motowarren Posted July 16, 2012 Posted July 16, 2012 I've been sorting a 01 Rosso Mandello for the last couple months since I brought it. One of the last things I worked on is the rear shock. I found that the PO installed it upside down (spring pre-load adjusters at the bottom) I put it back on right and took it for a test ride and it seemed much more compliant. However when I rode it over to the local cycle shop to get DMV inspection I noticed the shock leaking badly...So it's a white power shock and my options are to send it to Race Tech for a rebuild back to original condition. rebuild it with upgrades or replace it. The problem is that I haven't gotten enough miles on it yet to tell what I want or how good it works at like new stock spec. FYI I'm 200 lb (is the stock spring heavy enough)and my riding on this bike will be mostly weekend canyon carving.
docc Posted July 16, 2012 Posted July 16, 2012 The OEM unit is most likely Sachs-Boge. The last of the White Power units went on the earlier Sport 1100 series (no V11 were known to get the WP in spite of period literature and certain magazine reports of the day (that probably relied on the literature).
luhbo Posted July 17, 2012 Posted July 17, 2012 Two things: I've seen early KRs with WP-shocks (probably not for RMs though, ask PO), and second: this spring is able to cope with two passengers, more or less at least. Therefore if you're planning to use your V11 solo only you might go for a softer (rear) spring I'd say. Anyway, if you'll send it to Racetech or similar they probably can give you the right advice. Besides that, over here some say that the ZF-Sachs would be a better basis for any rebuild. Hubert
GuzziMoto Posted July 17, 2012 Posted July 17, 2012 The stock Sachs shock has a bad habit of cracking at the lower shock mount. There are many good options. Having the stock shock rebuilt is probably the cheapest, but not the best. The Ohlins option seems to be getting harder to find, but companies like Penske are more then happy to build you a high quality shock to match your requirements (weight, riding style, etc.). To see if you need a stiffer or lighter spring you need to set your sag. Setting sag tells you if your spring is too soft, too hard, or just right, based on how much free sag you have (how much the bike sags under its own weight without the rider) after you have set the race sag (how much the bike sags with the rider on board) to the correct amount. It is not something you need to guess about. FYI,,,, When Penske built a shock for our V11 the spring rate was not much different then what was on the original Sachs shock.
Skeeve Posted July 17, 2012 Posted July 17, 2012 ...I noticed the shock leaking badly. So it's a White Power shock and my options are to send it to RaceTech for a rebuild back to original condition, rebuild it with upgrades or replace it. The problem is that I haven't gotten enough miles on it yet to tell what I want or how good it works at like new stock spec. FYI I'm 200 lb (is the stock spring heavy enough)and my riding on this bike will be mostly weekend canyon carving. 1st things 1st: as prior respondents have pointed out, the only White Power shocks came on models previous to the V11 Sport/RM/LM series [ie, post Y2K models. IIRC, White Power ceased to exist sometime in the late 90s, having realized that their name was a serious handicap to selling product Stateside due to unintended racial connotations...] So the question is, does your shock say "White Power" or were you automatically converting the WP logo to its original name by mistake as you typed? If it's a White Power shock, it may have the original spring off an 1100 Spot/Sporti, which were slightly heavier bikes and sprung more stiffly than the V11 Sports as delivered, so you may be OK w/ the spring that's on there. If it's a WP shock, then it may or may not have come w/ a custom spring, so again, you'll just have to test it out by measuring static & "race" sag & comparing measurements. It seems like a lot of bother, but get a friend to help & it will take all of 15 minutes and it's a good excuse for a beer afterwards to treat yourselves for an important job well done. Personally, I'd keep the White Power shock & have it rebuilt: it'll be cheaper than buying a new Penske or other similar fully-rebuildable aftermarket shock, and there's nothing any of them will offer that the WP shock doesn't [well, in a comparable price range: spending multiple $1000s on some high zoot magnetic rheostatic computerized widget isn't at all reasonable for this application, at least not to me... ] - don't forget, when WP & Ohlins 1st came out, they were the beginning of modern high quality suspension [& lest people forget, WP was considered the slightly better of the two at the time by many...] Best o' luck!
