for a set of tyres and next years insurance.:bouncy:

Fair comment Rob. I knew there might be an issue getting the sag right with the Showa because I had struggled earlier in the year with that myself. I joined a gym and lost some weight, which might have helped of course! :D

As it turns out, I was advised that slightly softer on a V twin is acceptable to damp out the power pulses a bit. The problems were that the shock is within a nat's of running out of compression damping, and the oil overheats. It feels brilliant as it is, so the question really was "has anyone had problems with the std showa".

[Edited on 20-9-2005 by HW]

Absolutely mate!
I took my Showa'd 999 round Cadwell at last years Track Attack,....complete with 'wrong type allen adjusters'...felt bladdy perfect to me!