BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

Hi all, I just finished installing a pair of Ohlins on my R. Way too stiff for me. Ohlins recommends front sag with rider 35-50, mine is 52. Ohlins recommends rear sag with rider 25-40 mine is 42. My springs are 00180-44/57L148 on the front and 01092-79/190L338 on the rear. I told the supplier I weigh 210 with gear, never ride with passenger or bags. Anyone out there have a handle on Ohlins spring rates? Are mine intended for my weight? I can't imagine these being the correct springs, the suspension barely moves when I get aboard. I'll call the vendor in the AM but any help from members here will be appreciated.

Can I assume the numbers you're giving are MM?

Sag with rider - rule of thumb is 1/3rd the travel. The front travel is about 104mm (measured, factory claim is 120mm) with stock suspension, so 1/3rd that is ~30-35mm. Rear suspension travel is about 130mm (factory claim is 140mm) so - 1/3rd is 40-45mm.

It sounds as if you have a bit too little preload, particularly on the front.

If the spring numbering is like other manufacturers use - lets disect the first spring (00180-44/57L148)

I suspect 00180 is simply the spring number.

44/57 - to me indicates a progressively wound spring, which AFAIK - isn't standard with Ohlins (it is with Hyperpro) and the number is 44nm/mm initial spring force, 57nm/mm final force - the beginning (intial) force is the "soft" spring rate, the final force is the "normal" spring rate. BMW's stock spring is 55nm/mm force - and is a linear spring.

L148 is the length - 148mm.

Are these progressively wound springs (coils are not uniform spacing)?

Since the front spring's normal compression force is almost identical to BMW's stock spring, it sounds like they were matching BMW's spring selection. I haven't measured the rear spring on the BMW shock yet.

Doing a measurement of your actual front suspension travel in use would give us a useful number to guide you. A tie-wrap placed around the fork tube above the slider will give you that number (after some riding over bumpy roads..) Slide it down to the top of the fork tube, then go for a ride. Put the bike on the centerstand when you get back, and measure the distance between the bottom of the tie-wrap and the top of the fork tube seal. That's your actual travel. Put the tie wrap on the tube tight enough that it will stay in place, but also slide easily... ie - snug, not tight.

I think it might be useful for you to visit my page on suspension setup. It's possible that increasing your preload (lessening your dynamic [butt on the seat] sag) may improve things. What you're feeling as harshness could be the shock bottoming out, or it could be excessive compression or rebound damping.

http://www.eilenberger.net/Suspension/suspension.htm - read though it, and if you have questions, ask away..

BTW - you mentioned your weight. Hyperpro does setup the shocks for the riders weight. AFAIK, Ohlins, unless they've changed things, doesn't. You might be a bit heavier than Ohlins sets the default adjustments to, so more preload than came from the factory makes sense. Just my experience with Ohlins.

HTH,

1. Ohlins does provide customized spring rates if the distributor you buy them from specifies them for your weight and riding style. I recently purchased a set from Kyle Racing and they were set up perfectly for my 130 lb weight. Much improved ride compared to the BMW shocks. Mine have linear springs.

2. Sorry I don't know the Ohlins part numbering scheme. Try calling Ohlins USA. They were helpful with some questions I had.

3. Mine were initially very harsh due to improper damping settings done at the dealer where I had them installed. When I got home, I set up the sag per the Ohlins instructions (which provide the recommended static and dynamic sag numbers specifically for the R1200R). I added a little preload front and rear. I then returned all the damping settings to the factory settings as a starting point. These are also shown on the mounting instructions. Wow what an improvement! After much experimentation, the factory damping settings were close to ideal (for me).

I agree with Don, it looks like you need to add some preload front and back. I would suggest checking all your damping settings too.

Thank you both for your replies. Very helpful.
Some clarifiction. The springs are not progressive and the shocks were ordered from Kyle Racing who had my weight and riding style info. The damping adjustments are as came out of the box, I haven't gotten past sag. I can adjust the front down enough to get within the top of the suggested 35-50 range, but the rear hydraulic preload adjuster is already all the way out. I haven't even ridden the bike yet so the shocks definately are not bottoming out. At this point I'm thinking the springs are just plain too stiff. I installed Ohlins on my '03 R1150RS and they were superlative right from the start. The sag settings were exactly in mid range of the Ohlins suggested settings without touching them. This time I was not so fortunate. I'll be calling Kyle this morning and see what they suggest. Once again, thanks for your input. I guess what I really need is info on the weight range these particular springs are intended for. Seems to me like they are intended for someone weighing significantly more than me. Too bad Ohlins doesn't post a refernce chart.

