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Changing Settings on Ohlins Rear Shock?

ricochetrider

Out There Somewhere
I have an 88 K100, and it has an Ohlins gas shock.

The thing is, I'm loaning the bike to a friend, and we are going to ride about the East Coast together. He is a BIG boy, (300 lbs + maybe???) and he's bringing his daughter along. A few years back, I had the shock rebuilt by Ohlins, and they set it up for my weight (+/- 165 lbs WITH gear on), and riding style... I feel like I must somehow adjust the shock for this venture.

I *HAPPEN* to have an Ohlins spanner...

To accommodate my buddy and his daughter's combined weight, do I simply crank the Ohlins shock to "full on"? Then crank it back to its current setting afterwards?

Can it be so simple?
 
Can it be so simple?

No, the spring will be WAY to light for that load. Yes upping the preload will help, but it will be akin to using a 5 gallon bucket to bail water out of the titanic, yes, it is the right idea, but really won't do ship
 
will it work? yes, sort of. the shock might be sufficient to keep the fender off the rear wheel, most of the time. but the shock will bottom out quite regularly.
given your buddy's weight, the combo of he and daughter are almost certainly exceeding your bike's GVWR. if you are intent on letting him use your bike, i'd be looking at a complete suspension overhaul with heavier springs & oil up front as well. you could be looking at loaning him a bike that well experience some serious handling issues!
 
Since you are a bit of a lightweight and the shock is set up for you as such, your friend/daughter will not work so well on it. I agree on that as othes have said. If you have the OEM shock, it would have heavier springs and better able to manage the rear portion of a 500lb load in its design. Even if it is worn some, make sure it is topped off with oil so preload will work, (oil slowly gets lost and thus the preload functions less and less) then set it to highest preload and highest dampening. If you don't have an OEM one, you can usually find them used for about 100 bucks if you are patient in your search.

NCS
 
Not sure about the K100 ones. The later K1200RS did have rear ones that could be serviced. I guess the real thing is the O P shocks are set up for a lightweight situation. The springs in an OEM would be much stiffer. Even if the OEM preload didn't move the compressed spring that much higher on the shock, the ride should be closer to adequate with the heavier OEM spring than the lightweight Ohlins' one.

NCS
 
Stock springs are not that much heavier. BMW typically rates stock units for a 200 lb rider. Touring, with kid on back, he's likely to be at least 100 bs. over the GVWR. Look for heavy duty springs.
 
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