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Rear suspension upgrade


Fritzer

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Sometime this winter I was planning on going through my rear suspension components for a mid life rebuild at 60,000 miles.  Everything works fine now with no loose fittings or noise but just want to be ahead of the wear out curve.  My plans are to replace the pivot bearings & such, remove the axle assembly/clean up/regrease then reinstall.  That leaves me original OEM monoshock.  It still seems to work fine but since I will have it all apart, thought it might be wise to replace it while I am in there.

 

I was wondering if anyone had any advice or recommendations concerning the shock.  Should I just replace it with a new OEM unit or is it worth moving to a aftermarket shock or just leave it until the dampening is gone?  I ride at a fairly brisk pace but definitely not a racer.

 

And has anybody had to deal with the axle assembly going bad?  I had it out and greased it up when I bought the bike in '15 @ 37,000 miles.  Everything looked fine but just wondering if they wear out and when?

 

Any advice would be much appreciated.

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Have Jamie build you a shock.  http://daughertymotorsports.com/bd40-shocks/

 

He does excellent work and knows VFRs. It was absolutely transformative for my bike. I'm not super aggressive myself, but the tight twisty coast roads I enjoy tend to be pretty rough. Better suspension made them more fun. 

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Yep go the Jamie route , I got the front emulator kit and a revalved 929 shock , specifically requested set up for dirt roads , awesome . Great on the tar as well, regularly scrape the pegs all nice and controlled. Transformed the bike 

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The axles don't tend to wear out but the rear hub bearings it runs in can wear out. I replaced mine last winter, as it was an advisory at the MoT in the summer. That was at 62K miles. Like you I had stripped & greased it around 38K miles. The ball bearing end wore out, so I replaced all the hub bearings. If there is no play detectable, then just strip, clean & regrease every 20-30k miles.

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You may notice that those of us who are previous customers of Daugherty Motorsports will mention "rebuilt" rear shocks from other Honda models (929 and 954).  That was how Jamie Daugherty used to operate, rebuilding and modifying these shock to new (better) specifications to be installed on other motorcycles like our VFR800s.

 

Now Jamie has moved on from the 929 and 954 shocks.  He's offering his own new, custom built rear shock under the name "BD40" which he is producing to customized specifications for a number of different motorcycles, including our 5th Gen VFR800s.

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I know some will not agree with me but this is my experience. I "upgraded" the fork internals and changed the shock to a well known unit. I really found little difference on the street.

My conclusion is unless you are really hanging it out there you may not notice enough of a difference to fork (ptp) out the cash.

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On 9/19/2019 at 9:17 PM, maxredline said:

I know some will not agree with me but this is my experience. I "upgraded" the fork internals and changed the shock to a well known unit. I really found little difference on the street.

My conclusion is unless you are really hanging it out there you may not notice enough of a difference to fork (ptp) out the cash.

Unless my shock had packed in I wouldn't be looking for one either, for normal riding the showa unit does the job fine for me anyway,but I'm no Rossi.

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On 9/19/2019 at 1:17 PM, maxredline said:

I know some will not agree with me but this is my experience. I "upgraded" the fork internals and changed the shock to a well known unit. I really found little difference on the street.

My conclusion is unless you are really hanging it out there you may not notice enough of a difference to fork (ptp) out the cash.

It probably also depends on how much you're hanging out there... Outside of a terminal illness, I'm always going to be quite a bit above the intended weight range for any motorcycle. For someone my size, I couldn't possibly disagree with you more!

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In my experience shocks go off over time, and for someone like myself with limited talent, you just don't notice the gradual degraded handling. However when it gets really bad and you do notice it then a new shock can work wonders. That's happened to me a few times but OE shocks when new are more than good enough for me too.

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I've had Fox (4th gen) and Penske and Ohlins on my 5th gens.  ZX-10 on my old SV650 and I've got a Nitron double clicker on my XSR700. 

 

Properly sprung is the most important aspect of the shock.  Any shock will lose performance over time, but a shock (and forks) not sprung correctly will not work well for most situations other than sedate, single riding.

