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Stelvio Penske monoshock - WOW!!

mohawkeye

mohawkeye

Cruisin' Guzzisti
Joined
Oct 27, 2008
Messages
393
Location
Pasadena
I took delivery of a Penske 8983 shock from Todd a week ago Friday and installed it last Monday (BIG thanks to MG_Spd_Rcr for all your help!). After getting the bike back together (OEM shock was a hassle to uninstall), both I and Rich took it "around the block" and the difference was obvious: the spring can hold me up! I'm at 200-205 pounds with all my gear on and the Penske was MUCH firmer than the OEM Sachs with the preload jacked to the hilt. Also, prior to installation, I'd raised the ride height 4-5mm to put a bit more weight on the front wheel in order to improve turn-in.

After riding home on one of LA's freeways I could tell that the preload was set too stiff. Yesterday was the first day that I could get that sorted out, and this morning was the first chance I had to test the shock in sport mode on one of LA's renowned twisty roads, which I ride regularly. The "WOW" factor is now in effect! I was taking curves significantly more quickly with MUCH less effort. No bragging from here, but I was finally able to keep pace with a couple of regular riding partners without being out-of-breath at the end of the ride (while I'm not in terrible shape for an old retired guy, the Stelvio with the OEM shock had been much more work at a quick pace than it was this morning). Maybe later (after break-in maybe) I'll feel the need to mess with compression & rebound adjustment, but for now I'm very, very happy with how the bike feels.

A big thanks to Todd E for making this shock easy-to-get and for all his help with setup. Now I've got the feeling that my Stelvio's finally a do-it-all street bike, and can't wait to take it out again tomorrow.
 
I'm a lot closer now:

FORKS
Sag: 55 mm
Rebound: 2.75 turns
Compression: 2.75 turns

SHOCK
Sag: 50 mm
Rebound: 18 clicks
Compression: 8 clicks

Damping turns & clicks are from FULL SOFT. I'm pretty sure that the sag measurements are good for me riding without passenger and without bags; there's no rear squat on hard acceleration and no front squat when decelerating (engine braking only). I may be taking a longer canyon ride this weekend, and just may slightly tweak the shock's rebound or compression damping, depending upon my experiencing something I haven't already in the past week.

HTH :)
 
Last Saturday I did a longer ride with a friend; close to 200 miles round-trip. He races in the WSMC series and his street bike is a well-set-up XB12X. Anyway, I was generally able to stay on his pace, which had me grinning. Also, we went over some larger bumps, and the rear stayed well-planted -- no hopping and no kicks in the arse! The last road that we rode is VERY tight in places, and I was able to run the Stelvio through them just as quickly as when I'm on my full-Öhlins V11 Cafe Sport, which is maybe 100 lbs lighter.

I've increased the fork preload by ½-turn, which feels good. As of yet, however, I don't know what the new front sag number is.

And Todd, thanks for taking care of the tab and spacing issue!
 
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