This one is long-winded, so grab a chair.
So after riding with Rob and the gang on Sunday, I pretty much confirmed that the rear shock that I had procured on FleaBay (GSXR 1100) was verklempt. It defineately was not doing it's job and is a bummer because as all things used, there is no warrranty and it's as is.
How is it verklempt? No dampening whatsoever. No matter where the dials were turned, it basically kicked back with only the weight of the bike acting as control. It certianly explained why it felt like it was going to buck me off on faster undulations and why it was so uncomposed diving into certain corners. After rebuilding the suspension fork on my mountain bike, I decided to try something: see how much pressure was in the remote chamber of the rear shock: zero. After finding out how much it was to rebuild the shock and just how much time it would take to get the thing serviced; let alone just nitrogen charged, it would cost the same to roll the dice and find another e-bay shock. I decided to experiment a bit with the one I had considering the other options available. On top of that, I'll be hitting the road for a month so I had more than enough time with the other options available to me if this little experiment didn't pan out.
After finding out what was the cause, I grabbed a fork pump that I use to inflate the suspension on my mt bike and started pumping. Lo and behold, at 250psi, things started to work again. I also checked things at 100, 150, 200 and as high as 275 PSI but things were most stable and functional at 250. I decided to do some research as to the pressures used in these chambers and it basically went from 150-300 psi, pretty much what I had figured out already. So now, where to find nitrogen to do it right?
Once again, after some interweb searching, whipped cream dispensers use canisters of nitrogen to turn heavy cream into whipped cream. After searching out a local kitchen shop, it was off to purchase some. Be forwarned that they will expect you to use these to get high with, they were referred to as "whippets" back in the day and apparantly still now. So now I have my canisters of nitrogen, now I need a dispenser: Co2 inflator, once again for my bicycle. After doing some slight modifying to the holder (the nitrogen cartidge is smaller than a 12g Co2 cartridge) I decided to give it a shot.
I emptied the air that was in the reservoir (it also confirmed it was holding pressure) I connected the inflator and pulled the trigger. I wasn't expecting one to do it, but it did with room to spare. I put my shock pump back onto the fitting and it was way beyond the 300psi line. I bled it down to 250 and checked the clickers. After going to either extreme (to make sure the oil was where it needed to be) and setting the clickers at full soft, I started to dial things in: it started to have compression and rebound dampening again. After correcting for sag and matching it up the best I could to the fork (which has Progressive springs and 15wt oil, I must have looked like I was dry-humping a mule bouncing up and down on the thing) it starts to rain.
So at the very least, I got the baseline settings in for the rear shock, and things seem to be working once again. Hopefully the weather will clear enough to see if this little experiment will hold.
So for the cheapskates like me:
-EBeg shock: $100 (with shipping, yes I know, there was a run on these at the time)
-Nitrogen cartidges: $7.50 for 10. If you use all 10, you're doing something really wrong.
-Inflator: $20 (plus the .18$ in change I used to shim up the catridge, literally.)
I'd say the $130 or so is still cheaper than a $400+ one. The aggrevation however...This is also in comparison to the $25 labour charge a shop was going to charge me, 3 days turnaround and an additional charge for Nitrogen to charge the shock with.
-Randy
Topic: Rear shock fun or why EBay is a PIA sometimes (Read 6694 times)