A little help makes the ride go much smoother....

[dwmartin77]

I met up with Igofar at his place in San Jose last week for a quick cleanup and adjustment of the rear shock. I purchase my 03 last Dec and was never satisfied with the ride (rough, light on the front, etc.) after new seat, and new tires it was time to get serious about the shocks. After reading a bit here on the forum figured out I was loosing about 1/2 my adjustment on the rear shock and in need of some work.

Got connected up with Larry and he basically tore apart the adjuster, dumped the white garbage out, refilled the unit and now we have some real adjusting capabilities.....very nice. Then after adjusting the lower screw rebound back to a more normal position (1/2 turn further out than stock) since mine was all the way out for some reason. It was time for a run.

Managed to get it out a bit over the weekend and have to say I'm very impressed. Ride is much more stable, both on the straights with less buffeting and drifting, plus generally more consistent in the corners without the diving I was experiencing.

It's nice to have some experienced riders willing to help out. Big thanks to Igofar. ....oh and thanks for the clutch fluid clean up and cleaning tips.

 

[Justytroll]

Igofar is a good egg. We need a few more people in the world with the willingness to help that he has. He should be getting tired of having to refill my preload by now but he keeps doing it for me.... just for the halibut. hahaha

I met up with Igofar at his place in San Jose last week for a quick cleanup and adjustment of the rear shock. I purchase my 03 last Dec and was never satisfied with the ride (rough, light on the front, etc.) after new seat, and new tires it was time to get serious about the shocks. After reading a bit here on the forum figured out I was loosing about 1/2 my adjustment on the rear shock and in need of some work.

Got connected up with Larry and he basically tore apart the adjuster, dumped the white garbage out, refilled the unit and now we have some real adjusting capabilities.....very nice. Then after adjusting the lower screw rebound back to a more normal position (1/2 turn further out than stock) since mine was all the way out for some reason. It was time for a run.

Managed to get it out a bit over the weekend and have to say I'm very impressed. Ride is much more stable, both on the straights with less buffeting and drifting, plus generally more consistent in the corners without the diving I was experiencing.

It's nice to have some experienced riders willing to help out. Big thanks to Igofar. ....oh and thanks for the clutch fluid clean up and cleaning tips.

 

[Igofar]

Igofar is a good egg. We need a few more people in the world with the willingness to help that he has. He should be getting tired of having to refill my preload by now but he keeps doing it for me.... just for the halibut. hahaha

If I had to guess, I'd say we're through filling up your preload adjuster after installing the big mean blue spring yesterday
Hope you enjoy the new level of comfort.
Igofar

 

[Justytroll]

Igofar,

I don't think it could have gone better. I mean we removed and replaced the shock without much more than the removal of the seat and side covers. That was probably the easiest shock job I have been involved in including on a car, there were no seized bolts or need of special tools.
The other lucky bit was finding Evolution suspension to do the spring swap, thankfully he had the extra adaptor for the new spring in his junk box or we would have been in trouble,

Thank you for your tireless pursuit in running down someone with a press with me,

Thanks also to The Dan for the sale of his hyperco spring at just the right time.
now to get my other shock re-rebuilt by RaceTech for the next adventure. That bike is really planted now.
.

If I had to guess, I'd say we're through filling up your preload adjuster after installing the big mean blue spring yesterday
Hope you enjoy the new level of comfort.
Igofar

 

[ksievers]

I'd be interested in hearing more about what you did to the shock other than replacing the fluid and doing the rebound adjust... what about that new spring? thanks - KS.

 

[Igofar]

I'd be interested in hearing more about what you did to the shock other than replacing the fluid and doing the rebound adjust... what about that new spring? thanks - KS.

I'm sure Justytroll can answer any questions you may have about ride comfort now, but all we did was remove and replace the worn out factory spring, and replace it with a HUGE blue aftermarket spring. I then refurbished the preload adjuster with new sealing washers and fluid, bled the air out of the system, then adjusted the damping setting 1/2 turn softer than stock. We started with ZERO preload, and ended up with it set on 5 clicks (2 softer than stock setting).
I normally set my preload to where it is just loaded, or starting to work. We rode over a twisty road and observed the way the bike handled the bumps.
He's pretty happy with it now.

 

[Justytroll]

RaceTech has a couple of spring lines available through their site. They can calculate the spring you need based on the bike and your weight. Buy the adapters and you are ready to put them on your shock and go. Just make sure you have found someone that can press that 900-1200 lb spring off your shock before you start the disassembly adventure. If you want to know more just use the ST-OWNERS message hotline and I will try to give you feedback.

I'd be interested in hearing more about what you did to the shock other than replacing the fluid and doing the rebound adjust... what about that new spring? thanks - KS.

 

[M&M Take2]

Any chance someone has pics? I just received a new spring for the rear shock on my 04 ST courtesy of a Race Tech gift certificate. Other than replacing fluid is the shock rebuildable (72,700 mi)? Should it be? Sounds like a Winter project to me. Thanks Marty. :bow1:

 

[dduelin]

Any chance someone has pics? I just received a new spring for the rear shock on my 04 ST courtesy of a Race Tech gift certificate. Other than replacing fluid is the shock rebuildable (72,700 mi)? Should it be? Sounds like a Winter project to me. Thanks Marty. :bow1:

RaceTech can rebuild a stock ST1300 shock. I had mine done.

 

[Igofar]

Any chance someone has pics? I just received a new spring for the rear shock on my 04 ST courtesy of a Race Tech gift certificate. Other than replacing fluid is the shock rebuildable (72,700 mi)? Should it be? Sounds like a Winter project to me. Thanks Marty. :bow1:

The factory shock is not rebuildable per Honda, however, you can service and refil the preload adjuster unit (Not factory authorized service).
Search some of the threads on preload adjust service for instructions.
The preload service only takes about 15 minutes to do, and can be done with the shock in place.
The spring swap took us about an hour, about 40 minutes of that was driving around looking for someone with a press.
Justy troll had a factory shock that was rebuilt by RaceTech. The unit somehow failed, and we discovered the air was leaking out the fitting that they drilled into the shock (allen bolt with rubber washer). We also discovered that the hydraulic line was torn at the fitting and leaking oil.
.02

 

[dduelin]

The factory shock is not rebuildable per se, however, you can service and refil the preload adjuster unit (Not factory authorized service).
Search some of the threads on preload adjust service for instructions.
The preload service only takes about 15 minutes to do, and can be done with the shock in place.
The spring swap took us about an hour, about 40 minutes of that was driving around looking for someone with a press.

Racetech opens the OEM shock body, revalves the shock, and replaces wear items for about $350. The spring adds another $100 or so. Like I posted a little while ago I had mine rebuilt by RT at 74,000 miles. At the necessary time the RT massaged OEM is completely rebuildable.

 

[M&M Take2]

Thank you both for the info. If the new spring and fluid change doesn't get me there I know Mathew at RT will. Cheers Marty