Can some tech wiz guy let me know the spring rate I need on a VTR penske shock for a 190lb rider & sometimes 2 up street touring? No racetrack shenanigans. I guess I need lb/in & kg/mm

 

just call penske directly they will tell you your spring rate.

 

I just got my hands on a shock of a 599 for free!!!! and it comes with a 1Kg spring rate so even though it Penske calls for a lower spring rate I am going to see how it goes. Will let you know.

 

You might have to send it to penske or a local suspension shop to have it reconfigured to fit in a SH but penske shocks are modular so it should be no big problem to get it to fit. Also on the spring rate 1kg? Maybe 1000lbs\in but a Sh should use between a 16kg\mm -18Kg\mm for American sized riders...

 

mine has the 1000 spring... my preload is almost all out but it is set for the track & i'm at 180ish lbs. regular street i may opt for the 950...

tim

 

The 1000 lb shock would be a 17.9 kg/mm shock spring. This is just on the high side of the acceptable range. I am going to get the Superhawk ends put on and back the preload all the way out and see how it feels.

Also trinc what would you recomend for a front fork set up? I know with the penske the stock fron is going to be way mis-matched and the chassi will probably be all over the place.

 

I am having a 17.32 spring installed on my Ohlins - that is for 200lbs street rider or 170lbs "agressive" rider. This is based on the recommendation of the Ohlins rep that I spoke with. The racetech site echoed this. 17.9 is a bit high, but not unreasonable so. The stock SH shock has a 16.40 spring. Try it out before you spend any money.

As for the forks, I am running .90 racetech springs with 7wt oil, 135mm level. At some point I will have them revalved. The.90 front matches the 17.32 rear.

JB

 

I calculate a 959lb/in spring rate for a 190lb rider. Since you can only get springs in 50lb/in increments, I would normally suggest a 950lb/in rate for you. If you are really aggressive or run the bike on the track a lot I would go up to a 1000lb/in part.

For what it's worth, Penske has the following recommended spring rates by weight:

160-190lb = 950lb/in
190-225lb = 1000lb/in

You are right on the border, but I would still go with the 950lb/in.