Penski Shock Revisited One More Time

[Mike Stewart]

Well folks, ever since I had purchased the Penski shock, I have had troubles. If you recall, the first time I tried to install the shock, it was too long and the driveshaft would rub the swingarm. After sending it back and having the length readjusted, I rode it for a few months and made every adjustment possible. Going from 7/8 inch. sag to 1 1/2 inch. sag made no difference with the compression backed all the way off. Tried backing all the compression and rebound off and starting from ground zero. No luck. I emailed Tim Godshall at Penski's main office about the problems I was facing and the only question he had was how much preload was on the spring. Well it turned out that the 550 lb. spring was to high and a 500 lb. spring & revalve would be done. A replacement of the shock body and shaft to gain shock stroke from 50mm. to 62 mm. was also done to match the old Sach unit. (this is the shortest shock body with longest shaft). Penski paid for the shipping back to their main headquarters and had the shock back in just a few days! Great support from the Penski Team! The results after the first ride are promising! The harshness over large bumps is gone and my teeth don't rattle over every bump. I will give you more feedback in a few miles!

 

Mike

[callison]

Good work Mike. Now if I could get my hands on the timing cover for a V11 Sport (none in the USA at present), I could fix the silly thing and try out a complete set of WP stuff for comparison. Unfortunately, it looks like there will be no parts available until spring.

[Admin Jaap]

Carl, have you tried TLM or Agostini?

[callison]

Not yet. Still checking with some of the more likely dealers in the USA.

[dlaing]

Persistency pays off.

I probably would of just settled for an over sprung short travelled shock.

Way to go Mike, and glad to hear Penske backs up their product so well.

So let us know how it compares to the Ohlins on the Rosso Corsa, and to the stock Sachs.

So I guess you'll have an LE tuned Sachs up for sale soon....

[callison]

The beauty of this is that Mike, Al, Joe and anybody else local with a V11 Sport and I can get all of these bikes together to compare more directly. That should cover stock V11 LeMans/Sport suspensions, Penske, Ohlins and WP. What a combo. Bet it doesn't happen till spring though.