So my parts bike had a koni shock on the rear, which I've had on the shelf for quite some time.. My own rear shock (standard unit) is pretty shagged, it bottoms out quite easily these days.. So after rebuilding the gearbox, I figured I may as well put the koni on when it all went back together..

Took it for a ride, and wow, the koni is SO much stiffer - was actually a little too stiff, but I guess if I had a c-spanner (used to, swapped it with the mate I bought the k100 off, when I bought it, as he needed a c-spanner, and I needed the smaller c-spanner for the K100 shock (which doubles as the gearbox dipstick)), I could back it off a bit..

Problem was, if you went over a bump, it ate the bump, but then on the rebound, it'd go to full expansion, and then instead of softly stopping like my existing shock, it just goes CLUNK, and feels like it's going to rip the rear off the bike!

Is that just because it's been set so darned hard (that's called preload, yeah?), or is the shock rooted? Or do I maybe need to play with what i assume is the dampener adjustment? (the little bar at the end that has + and -, and you need a needle or something to adjust..)

Cheers,

DG

Sounds like you need a rebuild but only if its the koni without the red adjuster. If it has the red adjuster then in the bin as they can't be rebuilt successfully. Bite the bullet and get a RAM SHOX http://www.realmengineering.com/page15.html
Best you will buy

Yep, decided it's f&&ked - seems the gearbox oil leak I just posted about wasn't a gearbox oil leak.. The koni shock dropped about 100ml of oil onto my rear swingarm on the 5 minute test ride i took the bike on

Wow, 195 pounds, that seems really cheap! I wonder what it'd cost to ship over here? (Or wonder if I can get one of our staff to shove it in their suitcase on their way back from our UK office next time someone goes over? )

I got one landed here for $400 and that was before the innards fell out of the pound. Just multiply by 1.5 aftre you add postage.

Awesome, thanks, I've sent them an email

After the karuah ride, I realised how totally shagged my original shock was! on that bloody road out, I was continuously bottoming out!

When we stopped at the watering hole at Dungog one of the GS crowd said the road is much better this year. I will say it was better but still bad on a LT. I blew a forkseak the year before on a big pothole.

Rick G wrote:Sounds like you need a rebuild but only if its the koni without the red adjuster. If it has the red adjuster then in the bin as they can't be rebuilt successfully. Bite the bullet and get a RAM SHOX http://www.realmengineering.com/page15.html
Best you will buy

Rendrag, Rick,

Have been hitting it pretty hard..riding the last week.
Today noticed that the front right fork seal is weeping enough to be concerned about.
Ok will address that.

S**t....but you don't know this until you ride them..

Caused me to look at "everything" after seeing this.
Looked/saw that I have a Koni rear as well...and while it is not leaking, is showing a wet spot at the top of the shock.
Saw no red adjuster on the same.

Should I just monitor this?...or fix it right now?

Reason I ask is that this bike is not my hobby...(well sort of is...tis more than that...tis therapy too...and an important, economical personal transport tool).

If it's a Koni without the damper adjustment at the bottom of the strut (red knob) it can be rebuilt and quite cheaply. It's usualy a new seal and clean and refill with oil and all go no gas or anything fancy just a straight forward shockie that works well and last a long time.
I have a set on the Z 1300 Kawasaki that are 30 years old and showed no sign of trouble in 20 years of riding and the last 10 years sitting inside but I will rebuild before it goes back on the road.

Thanks Rick.
Good info.

Had my RAM shock delivered about an hour ago, I know that it is good because even my wife said that it is very nice! It is now fitted onto the bike with all the new nuts and bolts supplied with it. I now need to adjust the spring pre-load to suit me for solo riding, and then set the damping from the initial setting of 4 clicks to what feels good. Only trouble is that it is raining outside.
I must admit that the service that I got from RAM was great, it helped that the chap I spoke to on the phone has the same Brummie accent as my father had - it made him sound very friendly.