Re: Ohlins Question

[Steve Makohin <wateredg@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

To anyone (not just Tom),

On 12/16/03 10:53 AM, Tom Brown tbrown@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

>Where to buy and select Ohlins....
>
>
>Wolf BMW in Canada.    They're a real BMW dealer.  The parts managers knows
>Ohlins stuff and they get a better deal because of the Canadian Dollar, No
>tax (NAFTA) and free freight for orders over $500.   The only bad thing is
>delivery.   They will take 6 weeks or more to come in.

I'm planning to buy Ohlins for the R1100S. I heard that the shocks' 
spring rates are typically designed for the bike in mind, which has an 
unladen vehicle weight, plus a 175 lb (average) rider. If this is so, and 
if the rider is off the "average weight" mark, like say 205 lbs, or if 
the bike will be used primarily for two-up riding with a combined 
rider+passenger+luggage weight of 380 lbs (not my situation), then 
shouldn't the buyer of the shocks be alerting the vendor so the vendor 
can match the spring rates to the gross laden weight? My understanding is 
that if the spring rates are wrong, then no amount of pre-load setting 
will adequately compensate for that, and you won't be getting the 
performance you paid for from your potentially-awesome Ohlins. Correct? 
What are Ohlins buyers on this list doing in this respect?

- -Steve

 Oakville, Ontario, Canada
 2000 R1100S/ABS, Mandarin

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