 

Penske is wonderful, graceful degradation. Ohlins is very responsive to comp, rebel changes and works till all of a sudden it doesn't and needs a rebuild (pogo stick over 4 months of riding after 11k mi).

 

You get what you pay for!

 

Matt

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Hi Everyone

Just to share I have Jamie DMr front and rear, and it's brilliant!!

I do not have enough words to speak well about it 😃

No more sloppy suspension, as soon as you seat on a VFR for the very 1st time with Jamie DMRs Kit, you immediately notice the diference, and you will fall even more in love with your VFR, builts your corner confidence, rear is now a bit more taller increasing handling,  bike is much more stable etc etc etc

Again I do not have enough good words, best mod ever, worth every single dollar shipping it to Portugal 😃
Would order tomorrow again 😃

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On 9/13/2019 at 11:04 PM, Marvelicious said:

Have Jamie build you a shock.  http://daughertymotorsports.com/bd40-shocks/

 

He does excellent work and knows VFRs. It was absolutely transformative for my bike. I'm not super aggressive myself, but the tight twisty coast roads I enjoy tend to be pretty rough. Better suspension made them more fun. 

I just talked with Jamie and he graciously took a little time to educate me on the options.

 

One option was to install his brand new shock with spring at $675.  This option brings you into serious racing type speeds.

The other option is for me to ship him my showa unit and he revalves, installs new seals, and new spring at $295.  This option improves general handling & is good into track day events.

In addition to the rear shock, he also recommends respringing/revalving the front forks at $335.  If you need the seals and bushing replaced also, that might be additional cost?

I am assuming that shipping is in addition to the costs mentioned above.

 

After a talk about my riding style, Jamie felt that the showa rebuild/revalve along with the fork enhancements, I would be a happy camper.  And it is not too expensive. 

 

So when I get my suspension apart in the dead of winter, I will send Jamie my shock and forks.  I will share my findings after the VFR gets its suspenders back on. 

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3 hours ago, Resina said:

Hi Everyone

Just to share I have Jamie DMr front and rear, and it's brilliant!!

I do not have enough words to speak well about it 😃

No more sloppy suspension, as soon as you seat on a VFR for the very 1st time with Jamie DMRs Kit, you immediately notice the diference, and you will fall even more in love with your VFR, builts your corner confidence, rear is now a bit more taller increasing handling,  bike is much more stable etc etc etc

Again I do not have enough good words, best mod ever, worth every single dollar shipping it to Portugal 😃
Would order tomorrow again 😃

Same here!

I had Jamie install fork internals and a rebuilt 929 shock. What a transformation! The bikes handling in now nearly telepathic.

Absolutely the best modification to my '01 VFR800fi I've made; and I've made a few.

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26 minutes ago, Fritzer said:

I just talked with Jamie and he graciously took a little time to educate me on the options.

 

One option was to install his brand new shock with spring at $675.  This option brings you into serious racing type speeds.

The other option is for me to ship him my showa unit and he revalves, installs new seals, and new spring at $295.  This option improves general handling & is good into track day events.

In addition to the rear shock, he also recommends respringing/revalving the front forks at $335.  If you need the seals and bushing replaced also, that might be additional cost?

I am assuming that shipping is in addition to the costs mentioned above.

 

After a talk about my riding style, Jamie felt that the showa rebuild/revalve along with the fork enhancements, I would be a happy camper.  And it is not too expensive. 

 

So when I get my suspension apart in the dead of winter, I will send Jamie my shock and forks.  I will share my findings after the VFR gets its suspenders back on. 

If your up for it, I would recommend buying a used CBR929 Showa rear shock and send that to Jamie for rebuild/respring.  They are cheap on the auction sites and it will give you greater adjustability for compression and rebound dampening and it has an external reservoir to help keep the shock oil cooler and last longer than the original... I'm pretty sure he does it for the same $295 as your stock shock and you will get better performance 👍

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1 minute ago, Rush2112 said:

If your up for it, I would recommend buying a used CBR929 Showa rear shock and send that to Jamie for rebuild/respring.  They are cheap on the auction sites and it will give you greater adjustability for compression and rebound dampening and it has an external reservoir to help keep the shock oil cooler and last longer than the original... I'm pretty sure he does it for the same $295 as your stock shock and you will get better performance 👍

Does it need any modifications to fit into the VFR?  

