Ok, Had a long weekend to explore the SH's abilities.

I can say it spooked be a bit on rough roads.
As far as I can tell the suspension is stock after 27k miles.
I have played with the fork settings with out replacing any parts yet.

The compression Hydraulic oil lock of the fork valves is terrible when braking and a bump hits.
The dive is not to my liking unless it was designed to plate the front tire.

What are the best methods to inprove the suspension front and rear.

RC51 front?
Olins rear?
Racetech springs or emulator?

I have to do a suspension change or change the bike to one that is better sorted.

 

you can do a LOT of good by reworking the front suspension - respring/revalve/brace - lots of threads here on that and I think greg has a very good reputation for fork work as well if you don't do that kind of thing yourself. The rear shock IMO is perhaps the single replacement mod that has the biggest impact - huge and worth the money to get a good aftermarket shock. Lots of RC51 swaps (or others) that are a bit of a hassle but in the process you get upgraded brakes and lighter wheel and fully adjustable forks. Just depends upon your own time, $$, mechanical abilities as to which routes you go.

bill

 

http://www.kneedraggers.com/details/...22-OHL-13.html

Ouch and zowwie!!

$1100

 

Yeah at 27k miles, the suspenders have been shot for a good while.

Done right you're looking at around $2k for an ohlins/penske shock and full fork upgrade (springs, valves, oil, seals, brace, etc). Then, you'll be going faster easier so next you'll want to upgrade the brakes! LOL

RC front end parts are starting to get stupid prices IMO; saw a damaged top bridge go for $200+ on ebay recently!

 

+1 on the RC51 front end and the Ohlins rear shock...I did the RC51 front end swap and can tell you that it's like night and day! You'll think you're riding a 600 when you hit the curves and bumps disappear and the brakes stop you when you want them too...no more grab and pray

I haven't found a used rear shock in the price range I'm looking for yet, but it will likely be an Ohlins...just my 2 cents...good luck bro!

 

if you are patient on ebay ones will come up. I have a penske and think it is great - has adjustable ride height (which I don't think the ohlins had) and is completely rebuildable and upgradable to triple adjusters if you ever wanted to go that far. I've heard good things about many available shocks so would keep your options open.

Same with the front end swap - if patient, parts come up that are fairly priced - I just saw a complete RC front end recently that was fair. And you can recoup a lot of the cost by selling the stock parts. If you do the work yourself using stock forks you can get away with maybe $4-500 in parts (RT valves/springs/sintered pads and steel lines) and some labor - and I'm told you get many of the advantages. For me it was more fun doing to swap, but the weather is nice and you want to be out riding, swaps are for winter projects

 

I did mine two years ago - if U have the fundage Do It.

Mine Racetech springs - Ohlins rear - Like Night & Day from stock - I always tell any rider - 1st mod should be ur suspension - newer bikes have better stock adjusting abilities than SH's

 

It really depends how you ride (and where) as to how much you should upgrade. For simple street work you can get a Wilbers or inexpensive Penske shock sprung for your weight and have me respring and revalve your forks ($330 for the "full monty" - PM if interested). If you're looking for track days then stepping up to the Ohlins or better Penske ($1000-1300) and doing a fork swap (900RR, 929/954, or 1000RR) will be the suspension-du-jour.

I had resprung, revalved (RT compression, modified stock rebound), and braced forks. I could do almost anything with the bike that I wanted to, BUT I live in an area where the road conditions are marginal at best. The bike moved around just a little too much for me when bent over in a bumpy corner. I ended up doing a 1000RR fork swap and now have the additional stability and control I was looking for in those situations. If the 1000RR fork swap is 100/100 then the reworked forks that I had were about 75/100 and the stock forks were 40/100, IMO of course. The fork swap can cost between $600 and $1000. Reworked forks are much less cost, and significantly less time.

 

Lowell, you can usually find parts on other forums for example:

http://www.fireblades.org/forums/for...front-end.html

keep in mind that you'll need a lot of parts to make a fork swap work, so do your homework if you go that route otherwise let Greg do up your stockers