Suspension Failed On My 2011 Vfr800 With 10,000Km On The Clock

well i knew this day would come, but not like this, i have a 2011 honda vfr800, that ive added staintunes, give topbox and givi panniers too. 

i had my tyre cut by the rear tyre impacting with the staintune link pipe about a year ago, and i was saving up for a new rear shock, that was 2 up ride after hitting a monster pot hole. since then i hadnt put much weight on the bike at all, i even took the panniers off, and hadnt done any 2 up work and had a re engineered staintune pipe to give more clearance..

few things got in the way of that shock, loosing my licence, major fines, ouch, then had a baby, a mental break down, wife and new baby left me because i was depressed, which im trying to resolve.

but a year later, and only just after getting my licence back, went to see the missus

yesterday i was on my way home, from 1000km trip, had an awsome run through the putty rd, then i cut through dungog, to the thunderbolts, which was like somebody bombed it, i hit a massive deformation in the road, which i bottomed out and heard scraping of the exhaust/centrestand, launched off my seat, i pulled up a few km when i could, and found caos.

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the rear hugger had been smashed with the metal bracket twisted, on the rear tyre, the left side of the tyre had been ground down to teh canvas, with large chunks, im surprized it was holding air. i used a multi allen tool in my pocket to remove the hugger, and ockied it to my top box, added a can of motul instant tyre repair, and with the hazards on, rode 20 km to raymond terrance, at 30kph, i thought if the tyre let go, it send me over. got to raymond terrance, and spoke to a bunch of bikers passing through at a servo, one worked at a bike shop and told me on a sunday no bike shop is open, so after rining every store i found the numbesr for, i ended u getting a motel.

the next day i got a new rear tyre put on, but i noticed i can now have both feet flat on teh ground, which i couldnt do before, it felt sagged in the rear end, and well just bounced a number of times over ever bump, i rode home on the main highway, that was smooth, and monitored it, so no contact happened, so its evident i now need a new rear shock. im in australia so have limited ability to buy stuff, so i generally buy online.

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so whats the cheapest way of finding a rear shock. id need one set up with a custom spring for my topbox and panniers. i read the ones to put a cbr600f4i shock in and respring it for the weight, i had been on the look out for one but alas have not seen any decent ones pop up on ebay recently.

o far one bay ive found an ohlins 46drs for 950 bucks

http://www.ebay.com....caa0b410&_uhb=1

and a wilbers type 640 for 750 bucks.

http://www.ebay.com....fc6d43fe&_uhb=1

so what do we all think i need with a spring set up, im about 100kg, have Givi Plxr166 Rapid release pannier brackets

Givi FZ166 MonoKey topbox bracket Givi V35 Panniers, givi V46 Topbox  so thats 116kg of luggage i can have. 

The initial monster pothole must have done serious damage that got progressively worse...

A used rear shock with preload costs around Euro 140-150 here

ie http://www.motorpart...2lkPTE2MTA4OA==

donot know what a shock weighs, shipping up to 2kg to down under is 18 euro or 24 euro (insured and tracer), up to 5kg 34 euro.

i couldnt really work that site out sorry,

i did find some daughterly motorsport site which offered rebuilt respring and modified cbr600f4 shocks to fit for 400.
then the Ohlins for 950, and Wilbers for 750

You should ask member MVinOZ if he wants to sell the stock 2006 shock I just sold him as part of all the parts he bought off me!

If you can't work out something with the gentleman Kaldek mentioned, give some thought to talking to Mr. Daugherty. He is a member here on this board and kind of a guru on VFR suspensions. Excellent guy to work with, knows his stuff and is very very reasonably priced. About a year or so ago I was getting ready to upgrade the suspension on my '98. After looking around, doing my research, and talking to Jamie, I concluded that for little more than what I would spend on just buying the parts to do the upgrades myself, I could pull everything off my bike, send it to Jamie and have all the work done, then just reinstall the completed parts. Easy peasy.

Some of the best money I've spent on my VFR.

Good Luck.

probably rather an after market one tbh, with a bigger spring.

Think about upgrading the springs in the front as well to match the rear upgrade. Maybe even the racetech emulators.

If you're replacing the rear shock, I would go with an upgrade as well. The OEM one mentioned would get you back on the road fairly quickly while you wait for the upgrade.

Think about upgrading the springs in the front as well to match the rear upgrade. Maybe even the racetech emulators.
 
If you're replacing the rear shock, I would go with an upgrade as well. The OEM one mentioned would get you back on the road fairly quickly while you wait for the upgrade.

ill do the front eventually but first ill do the back

Jamie re-valves and rebuilds the shocks and will install the appropriate spring. Is a modified CBR shock as good as full out Ohlins? I'll go out on a limb and say no (can't say for sure as I've never tried a Ohlins, so I don't know the difference in perfomance.) However, at roughly half the price its a damn good option. I am highly satisfied with the work done on mine.

