Ohlins Shock

[VTRDark]

I have only gone and got myself an Ohlins Shock for a very good price

2nd hand and not even a years old and has only been on a bike for 3 months. The only thing is it's not a Firstorm shock and is for a Triumph Speed Triple. It's 290mm in length so I will need a new custom top shock mount made to make up the difference to bring it up to 346mm which is the Storm length. The only other difference is the Stroke which is 56mm and the Storm Ohlins is 60mm, I'm not sure how much of a difference the 4mm will make, but the piston diameter is the same. The spring weight I am not sure about yet, the guy I bought it off is a similar build to me but I shall check out the spring number and work out which weight it is made for. If the worst comes to the worst I could always buy a new spring as they are always popping up on eBay. The spring free length is 150mm, does anyone know what the Storm Ohlins Spring free length is

Some Pics.








(:-})

[lloydie]

Nice hope you get it to work ,
I'd sell it and make a profit and buy one made for the storm .

Where's the pics of the headers ????

[VTRDark]

Where's the pics of the headers ????

I should have done that while I was at home too. I was in a bit of a rush, I only popped into London to go pick up the Shock. I shall take some next time I'm back home.

(:-})

[Steve6088]

Nice find. If you want I can always take some measurements of my Ohlins shock if required at all

[VTRDark]

Cheers Steve but unfortunately the one measurement I haven't got is the spring free length for the Storm shock and that can't be measured with the spring on the shock. You never know this Spring might be OK for me. Got to do my research now on the Ohlins spring codes.

(:-})

[8541Hawk]

Let me check my last rebuild card to see if it lists the spring free length.

[VTRDark]

Thanks Mike no hurry though buddy, whenever it's convenient.

(:-})

[lloydie]

I could do my wp one if you like ?
I know it's different brands .

[VTRDark]

I wonder if/how it makes a difference and if the spring free length is relevant to the Stroke. I need to start reading up and learn a bit more about shocks and suspension set up. It's not one of my strong points so will be a learning curve.

(:-})

[VTRDark]

Got it The Storm Spring Starts with 01092 which is code for 170mm free length.

Now the question is.... do I try to find a spring that is 20mm longer or is 150mm OK considering the `Stroke is 56mm instead of 60mm or am I looking too much into all this.

My next challenge is to work out the Ohlins code for my bodyweight which is 72kg or 158Ib, they convert everything to Nm which is confusing. I hate working in Nm I much rather work in ib as I'm old school.

Well done Ohlins your doing my head in trying to work this all out, the more I read the more I get confused. I think I need a degree in cryptography.

(:-})

[Pete.L]

I would have thought you will be okay with the stroke.
You are only talking of 4 mm difference (shorter) before the spring binds or you run out of travel. As you're not a heavy weight you should get away with it. The spring rate will be more important. You might be better off having one a bit on the heavy side and use less dampening to compensate for the less travel. A harder ride but great on smooth roads or high speed

Pete.l

[Tweety]

I'm at 57 mm stroke with my converted F4i shock and doing fine, so I'd imagine you'd be OK too...

[sirch345]

Good luck with this Carl, the shock looks to be in lovely condition,


Chris.

[popkat]

The spring rate is 12.24kg, not enough for a storm if I recall, You posted a link a while back from a thread where I put a spring rate chart, I can't find the chart now but search and you'll find it. I'd keep away from the racetec spring rates, we know the fork springs aren't quite right, and I don't believe the rears are either, The guy who rebuilt and sprung my Penske deals in racetec stuff, the spring he's put on is too hard, bike lacks feel and can be jarring over bumps, works perfect with my Daughter on the back though


Have you checked the width of the mounts ?, you may need to modify then to fit. The stroke is imoportant if you look at your std shock you'll notice you use all the available travel to the bump stop, it may work but you really want the same stroke as std. The spacer you'll need is 56mm that's a big spacer and a short shock, Honda must've made them long for a reason. too much to modify on this shock I think.

I'm with Lloydie, get rid and buy one made for the bike, the one you've got is the relatively new type budget Ohlins, it has rebound only, like base Nirtron and Hagon, think they go new for less than £500 new. Make a few quid if you can and wait for the right shock to come along

[Tweety]

Have you checked the width of the mounts ?, you may need to modify then to fit. The stroke is imoportant if you look at your std shock you'll notice you use all the available travel to the bump stop, it may work but you really want the same stroke as std. The spacer you'll need is 56mm that's a big spacer and a short shock, Honda must've made them long for a reason. too much to modify on this shock I think.

I'd say part of the reason would be that there is no external canister... So with all parts in the shock body, along with a relatively long stroke means that the shock actually have to be pretty long...

A difference in stroke of 3 mm or in this case 4 mm doesn't make a huge difference if the other parts are correct... But give the wrong spring, and the fact that it's a fairly basic version... Yeah, sell it...

BTW, popcat... Would you know the stroke of the Hagon and other aftermarket shocks sold for the VTR? I'd say it's very likely that they are shorter than the OEM, since they rarely make a specific shock body for each model of bike...