22 Oct 2006
I ordered front and rear Ohlins for the bike a few months ago. They are finally in. I’ll be installing them myself. The bike is about 16 months old and I’ve just under 16K miles on the odometer.
After ordering the shocks I looked up the installation procedures in the repair CD. Along with the usual shop supplies the RepROM says that one nut and one screw need to be replaced.
Rear shock top nut
This nut is called a “Mechanical thread lock” in the RepROM. It is the nut that goes on the end of the bolt that attaches the top of the rear shock to the frame. If you look closely you’ll see the nut is oval, not round. The shape causes it to lock to the bolt.
Front shock lower screw
This screw attaches the lower end of the front shock to the front leading link (A-arm). The RepROM says “Micro-encapsulated” when talking about this screw. Apparently “Micro-encapsulated” means Micro-encapsulated thread locker comes with the screw. It can plainly be seen in the photo. I suspect I could use the original screw with some loctite. I ordered the replacement screw, anyway.
Shock protection sleeve
The other purchase was a shock cover. This wraps around the rear shock to keep dirt and crud away from the damper shaft. I figure keeping the rear shock as clean as I can given its location will make for a longer life between rebuilds.
Shocks on bike
Here are the shocks on the bike—albeit not in any useful manner. I got them home and opened the boxes to make sure all was OK. Pretty, they are. I’ll install them as soon as I get the time, hopefully tomorrow.
Rear shock
Front shock
Rear (left image) and front (right image) Ohlins, ready to put on the bike.