Bear in mind though, I did both front and rear suspension on my bike at the same time. From what I gather, you'll notice far more difference when the front is overhauled. Or more appropriately, from those that have done both front and rear, but did the rear before doing the front...both were noticable improvements, but the front more so.

Just some thoughts.

i think the front is something ill have to pay somebody to remove and rebuild tbh, think its beyond a simple rear shock change out that i can do my self

Would the Econoline Wilbers shock be better than a F4i Shock?

ok been talking to asr suspention here, which is on the other side of the country, but can do me a shock,

hes recomended a wilbers 641 shock, which has

type 641-0511-00 unit - This shock has all of the attributes as above, except that it also has a compression tank adapted to the top of the shock via a braided stainless steel line (carbon coated) with stainless fittings. The compression tank houses two separate ports for the high & low speed compression adjusters & these have 22 settings of each along with the rebound adjuster which has 22 settings. This shock is best suited for long touring rides and heavier loading as it holds almost twice as much oil as the 640 unit and will provide consistent damping throughout your longest journey. The price of this shock is $1076.00 incl'd GST.

which is around the same price ive found overseas on ebay,

the other option is a Ohlins 46DRS from the states, however costs a few hundred more but from the states, so not a local servicing thing.

How long have you had the staintunes? Guy on another (Aussie) form had the same problem. Staintune recalled the pipes & replaced them with a new redesigned set, so check that out with them. Glad to see your a Blueliner, been one for years. Although now that I'm an old f**ker I also joined the Ulysses.

ok been talking to asr suspention here, which is on the other side of the country, but can do me a shock,

hes recomended a wilbers 641 shock, which has

type 641-0511-00 unit - This shock has all of the attributes as above, except that it also has a compression tank adapted to the top of the shock via a braided stainless steel line (carbon coated) with stainless fittings. The compression tank houses two separate ports for the high & low speed compression adjusters & these have 22 settings of each along with the rebound adjuster which has 22 settings. This shock is best suited for long touring rides and heavier loading as it holds almost twice as much oil as the 640 unit and will provide consistent damping throughout your longest journey. The price of this shock is $1076.00 incl'd GST.

which is around the same price ive found overseas on ebay,

the other option is a Ohlins 46DRS from the states, however costs a few hundred more but from the states, so not a local servicing thing.

that sounds and looks familiar!!!!!

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I bought this primarily because I looked the look with the remote clicker.....  I have set it once and never ever touched that agian, because it worked so much better than the oem right from the box.  In recent weeks I have moved the clicker in front of the battery as I was working on fitting the 6th gen cases. (not an ideal place this close by the engine so I need to figure out a bracket/location..)

Looking back I would have spend the extra $ on the pre-load adjustor that Wilbers sells as well...

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I donot know, but ASR should, if this is an option on shock w/o the remote clicker.

If you vary riding solo, 2-up, 2-up with luggage this would make more sense.

Wilbers also sells the option to set the height of the shock a bit.

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This can be achieved more economically (albeit a bit more work) by putting a few mm U-shaped shims on top of the clavis

Think about upgrading the springs in the front as well to match the rear upgrade. Maybe even the racetech emulators.

If you're replacing the rear shock, I would go with an upgrade as well. The OEM one mentioned would get you back on the road fairly quickly while you wait for the upgrade.

Emulators..  You mean gold valves, right? His VFR definitely has cartridge forks.

Think about upgrading the springs in the front as well to match the rear upgrade. Maybe even the racetech emulators.

If you're replacing the rear shock, I would go with an upgrade as well. The OEM one mentioned would get you back on the road fairly quickly while you wait for the upgrade.

Emulators..  You mean gold valves, right? His VFR definitely has cartridge forks.

Why yes I do.

http://racetech.com/.../VFR800/2002-09

How long have you had the staintunes? Guy on another (Aussie) form had the same problem. Staintune recalled the pipes & replaced them with a new redesigned set, so check that out with them. Glad to see your a Blueliner, been one for years. Although now that I'm an old f**ker I also joined the Ulysses.

that was me..
ive ordered a Wilbers 641 rear shock, i didnt spring for the hydrolic preload adjuster, figured id just adjust the preload the way i have done on every other bike, with a c spanner and gloves.

I know zRoyz recommends Zenodamper here in Sydney, not sure where you are in NSW exactly. There is also a shop in Wallacia (Terry Hay's Shock Treatment) and also in Penrith whose name escapes me at the moment. I haven't used any of these guys yet, but they are options for you.

i contacted zeno who didnt reply much, basically said they didnt have an ohlins shocks and non in australia for a while.
.
i went through asr suspention melbourne who was happy to answer questions. i decidedt o go local incase i needed more work done on them

Time  for  a  multi   purpose  bike.

Time  for  a  multi   purpose  bike.

A 4th gen with hard luggage? :unsure:   :goofy:

Time  for  a  multi   purpose  bike.

A 4th gen with hard luggage? :unsure:   :goofy:

+1