After Market Rear Spring

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Rajah

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I have ridden an ST1300 for the past 9 years. Recently, I purchased an NT 700 and just returned from a 1600 mile trip on the NT. The difference between the two bikes besides the obvious was the ride. The NT has a teeth jawing suspension. After reading the Forum, I saw where others had asked about changing the Rear Spring on a Stock Shock.

I am fortunate because I was only 30 minutes from OHLIN'S, USA Distributor. I rode down to Hendersonville, N.C. and spoke to their Representative. Not to my surprise, they did not have any product for the NT, and knew little about the bike. He did offer to rate the Spring if I would take it off and bring it back. That weekend I removed the Shock and returned to Ohlin's on Monday. I met Brad Stokes, a technician in the Motorcycle Division. He quickly removed the Spring from the Shock and put it into a machine that measured the Spring at 10mm increments. He took the results over to Engineering and came back with a graph of the Spring Rate. Honda uses a progressive spring. We tried to compare it with some of the specifications I had found on the Forum, nothing matched. They suggested a Spring to use and unfortunately it was not in their stock. They ordered it on their normal stock order from Sweden. After a week the new Spring arrived and was put on the same machine. Now we have a comparison. In the first 10mm of movement the new Spring is stiffer. At 25 mm it crossed over and was exactly the same. From then on it was lighter. I took the new Spring home and installed it. To R&R the Shock is the same process as changing the Lower Eye. The only difference is you need to remove the lock nut to remove the Spring Retainer and Spring.

Ride Report: The bike rides and performs the same as it did before EXCEPT I now no longer have the teeth jarring from the rear wheel. The front is still stiff which will be a project for another day.

If you choose to do this, contact Ohlin's at (828) 243-5548. The part number of the Spring is 001092-91. They call it #230. I am 6' 200 lbs., if you are lighter I would suggest you try 01092-89, #210. This Spring is lighter from the beginning to the end. I think I could have used the lighter Spring. The cost of the Spring is just under $100.00.

If you call Ohlin's, ask for Brad, he is familiar with my bike, and a nicer guy you will never meet. He is one of the Tech's that support the Super Bikes.
 
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Thanks for this posting: very interesting read and kudos to the guys and Ohlins for helping you out. Seems like this might be a cost effective way to improve the rear suspension. I just wish it were possible to compare this swap with a complete swap of the shock from an after market supplier. It sounds as if you are happy with the result in reducing harshness of the ride, but uncertain whether handling is improved.

Could you clarify if the removal of the spring from the shock is a DIY job? This is not covered in the NT service manual. I'm not entirely clear from your posting if you were able to replace the spring on the shock yourself, or if you had the Ohlins guys do that part for you.
 

DirtFlier

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[I just wish it were possible to compare this swap with a complete swap of the shock from an after market supplier...]

The cost of the spring is only a pittance compared to the cost of a complete new shock so I'd say it was a worthwhile conversion.
If the prices were close then it'd be worth a comparison but they're not.
 
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Rajah

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Ohlin's changed the Spring for me. You could do it yourself with the help of the traveling plates. Their are several threads about changing the Lower Eye. I have only ridden the bike about a hundred miles on the Blue Ridge Pkwy. I was mainly interested in improving the ride. I have noticed no difference in the performance.
 
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Leesburg, Virginia
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Thanks for the Ohlin's part numbers.

Could you share the spring rates of the stock spring? Better yet, if you have the spring rate graph posting that might be quite useful to others down the line.

I have ridden an ST1300 for the past 9 years. Recently, I purchased an NT 700 and just returned from a 1600 mile trip on the NT. The difference between the two bikes besides the obvious was the ride. The NT has a teeth jawing suspension. After reading the Forum, I saw where others had asked about changing the Rear Spring on a Stock Shock.

I am fortunate because I was only 30 minutes from OHLIN'S, USA Distributor. I rode down to Hendersonville, N.C. and spoke to their Representative. Not to my surprise, they did not have any product for the NT, and knew little about the bike. He did offer to rate the Spring if I would take it off and bring it back. That weekend I removed the Shock and returned to Ohlin's on Monday. I met Brad Stokes, a technician in the Motorcycle Division. He quickly removed the Spring from the Shock and put it into a machine that measured the Spring at 10mm increments. He took the results over to Engineering and came back with a graph of the Spring Rate. Honda uses a progressive spring. We tried to compare it with some of the specifications I had found on the Forum, nothing matched. They suggested a Spring to use and unfortunately it was not in their stock. They ordered it on their normal stock order from Sweden. After a week the new Spring arrived and was put on the same machine. Now we have a comparison. In the first 10mm of movement the new Spring is stiffer. At 25 mm it crossed over and was exactly the same. From then on it was lighter. I took the new Spring home and installed it. To R&R the Shock is the same process as changing the Lower Eye. The only difference is you need to remove the lock nut to remove the Spring Retainer and Spring.