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50 minutes ago, Fritzer said:

Does it need any modifications to fit into the VFR?  

Jamie makes and installs an adapter for the top bolt on the 929 shock that makes it a direct swap out/in with the stock shock and adds a little rear ride height to improve handling.

 

IMG_3347.jpg

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40 minutes ago, Rush2112 said:

Jamie makes and installs an adapter for the top bolt on the 929 shock that makes it a direct swap out/in with the stock shock and adds a little rear ride height to improve handling.

 

IMG_3347.jpg

I just had a email conversation with Jamie regarding the CBR929 to VFR conversion.  He has discontinued that option and explains why in this excerpt from his response.

 

The simple answer is no, the 929 shock does not work on your VFR.  What we used to do was take about half the parts of a stock CBR929 rear shock and mate them to new parts that we designed and fabricated ourselves to build a shock specifically for the VFR.  There are many details to consider when doing this, details most people won't be aware of.  Without attending to all of those details the 929 shock would be very dangerous to ride.  
 
Since the introduction of our BD40 series rear shocks we discontinued the CBR929 conversions.  The BD40 is not much more money but allows us to offer features you can't get using the 929 as the base.  The BD40 also offers performance advantages as well.  To attempt to adapt a CBR929 shock to your VFR would actually cost more in the end than one of our BD40 shocks.
 
Appreciate the idea anyway.  Thanks
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1 hour ago, Fritzer said:

I just had a email conversation with Jamie regarding the CBR929 to VFR conversion.  He has discontinued that option and explains why in this excerpt from his response.

 

The simple answer is no, the 929 shock does not work on your VFR.  What we used to do was take about half the parts of a stock CBR929 rear shock and mate them to new parts that we designed and fabricated ourselves to build a shock specifically for the VFR.  There are many details to consider when doing this, details most people won't be aware of.  Without attending to all of those details the 929 shock would be very dangerous to ride.  
 
Since the introduction of our BD40 series rear shocks we discontinued the CBR929 conversions.  The BD40 is not much more money but allows us to offer features you can't get using the 929 as the base.  The BD40 also offers performance advantages as well.  To attempt to adapt a CBR929 shock to your VFR would actually cost more in the end than one of our BD40 shocks.
 
Appreciate the idea anyway.  Thanks

No worries, do what works for you and I trust Jamie implicitly. Just for clarity, Jamie isn’t saying the 929 shock is dangerous to ride he is saying if he didn’t attend to all the details it would be dangerous... I just wanted to head that off before any swirl started

😎

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I was always under the impression that a significant amount of rework went into his revalved shocks. When he started, 929 shocks were his best option. Now that he's built a reputation and a following, being able to work with brand new parts probably allows him to spend his time where it's useful and having his own brand allows him to keep prices competitive.

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On 9/23/2019 at 4:07 PM, Marvelicious said:

It probably also depends on how much you're hanging out there... Outside of a terminal illness, I'm always going to be quite a bit above the intended weight range for any motorcycle. For someone my size, I couldn't possibly disagree with you more!

Me 2-I weigh between 225 and 240 lbs (depending on my hibernation schedule) and the original fork springs were way too soft-upgraded to new springs and fork internals from Jamie and WOW-what a difference.  I cannot stress how much better the front end feels now vs prior to the install.  Now I just need to order that new rear shock he's selling.

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32 minutes ago, Headhunter said:

As I look at the prices of newer bikes, I'm tempted to say WTF and do this suspension.  However, with the significant miles I have (102K) I'm wondering if it's worth it to spend the money.

 

Send in an oil sample for testing to check on the condition of the engine. A good report may build confidence for keeping it. (I did it at 104K; results (Nice bike!) are in my albums.

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Another big guy 'weighing in'  - I am about 240lbs and installed Jamie's full suite of current products this spring (cartridges/springs in the front, a bd40 in the rear). The improvement in handling is a revelation. Hands down the biggest improvement/increase of my enjoyment of this bike by far. More comments and some pics in my thread - 

 

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