If you're going to spend that money on a new shock, I'd spend a little more and get the Ohlins. The Hagon doesn't like off road and I had a friend who spent weeks in Bolivia waiting on a replacement. It was night and day when I changed my stock one for the ohlins which I got on ebay for about £400. As I said, I got the standard spring initially and ended up blowing the seals as it bottomed out, plus the bottom bolt sheared due to the abuse..After putting on a stiffer spring, i had no problems.

So get the strongest spring and it'll be fine. Have you taken yours out fully loaded, 2 up and tried it over a badly pot-holed road yet?

What I mean is, just putting a new spring on will not do the job, all it will do is make it a bit stiffer but by adding new valves inside, the damping will match the extra load, it is all a big balancing act. I am not a shock expert by any means, but I have spoken to a few in the know and just adding a spring will not be the best option for the load you are carrying. Talk to someone in a local shop and see what type of answer you get. I know of two occasions where rear shocks died and the riders and pillions pogoed there way down to Ushuaia until they could get it sorted.

The choice is yours, I had a very expensive Elka on mine and it did the job in the Americas, but then again, the stock shock done by Sasquatch also did the job down here with half the cost involved, the main point being it can be reserviced if need be.

Cheers
TS

ayayay!!!

Back to square one! :)

Don't know what to do guys! I've read of people who made it on stock shocks all the way down to Australia or all the way through Kazakhstan/Mongolia/Siberia and had no problems really. On the other hand the shock was one of my main concerns to start with because of the huge load. I'm not that concerned how the bike is going to feel when riding it - what I want is for it to survive the trip - I'm not a big Off Road rider and to be honest don't think my wife will appreciate us going off road too often :) Another thing is that I hate throwing away something that's working to begin with i.e. my existing shock has done 3.500 miles on tarmac so is pretty much brand new. The video I've attached of Geoff talking about his fancy touratech panniers and Hagon shock puts it in a little different perspective for me. It's a little too much about the GEAR and too little about the experience I think. You can spend thousands for supposedly best gear and on the other hand you can still make it on what you have. It's like the biggest question : "what bike to choose for RTW?" - my answer always was - doesn't matter - take the one you like and you're comfortable with and you'll make it! People do it on R1s through Congo, on Harleys through 193 countries so it doesn't really matter what you take - some bikes will require more maintenance some less but at the end of the day every bike will give in eventually.

What I'm thinking of doing is: putting a stiffer spring on my stock shock and leave on the trip without upgrading it. At the same time give all of my loading details to somebody like Reactiv Suspension and get the shock ready to be built. If I do need it all it takes is phone them up get the shock custom built in a week's time and get it posted out to me by my family to a specified address - which we'll probably have to pogo to :) At the end of the day that's the stuff you remember from the trip isn't it? Imagine you came back from a RTW trip and everything went great! Bike was fantastic - no problems whatsoever - you give a presentation: "this is me in front of ... this is me here.... this is me here... Everything went fine and we had a lovely holiday..." - I give myself 20 minutes and I'd be bored sh*tless!

Please tell me if my way of thinking is way off and I should reconsider?

Thanks!
Andy

First of all, there is a big world out there and there are things you can do which is cheaper and more interesting then waiting on a shock 500 km from the nearest "city".
I have blown several shocks and I didn't find it fascinating at all. IMHO it's better to use your time and money to explore exotic places then to wait for parts.

For that type of load I would have used a custom-made Øhlins. Other makes might also be good, what matters are tolerances, cooling and that the right materials are used (bushings, sealings, o-rings etc). See if you can find a decent shock-workshop close to where you live and see what they can offer.

It is a fair point but I'm not willing to fork out a thousand quid for an ohlins shock. There's no way that I'm doing that! I'll do some digging around the place and try to find a decent shock-workshop - that's a good shout - thanks!

Andy

Have to say- I always hope for that.

Fixing flats and pushing broken bikes at 100* F or in a cold, hard rain makes a good story but it's usually not a lot of fun at the time.

On the other hand, if it happens it helps to keep a good attitude about it.

.............shu

dr 650 suspension
 

After doing a 6500km trip in Australia 2 up with gear we decided that the main thing the bike needed was a suspension upgrade. I looked and talked to lots of people and I cam to the conclusion that the original suspension with the upgrades would suit us best. I then got a suspension specialist in melbourne to do his magic, (put a bigger spring and re-valve rear suspension and bit of work on the front) We did a final shakedown 5000 km + trip across to southern WA and Perth and the difference with the bike was amazing. At slow speeds we dont scrape the bash plate everywhere and in cornering the bike handles great (for a bike with all the crap we carry), I am really pleased we spent the money, I am glad we kept the original shock, and I feel heaps better about doing our next trip from Uk to Asia starting 4th may.

