Olin Rear Shock for Empulse R

[Roland Stone]

If any Empulse R owners have gone to an Olin or other brand manufacturer for the rear shock, I'd like to hear about their experience.  I was hoping to find a softer spring for my Sachs shock but the search hit a brick wall dead end.  I'd also be interested learning why Brammo selected the Sachs unit for the Empulse R in the first place.  I may be looking in the wrong place, but I haven't found even one dealer in the US for aftermarket Sachs motorcycle applications.  As I understand it, adjusting rear dampening is foremost getting the correct spring to body weight configuration.  Maybe monoshocks are different, but when I installed Hagons on my Bonneville I was able getting the shocks with the best spring combination for my weight and it was a huge improvement over the cheap, one-size-fits-all OEM Triumph units.  If you've got a spring that's too stout for your body weignt, all the attempted rebound, compression, sag adjustments can only be a compromise in trying to make the best of an imperfect situation.

Whatever.........

[Richard230]

I have bought several off-the-shelf Ohlins shocks for my bikes over the years and every one has had a spring that is too stiff for my weight - in spite of me informing the retail dealer about my 155 pound mass. And that includes the dual Ohlins shocks that I have installed on my Triumph Bonneville.  Don't expect to get a soft ride with Ohlins shocks, unless you specify a lighter spring when you are ordering.  In my experience, Ohlins shocks are set up for a 200 pound rider who rides on race tracks.

[barboo]

Hello,
I've done a Ohlins TTXGP on my Empulse R.

Here's a link to the thread here: http://brammoforum.com/index.php?topic=2559.0

Mine is used for track + street. Setting your sag should be the done first before looking at bigger/different springs and other adjustments. If you can't get the sag right with your geared up weight with the existing spring that'll give you an idea that you'll likely need to change it out. Doing my sag made a big difference when I set mine for my geared weight. You also want to synch up rebound with rear/front before looking at other settings. The rise needs to be completely equal...all the OEM motos I've had I needed to make some rebound adjustments to get to that baseline.

Nutshell: Ohlins is great for track, less so for street and really for the cost is likely overkill. I'm 165 w/o gear. The Sachs seems fine for spirited street use when the sag is set (I had to make a decent amount of adjustment).

[Roland Stone]

Actually, - my Sachs isn't feeling so bad after all!

[Shinysideup]

I TRIED to get an Ohlins, but, unless you removed the passenger foot pegs, the one they sent wouldn't fit.

I'd take your bike into a shock shop and let them play around with the preload and your sag adjustments. I'd be surprised if you can't get your spring to work.

What I ended up doing (for the potholes of San Francisco) was have a local shock tuner re-valve the shock to make it much softer for the early part of its travel. As I remember there was a shockingly (pun apology here) thick washer in the stack which they said is usually found only in off-road shocks. It took them twice to get it to my liking and it's much better. Still stiff, but this IS a sport bike after all.

[7racer]

I have a friend who is a Brammo fan that does suspension tuning and mentioned that he could get a rear shock that is custom.  Let me see if I can get the link