docc Posted July 17, 2012 Posted July 17, 2012 I could not find any stampings on the rear shock of my 2000 V11 Sport. It has a gold body, white spring, and blue anodized fittings. There is a sticker on the bottom of the reservoir:
luhbo Posted July 17, 2012 Posted July 17, 2012 I think, the letters say SACHS And it shows too much preload, too. These are good shocks, not much behind the Oehlins. The Oehlins you find in Guzzis are of the cheapest type Oelins ever made. Send a Sachs for overhauling and you'll get back at least the same quality that others have with their cheapo Oehlins. Hubert
gavo Posted July 18, 2012 Posted July 18, 2012 I also have a 01 rosso mandello and the standard shock is a sach. I had it revalved and sprung as the standard spring was too soft, I weight 90kg's but it was mainly a problem two up(wife 60kg's) but only on the bigger bumps did it bottom out. I told the suspension tech weights and he did the shock for $495. Big difference, you'll get endless experts here, but I suggest going to a trusted suspension rebuilder
PDoz Posted July 18, 2012 Posted July 18, 2012 I recently replaced my sachs with a wilburs. The sachs had about 7K on it but I just couldn't get it to behave. Straight out of the box the wilburs is so much better than the sachs that I haven't even bothered adjusting anything yet . Even teh spring preload was right for the weight I specified. Yesterday I did a 200 k run through some tight bumpy back roads that with the sachs I'd be really struggling on. Halfway through I realsied I was going faster and hadn't even bothered changing gears I was so relaxed. Now about those forks.....
motowarren Posted July 18, 2012 Author Posted July 18, 2012 I could not find any stampings on the rear shock of my 2000 V11 Sport. It has a gold body, white spring, and blue anodized fittings. There is a sticker on the bottom of the reservoir: OK My shock is exactly like yours so it is a Sachs. I will get a friend over this evening to check the sag. A good Penske or Ohlins is completely out of the question as I have three bikes, I'm on Soc sec, this is the bike I use the least, and I work part time just to keep these in shape. The thing that concerns me right now is that in reading some previous posts on this subject there seems to be a problem with availability on seals for this shock. Is that still true or was that a situation from a couple of years ago?
gstallons Posted July 18, 2012 Posted July 18, 2012 I could not find any stampings on the rear shock of my 2000 V11 Sport. It has a gold body, white spring, and blue anodized fittings. There is a sticker on the bottom of the reservoir: OK My shock is exactly like yours so it is a Sachs. I will get a friend over this evening to check the sag. A good Penske or Ohlins is completely out of the question as I have three bikes, I'm on Soc sec, this is the bike I use the least, and I work part time just to keep these in shape. The thing that concerns me right now is that in reading some previous posts on this subject there seems to be a problem with availability on seals for this shock. Is that still true or was that a situation from a couple of years ago? BTW, how do you like the Fiat ? Do you drive in-house like Charlie Sheen ?
motowarren Posted July 18, 2012 Author Posted July 18, 2012 BTW, how do you like the Fiat ? Do you drive in-house like Charlie Sheen ? Love the Fiat. Haven't had this much fun on 4 wheels in over 20 yrs. Not interested in driving it in the house but I did want to bring that Italian model home but the wife said no-no
gstallons Posted July 18, 2012 Posted July 18, 2012 Uhhhhh.........She's Romanian. If she came with the car, they could NOT produce enough (Abarths) of them. http://whoisthathota...in-the-fiat-500
motowarren Posted July 18, 2012 Author Posted July 18, 2012 Uhhhhh.........She's Romanian. If she came with the car, they could NOT produce enough (Abarths) of them. http://whoisthathota...in-the-fiat-500 Yea I know but could you really tell the difference if you hadn't googled her?
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