Ride Report: The bike rides and performs the same as it did before EXCEPT I now no longer have the teeth jarring from the rear wheel. The front is still stiff which will be a project for another day.

If you choose to do this, contact Ohlin's at (828) 243-5548. The part number of the Spring is 001092-91. They call it #230. I am 6' 200 lbs., if you are lighter I would suggest you try 01092-89, #210. This Spring is lighter from the beginning to the end. I think I could have used the lighter Spring. The cost of the Spring is just under $100.00.

If you call Ohlin's, ask for Brad, he is familiar with my bike, and a nicer guy you will never meet. He is one of the Tech's that support the Super Bikes.
 
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Mar 2, 2016
Messages
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Location
Silicon Valley
If you choose to do this, contact Ohlin's at (828) 243-5548. The part number of the Spring is 001092-91. They call it #230. I am 6' 200 lbs., if you are lighter I would suggest you try 01092-89, #210. This Spring is lighter from the beginning to the end. I think I could have used the lighter Spring.
The advice to try the lighter spring if rider weighs under 200 lbs is incorrect. When I talked to Ohlins and told them which bike it was, they called me back and also advised me to get the #210 spring. I installed the Ohlins 001092-89 #210 spring. I weigh 170lbs. With just me on the bike (no riding gear or additional weight) with the preload adjuster at minimum, the static sag is 6.5 cm (2 1/2") So I tried bumping the preload up in increments of 10 turns, and even at maximum preload, the static sag is 3.7 cm (1 1/2"). So even at max preload the sag is too great, by a small margin, but it leaves no room to adjust more preload in for adding luggage or gear. I am going to try the #230 spring. I'm hoping if I can get the #210 spring out and it's not damaged, they will take it back, since it was their suggestion and clearly it is too low a rate, but I may have purchased a pretty, yellow paper weight. I still think the damping is too high for solo riding, so if you have money to spend, the thing to do would be to get a new shock, properly damped and sprung.

UPDATE: Talked to Gary, who stated he is surprised the #210 spring didn't work out. He remembers the details of Rajah's encounter very well. When I told him the sag figures I got with the #210 spring, he was surprised and said, "Now that bike has a linkage, right?" I said no, no progressive linkage as such. Just mounts straight from the frame to the swing arm. He says, "Aahhhhh, that's why." Without a progressive linkage, the #210 spring blasts through too much of it's travel just to hold the bike up. He said they had this issue with some Buell's. So because of this, in the end, he could was no longer surprised and deduced that indeed, the correct spring, from among their available springs, would be the #230. He said if I can get the spring out in resalable condition, they would accept a return.
 
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Turbo, I'm interested in your experience since I bought the 210 spring based on recommendations here but I have not unwrapped it yet.

Did you road test the 210 spring? Have you been able to compare it with the 230 spring yet? What points did you use to measure sag?


I weigh about 175 with gear. Any other forum members care to comment on the 210 spring. Again I thought it would be the best choice. Thanks!
 

DirtFlier

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[...What points did you use to measure sag?...]


The head of the rear axle is buried under the left saddlebag so taking a straight line measurement is impossible. I made a simple extension using 1/8" welding rod that was clamped to the swingarm and it provided a measuring point for axle movement. Or you can stick a 1/4" dowel rod through the axle.

To find the arc of rear axle travel, put a string on the swingarm pivot then run it back to the rear axle and mark that spot on the string. Now hold the string at the swingarm pivot while moving the string upwards in a counterclockwise direction and make a mark on the saddlebag using masking tape.
 
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The new #230 spring won't come in until mid-May, and won't get installed until end of May. I used an assistant and a straight edge with clip to measure sag. Not sure why one would want to scribe the arc of the rear axle. It's the vertical sag of the bike we want. I am ordering the Motool Digital sag meter (Slacker) just for fun, so I'll run the measurements again and see how close we were.
 
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