All 650's Suspension

[Daniel]

Good choice! May be an extra $100 but for fully adjustable forks it's worth it. Mine arrived at the shop today and I'm excited to get them back on, had a very quick ride with the shock installed and I can pay testament to your reviews of it on the previous page. I didn't have a chance to adjust rebound/compression/length to see the difference it made though. A couple of photos below, not the best quality.



The most time consuming part was making the brackets for hydraulic adjuster and compression reservoir. But I'm happy so far, will take some more tomorrow when it's not so Baltic outside ❄️❄️❄️

 

[miweber929]

Great to hear for both of you!!!

 

[Daniel]

Quick update on forks from my suspension guy, this relates more to altering the cartridges to suit the CB forks really. What needs to be done is a spacer needs to be added inside to reduce the max length top out by 30mm. Though outer spacer and spring guides need to be cut down 30mm to match. The problem is reducing the cartridge stroke by 30mm may affect the bottom out point too, he's going to continue working on it. Essentially it can be done but there may be some minor performance limitations in a direct comparison to CBR performance with the same kit, though only at the extreme ends of compression and rebound.

My bad, just looked up a pic of the spacer... 29.09mm according to my calipers. Tolerance +/- 1mm

That's the difference in length between cb and cbr stanchions according to öhlins.

He emphasised the importance of knowing the exact difference in stanchion length since there is a fair bit of alteration, so I did some more investigating and called Ohlins to double check the spacer size, not that I doubt you @Brammers but I had to be certain, they also said 30mm. I found a Polish seller on eBay with only silver stanchions for sale from both CB and CBR too and fortunately he quoted the length of each. CB = 621mm & CBR = 652mm, so 31mm difference. Safe to say it's a definitive 30mm, I know I've been relentless pursuing this but considering the mods being done to the cartridges I'm sure everyone can see why!

Called Ohlins USA. It does not matter if the shock is mounted with the gas valve on the right or left. They said it should be right side up.

Further evidence to this can be seen on my shock, where it's facing straight up! Has your kit arrived yet U @Jetflo69?

 

[User2]

Nope. The fork kit and the parts orders have not arrived yet.

I have long wondered how a cartridge kit could work for both cb and Cbr650fs. That the cartridge never gets fully extended in the cb makes sense.

Looking forward to hearing that it works!

 

[Drewster123]

When i compared my 2017 cbr forks to a 2014 cb (I think it was a cb I can't just remember.) By just sitting on the bike moving them up and down I will say my forks preload felt twice as firm ! And felt much better when they where coming back up . On the 2014 bike they did feel lile a pogo stick compared! I do believe it's not going be a massive upgrade but mine did feel twice as better just by sitting on it by testing it pushing down .

 

[User2]

I believe the sdbv forks are better than the original version’s fork. It will be good to hear your thoughts after a test ride.

My parts have all shipped. Andreani cartridge kit install should happen soon.

I suspect it will be fantastic!

 

[victorkkq]

Hi guys. First of all I want to thank U Jetflo69 for sharing his Ohlin suspension report, great info!!!, makes me bought one myself! I m from Malaysia. I wanna share a report too as I have just installed the Ohlins HO 110027 Shock Absorber. Adjustable for compression, rebound and preload with a remote reservoir. I will try to do a full report on the ride quality later. Thanks

 

[Drewster123]

What do people mean when they say about the 650f havinf no linkage?

 

[Daniel]

Hi guys. First of all I want to thank U Jetflo69 for sharing his Ohlin suspension report, great info!!!, makes me bought one myself! I m from Malaysia. I wanna share a report too as I have just installed the Ohlins HO 110027 Shock Absorber. Adjustable for compression, rebound and preload with a remote reservoir. I will try to do a full report on the ride quality later. Thanks

Nice! Looks excellent let us know how it feels, correct me if I'm wrong but looks like your compression reservoir bracket has been fit upside down. See images on these links for reference:
https://pantip.com/topic/38267302
http://www.furiishopbigbike.com/product/2090/โช๊ค-ohlins-ho110027-subtank-for-honda-cb650f-cbr650f

This is the position I have copied with mine.

What do people mean when they say about the 650f havinf no linkage?

D @Drewster123 Have a read of this article, very interesting as I had not heard of this concept either:
https://www.motorcycle.com/ask-mo-anything/the-missing-linkage.html

 

[victorkkq]

Nice! Looks excellent let us know how it feels, correct me if I'm wrong but looks like your compression reservoir bracket has been fit upside down. See images on these links for reference:
https://pantip.com/topic/38267302
http://www.furiishopbigbike.com/product/2090/โช๊ค-ohlins-ho110027-subtank-for-honda-cb650f-cbr650f

This is the position I have copied with mine.

OMG! I did not know that my compression reservoir bracket fitted upside down. no wonder it looks odd. My Honda dealer fit it for me. Thanks for highlighting.