I think the proof is in the riding. Without riding on the shocks, you really don't know if they are too soft or too hard, or just right. I'm puzzled by the statement " can adjust the front down enough to get within the top of the suggested 35-50 range, but the rear hydraulic preload adjuster is already all the way out." - am I correct in reading that you can adjust the front so it has 50mm sag with you on the bike? If so - that is *more* than I would expect to see (my bike - with the same rate spring as factory spring - has about 30mm sag with my fat butt on it [ >200lbs riding weight]).

The front only has 110mm or so of actual travel (despite BMW claiming 120mm - that would be with their rubber bottoming bumper compressed to infinate thinness..) 1/3rd of 110 = 36.5mm. That to me would be my starting point, and I wouldn't change it until I rode on the bike.

Ditto on the rear if I understand you correctly.

Well thanks again, my thinking about this has been bassackwards. I need to increase the mechanical preload on both front and rear to get within acceptable ranges of sag. I was thinking to lower the number I needed to decrease spring pressure. What I actually need to do is increase spring pressure to lower the number. Feel pretty stupid here. I swear this is the first time in my life I have ever been confused

Having just had an R12R with Ohlins. I'll give you my opinion. First the front spring is correct. In fact the front spring is almost NEVER changed since it would ride way to hard and one could never get the preload correct. You should aim for a front end sag between 40-45mm per Ohlins because of the nature of the telever the Ohlins folks told me form having setup many sets at BMW rallies that 40-45mm is about right and from my experience I'd agree. As for the rear, which is where your trouble is. The standard spring is a 18kg spring good for a 200lb rider with or without passenger. It sounds as if Kyle went one up to a 19kg spring good for a 200-230lb rider, I'd call Ohlins USA http://www.ohlinsusa.com/us/ and give them the spring code but I'll bet it's a 19kg. I think that you need the 18kg (or one step softer) and all will be right. shoot for about 35-40mm sag on the back As far as the rebound and comprssion setting start with the reommendations that came with the installation documentation. If I remember front rebound is 10-12 clicks out, rear is 12-14 and compression is also I believe 12 clicks out but again verifiy that. Good luck. Oh and Ohlins springs are always straight rate they do not use progressive rate springs.

Erik thanks for joining. I'm currently standing at 44 front and 36 rear. My thinking really was backwards. Rides fine for now. I appreciate everyone's input. I believe we have a happy conclusion.

Next to tackle the damping and rebound. DEilenberger reading your suspension page will be my first step.

Start with the rebound and compression settings that Ohlins recommends in the owners info that came with the shocks. Most likely you won't be much more the 2-6 clicks off of those, one way or the other.

Kyle built my Ohlins as well. They were set way too stiff upon receipt. I spent a lot of time riding and reducing the settings.

The big surprise for me was that most of the reductions needed were less rebound, not preload as I thought.

My bike was "pogo sticking". The front was bucking over bumps, a real handful. I kept reducing my rebound 4 clicks at a time, riding, reducing, riding etc.

When I got to have Phil at After Shocks look at it at a track day, I was almost there, he took even more out, and I have actually taken a little more out since.

It took a while, but once dialed in, well worth it.

DAV-AZ wrote:Well thanks again, my thinking about this has been bassackwards. I need to increase the mechanical preload on both front and rear to get within acceptable ranges of sag. I was thinking to lower the number I needed to decrease spring pressure. What I actually need to do is increase spring pressure to lower the number. Feel pretty stupid here. I swear this is the first time in my life I have ever been confused

Sorta thought that was the case.. good to hear it worked out OK. When you make changes to the damping - the MOST important thing, change one thing at a time, then go around a test loop to see what the change did. If it was better - continue on that one adjustment until it feels worse - then back it off to where it feels good again. Work your way through the adjustments one by one.

Your front probably only has rebound - should be pretty easy to dial in. You're looking for comfort with control - so you want it so it doesn't jar you on hitting a bump (and surprisingly - excessive rebound CAN do that - if the return from the bump is too slow..) and you want it to feel composed on high-speed-sweepers (no pogo effect of compressing, releasing, compressing, releasing..)

The rear will be trickier since it probably has both rebound and compression damping. Ohlins has some good advice on setting up suspension on their website (at least they did at one time..) so I'd start with that.

Remember - one adjustment at a time..