I had been noticing a degradation in the action of the shock (OEM with Race-Tech Gold Valve kit) on my bike, to the point that it had virtually become a pogo stick of late. So, off I went to visit my buddy who owns a suspension shop and he kindly rebuilt it for me and here is what we found:
1) no nitrogen left in shock.... none! The little filler valve used by Race-Tech has leaked and let all the gas escape. My buddy says this is typical and that is why he never uses them. He installed a heavy-duty valve so that problem is now solved
2) one of the rebound shims had broken (in one spot and was well on its way to breaking in two other areas). My buddy explained to me that it was a case of excessive pressure so he adjusted the shims to eliminate/reduce the possibility of it re-occuring.

So, the shock is now fully re-built and I also installed the Hyperpro progressive spring I had purchased in the Spring (no pun intended...ok, maybe just a little, lol). It is 10 mm shorter than the stock spring and allowed me to set the sag correctly, something I couldn't do with the stock unit. Everything seems to be working great again and the bike tracks nice and straight while delivering a decent ride. Yep, life is good.

Incidentally, my buddy was going to install a remote reservoir and adjustable comp damping on it (he builds his own shocks, quite a clever chap) but as he was pressed for time (not to mention did the re-build for free), we didn't do it but we may in the future at some point.

On that note, I am off on vacation and will be off riding about the countryside, leaving in the morning...

 

Isn't it nice to have people work on stuff who actually know what the hell they're doing? Not easy to find... Enjoy, have a safe ride.