New rear shock at 7k miles....really??

[Dee Duble Yuh]

Woo hoo, some confused concepts here!

Ride height is affected by the "preload" adjuster (big black dial on the left), by spring sag and by front fork location. Spring sag increases with age and usage, so although 7k isn't much mileage, 8 years is quite a long time if the bike is usually parked on the side stand. A low ride height will make it difficult to get the bike onto the centre stand. Before shelling out several hundred quid try just increasing the pre-load. Ignore the "factory setting" 'cos it's an oldish bike. Set it to the right height for you.

Also double check if the front fork triple-clamps have been dropped down the fork legs. That will lower the overall ride height. If you like a lower ride then leave it; if you'd like it higher then raise the triple clamps (on the centre stand, one side at a time and with a mate on hand to help!!!)

(There are two main reasons for replacing a rear shock. Usually it's to do with leaking dampers which causes the bike to bounce after a bump, as Jackdaw says. The reason your mechanic is giving has nothing to do with this. The second reason is if the spring has sagged.)

Damping doesn't affect ride height when stationary, so ignore this for now. I think V2s didn't have any adjustment anyway. (Later Varas have rebound adjustment only. Reducing rebound adjustment will increase the feeling that the tail is kicking up after a bump; increasing it may make the rear squat down over a long bumpy section making it less compliant.)

[bluemoon]

That's really helpful stuff DDY...Thanks

I can almost visualise readers face planting into the palms of their hands and sighing deeply at this next question....oh well, gonna ask anyway

If I replace the shock...do I get a new spring as well as the cylinder component??

And...will I be able to easily identify if the front has been lowered ? (can't get to the garage to look at the mo as did my ankle playing footy last night)

Thanks

[Austin]

That's really helpful stuff DDY...Thanks

I can almost visualise readers face planting into the palms of their hands and sighing deeply at this next question....oh well, gonna ask anyway

If I replace the shock...do I get a new spring as well as the cylinder component??

And...will I be able to easily identify if the front has been lowered ? (can't get to the garage to look at the mo as did my ankle playing footy last night)

Thanks

New shock will include the spring. The whoe unit bolts unit top and bottom.

Front fork - the fork are topped with a big shiny nut that keeps everything together inside. The flange of the nut should be more or less flush with the top of the fork bracket (the big lump of metal that links forks to steering). If the fork is sticking up at all then the front has been lowered.

[bluemoon]

Now thats my kind of language, I'm learning everyday on this forum...thanks Austin

[jasonbc]

Now thats my kind of language, I'm learning everyday on this forum...thanks Austin

If your changing the shock why don't you change the bottom suspension linkage bearings aswell and then grease them. Might aswell do it while it's all in bits it won't take long and then it a job not needed for another few years

[piguglyshandydrinker]

Someone from this site posted a knackered Vara shock (for a 'project...')

Upon stripdown it's pretty obvious that the shielding around the damper body actually holds moisture & crap. I'm in no doubt that, that was the demise of this particulay shock as the damper rod had corroded, chewing the seals & losing it's oil.

Not really a help on the thread but may help someone on here.

I reckon a decent crap deflector is in order .

Phil

[davsato]

its a known thing for varaderos, something i knew about before i bought mine 3yrs and 12k miles ago and fully expected to have a hagon by now being a big lad and carrying plenty of gear, but its holding up very well touch wood.
maybe the secret is to wind it up a few clicks from new, standard settings were way too soft from me and giving it some preload probably gave it a fighting chance.