 

[Daniel]

OMG! I did not know that my compression reservoir bracket fitted upside down. no wonder it looks odd. My Honda dealer fit it for me. Thanks for highlighting.

Haha, you're the second now, if you read back a page you'll see one of the guys had their shock fit wrong way round by a dealer too. They aren't coming across well lately. At least its only cosmetic issues though and nothing safety/performance related.

 

[User2]

Parts are here. Should have Andreani cartrdges installed by the weekend.

I’m the one accused of having their Ohlins shock installed backwards. I called Ohlins and they said it did not matter.

I’m not sure what my dealership did to deserve dismissal as incompetent. Why the hate?

 

[Daniel]

Parts are here. Should have Andreani cartrdges installed by the weekend.

I’m the one accused of having their Ohlins shock installed backwards. I called Ohlins and they said it did not matter.

I’m not sure what my dealership did to deserve dismissal as incompetent. Why the hate?

No hate, didn't say they were incompetent either. Just making observations on people's installs. As I said at least they aren't safety/performance issues.

What do you think of the kit? Seems to be a half decent quality doesn't it? Mine didn't need cutting down after all. My suspension tuner took it to K-Tech for milling the stanchion and they also had an alternative cartridge foot that was 30mm shorter with the same thread. So fortunately saved loads of labor time cutting components and subsequently no performance limitations either! Currently having the preload nuts re-anodized as they looked a little faded and worn. Should have it on in a week or so I expect. Let us know what the transition is like from stock though, intrigued to hear what you think.

 

[miweber929]

I called Ohlins and they said it did not matter.

Interesting that they said that because they were very clear, and I mean VERY CLEAR, in their instructions on how it was to be installed. It was probably just because that’s Ohlins and what they do but again, they were very specific how to install it.

I’m not sure what my dealership did to deserve dismissal as incompetent. Why the hate?

To clarify, no one said incompetent, but it was said dealers have not been fairing well in the reading directions things lately which is true, your story being one of them.

So “why the hate” you ask? Dealerships and service centers are very easy to bag on, unfortunately in many cases deservedly so. The level of service should be superior because of who it is, what they do and how much they charge and it’s usually either ok or sub par. That’s wrong.

You told us a story on how a manufacturers defect caused a severe bicycle crash a bit ago and from now on you only trust people with huge liability insurances in case something happens again including where and who services your motorcycle. In my mind, it would seem you’re quite possibly blindly trusting your dealership to always do a good job when they obviously didn’t read directions on a simple task. Since I doubt highly they’ve had several shock replacements on CBR650Fs, they should be looking it up.

Was there a reason Ohlins was specific? Apparently not. But they were, and a glance through the install instructions indicated it was to be installed in a specific orientation. It may have even been bold text if I remember correctly, pictured for sure.

So how many other seemingly “simple” tasks is your dealership not following directions? How many other things are they just “doing” without consulting a manual? If it’s a lot, my take would be it would probably not have an impact on you or your bike being safe.

But you never know.

I agree with what was stated, your dealership service center isn’t one to be fully trusted. And dealerships are notorious for doing things like this.

 

[Drewster123]

I'm dreading for my dealer to do my vlave clearances

 

[miweber929]

I'm dreading for my dealer to do my vlave clearances

Here’s a little secret: they most likely won’t do anything the “first” valve service except start the bike and put a stethoscope to the valve cover.

Unless one is making abnormal noises they’ll call it good and charge you the inspection fee.

Is what it is, but that’s a common practice.

 

[ADIOS600]

Here’s a little secret: they most likely won’t do anything the “first” valve service except start the bike and put a stethoscope to the valve cover.

Unless one is making abnormal noises they’ll call it good and charge you the inspection fee.

Is what it is, but that’s a common practice.

I would be surprised if that would happen at any of the dealers near me, a valve check including service here is about £550. If it's out of warranty get a good indipendant to do it. If you feel up to the task check them yourself.

 

[Drewster123]

Here’s a little secret: they most likely won’t do anything the “first” valve service except start the bike and put a stethoscope to the valve cover.

Unless one is making abnormal noises they’ll call it good and charge you the inspection fee.

Is what it is, but that’s a common practice.

I've said to myself I want pictures of proof becauce yes I believe that's all they will do.

 

[ADIOS600]

I've said to myself I want pictures of proof becauce yes I believe that's all they will do.

I think it's very sad you have to go-to those lengths to get satisfaction from someone you should be able to trust.

 

[Drewster123]

I think it's very sad you have to go-to those lengths to get satisfaction from someone you should be able to trust.

It is I've just had such a bad experience with motorbike shops in genural. I've accturaly changed my honda dealer as the one i originaly bought the bike from was appalling. My new dealer seems good so far but I always feel like I haft to be carefull I can't trust any garage they try to rush things and just can make life harder. Iff i worked on bikes I would treat them like me own but allot of the time they don't.