Thanks for the info! That's exactly what I intend to do! Get the existing suspension upgraded and if it fails we'll deal with that there and then I guess. Or if we have some left over money maybe we'll just buy a new custom made shock and take it with us. We'll see. It all comes down to comfort level. Everyone has a different one!

Thanks,
Andy

Thats the beauty of this site,lots of opinions most with experience to back it up :thumbup1:
I am a few years away from my Big trip so am going to upgrade both front & rear shock,not cheap but the overtime is paying for it & I have the time to save up the cash & reactive can do it for the same price as an Ohlins rear,plus they use Hypercoil springs.
I plan to get the bike sorted before my planned road trips next year, then I can tell if any more mods are needed but only a proper shake down will give me this info.
It is as always a case of trial & error even with all the help from the HUBB.
All the best,Andy

Exactly!

Experience is the key! I'll talk to some garages about suspension upgrade and if there's no joy I'll maybe just get it done by reactiv suspension. We've got 3 months left and I'm not willing to postpone the trip any further by saving more money and getting a nicer suspension or anything like that!

Stay safe!
Andy

Shock Upgrade
 

I can tell you from experience, you know the test comes first then the lesson, that you don't want to go out 2 up on your Strom especially the 650 without a spring upgrade.

I have talked with Klaus at Wilbur and we reviewed my usage ( I have a DL1000). 2 up, without the weight you are carrying he recommended the Hyperpro progressive rear spring.

Uploaded it has the same value as the stock shock, but as soon as you start to load more stuff on it the spring preloads with the extra resistance keeping the ride in balance.

Since changing the spring, I have really enjoyed the improvement in handling and control.

Forget the idea of 'oooow, wouldn't it be nice to invite some adversity,' because you will get plenty uninvited adversity travelling the distances you are. Adversity should look like an unavoidable flat tire, no room in town, no money, etc. Not broken down on the side of the road with Costa RIcan gangs standing by.

IMHO

I think we're gonna listen to your experiences guys! I need to give Reactiv Suspension a phone and get the suspension beefed up - I'm not going with Ohlins as it's just too bloody expensive - about 750£ just for the rear shock. Reactiv Suspensio will do a custom made one for 495£ this in comparison leaves enough money to do the front forks as well. All in all I think it will be about 700£ altogether front and back using reactiv...

We'll go for it I think!

Unless you've got aome other garages in UK that could sort us out at a lower price?

Thanks a lot for the info guys!

Much appreciated!
Andy

Hia

If you can stretch to it, I would also ask Reactive to possibly re valve the front suspension and put in some lighter oil. Having done a fair bit of travelling on my DL 650 I often found the harshness of the front forks a biger issue than any weakness in the rear shock.

rear shock
 

recently returned from a trip round Ireland on the wee strom with the stock shock,some of the roads we travelled on were a little bumpy to put it mildly & I found that the rear suspension started to struggle after about 4 days,was two up with not a huge amount of gear & by the time we reached dingle I could only get the side stand down on a completely flat surface,any camber & it was a no go as the shock had compressed so much,it did recover after a few hours not being ridden.
I am still getting the money together for the replacement shocks from Reactive Suspension,am going to get 2 springs so I can set it up for general use for me & a touring spring set for weight with pillion & luggage.
Andy

P.S. Just found this video on youtube: YouTube - Lovely Day in the Congo

Lovin' it! At the end of the day as Doug mentioned both custom made and suposedly great shock aborbers cock up the same way :)[/QUOTE]


Ha Ha Ha........ That was me in the 'Lovely Day in the Congo' and I'd wasn't having the best of days! The Hagon shock ended up being a piece of junk and a waste of money. As they didn't tell me that it was only good for the roads although they informed me the distances to be covered invalidated the warranty, I should have looked elsewhere but hey, experience sometimes is expensive!
They sold me a custom shock for a weight of 275kgs (Bike/me/luggage) and it couldn't handle the job so I binned the whole unit and had my original sent out to me which did for the rest of Africa.

My advice..... FWIW just fit a stronger spring to the weight of your needs as 80k is a long way and every shock probably will fail at some time during that. Tried 'HyperPro'...? I got my tenere heavy duty rear spring and front progressives from these guys, bike rides awesome fully loaded.

p.s.... on the video about Touratechs Alu panniers..... Never again! Lesson learnt and soft panniers next time for me thanks!