27 Oct 2006
The Ohlins documentation has you measure three things to calculate what they call free sag and ride height. I don’t bother calculating free sag because there’s nothing I can do to change it other than by changing springs. That leaves only two measurements per shock. The first measurement is done with the suspension fully expanded, the second is done with me sitting on the bike in my gear. The second measurement is subtracted from the first to obtain what Ohlins calls ride height.
The documentation for the front shock calls for pre-load to get a ride height of 50-60 mm as measured along the fork tubes. Call it 55 mm +/- 5 mm or, since my tape measure is marked in inches, 2 1/4” +/- 3/16”. As delivered the front shock gives me a ride height of 2 1/16” — the bottom of the suggested range. I left the front shock pre-load alone.
The documentation for the rear shock calls for pre-load to get a ride height of 30-40 mm or 1 3/8” +/- 3/16”. With the bags off I get the desired height at 0 turns of pre-load. I’m probably 175-180 pounds in my gear. If I were any lighter I’d need a different spring. As it is I’ve plenty of available adjustment to handle a loaded bike.
The next step was to check the initial rebound damping. I pushed down on the front and watched the bike bounce back and go ever so slightly higher than the starting point. No second bounce occurred. This is the way I like it. I left the front rebound damping alone.
The rear, on the other hand, returned to its initial height a bit slowly when pushed down. I decreased the rebound damping by 4 clicks and pushed again. I got a second bounce indicating not enough damping. I increased the damping 2 clicks. Ahhh, just right. Time for a test ride.
It’s amazing what just two clicks of damping adjustment can do. The hardness that I felt yesterday afternoon is gone. The shocks feel slightly better than the stock shocks on good roads. It’s the bad roads that are composed of not much more than 10 years of pothole patches where the difference is really noticed. I like.