Penske Shock Installation problems....

Dragonslayer

Okay Hopefully someone can help me with my shock installation.
I have the old shock out and no matter which way I try to install the new Penske shock I run into a problem. The Remote Comprssion adjuster creates a couple of issues with the Bird.

1) Where to mount the adjuster itself since there is no real good location and the the clamps that came with the adjuster are usless unless I mount the adjuster under the seat for a stealthy look.

2) Problem 2 is that no matter whether I run the the line off the shock cap to the left or the right there is something in the way. On the left you have what apears to be part of the main wirig harness and on the right you have the radiator overflow tank. Considering it apears that the exit point cannot be changed would you not think that if the shock was intended for a Blackbird that it should have had the line exit the shock cap at an angle which is the only way I can see it working.

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Kevin Reinhold
Robertsville, MO
03' Honda Blackbird
98' Honda Valkyrie

Dragonslayer

Well after taking a few hours to chill out. I went back out and found a that the major issue with getting the shock into place revolved around the route I had the line for the remote adjuster following. Once I rerouted the line itself I was able to get the shock installed. I do still have to come up with a mount still but it is in position for now.

I also found that a lot of my clearance issues with the line and the wiring harness came from the fact that I have a 6mm shim in there which placed the connection closer to the wiring harness. After rerouting I made it work. I also was able to do all this without removing the tank. I just ran a tie down strap around a support bracket for my garage door and attached another one to the rear of the tank and used that kinda like a hoist to hold the tank out of the way while I worked.

All in all I am happy so far, hopefully I will get to theauto parts store today. I am thinking of using a clamp intended for an ignition coil on a car and attaching the resiviour to the bracket that supports the passenger peg as well as the muffler.

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Kevin Reinhold
Robertsville, MO
03' Honda Blackbird
98' Honda Valkyrie

tripledigits

I run a Penske shock, and have the canister under the seat next to the tool kit. Having the hose exit on the left side will work best. I haven't had any problems running it this way, probably due to the fact I've installed a number of them in different vehicles, and it gets easier the more you do. The main issues are keeping the hose from being pinched or chafed, and mounting the canister where it is fairly accessible. I personally like the canister under the seat, out of the elements. Since I don't track my bike, I'm not always resetting the compression adjustments or nitrogen pressure. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Jeff

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Jeff in Colorado
'02 Silver Bird
'98 D Sports Racer

Dragonslayer

Well I have had a few suggestions and seen a pic of options for mounting the compression adjuster but none have truly appealed to me. You would think for the money spent on an aftermarket shock they would offerbetter mounting options. I will probably haveto look into having something custom made in the future but for now I just haveit rigged and that looks kindacrappy to me and does notsit well with the way I like my biketo look.

But considering the savings I guess I have a little money to spend to come up with a better mounting option. When I get the final mount sorted out I will post some pictures.

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Kevin Reinhold
Robertsville, MO
03' Honda Blackbird
98' Honda Valkyrie

tripledigits

Kevin,

You don't like mounting the canister under the seat?

The reason Penske doesn't come up with a custom mount for each bike is that there are too many bikes out there to have it be cost effective. I find the canister resting next to the tool kit, secured by the big rubber band, is a great place to have it.

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Jeff in Colorado
'02 Silver Bird
'98 D Sports Racer

Thruxton

I installed a Penske 8987 on my 2002 BB a few months ago w/out any problems and I'm not particularly skilled when it comes to bike mechanics. With the bike on the center stand and a little bottle jack under the right side swing arm it was pretty easy to get everthing bolted up after loosening the lower shock mounting plates. I routed the remote adjuster up through the left and used the included hose clamps to mount it on the outside of the rear sub-frame above the lift handle. The hose length was perfect for this. You have to take a couple of screws out of the rear fairing to spring it out far enough for access but that wasn't a big deal and there's plenty of room with no interference issues. I couldn't put it under the seat because I sometimes use a Cobin seat and it doesn't have the clearance the stock Honda seat has. The most complicated part of the whole project was removing and replacing the fuel tank! It helped to pump it dry first.

Dragonslayer

Well,
I went out last night and tried to find adifferent location for the adjuster and ended up just making a new mount for it.I guess it does not look to bad, but I will have to paint the clamps BLACK to make it blend in better for me.

I was going to try to mount it under theseat also, but did not care to take the whole seat sub frame apart to make this happen. At least that was what it looked like Iwas going to have to do.

When I installed mine it was more of a thing with the plates at the bottom also and the fact that I have a 6mm spacer in there also that created the problems for me. Once I loosened the lower shock mount plates everything went fine. I did not remove the take. I used some straps to raise the rear of the tank and disconected the vent tube and was able to get enough clearance to get the old shock out and the new one in without any problems.

I will go out and take a few pics of the mount I came up with and post them up for public opinion.

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Kevin Reinhold
Robertsville, MO
03' Honda Blackbird
98' Honda Valkyrie

tripledigits

Kevin,

You don't need to take the rear frame apart to put the canister under the seat. The plastic tail underseat assembly is held in the rear by 2 bolts. If you remove these bolts, you can gently bend the plastic to get the clearance to fit the canister through the opening near the battery.

I have a Corbin seat, and don't have any problem with the underseat canister location.

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Jeff in Colorado
'02 Silver Bird
'98 D Sports Racer

RodeRash

Why are you using a 6 mm shim to raise the rear of your bike? You do know that your Penske is adjustable for ride height, don't you?

Dragonslayer

Had the 6mm shim in before the NEW shock install. I am probably going to take it out before riding season begins again and see where I am at handling wise.

Besides, honestly I think it is easier to install the shim than to unhook the shock to make adjustments to the ride hight on the shock itself.

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Kevin Reinhold
Robertsville, MO
03' Honda Blackbird
98' Honda Valkyrie

Para045

I don't have a Penske shock but I recently put a 95 CBR900RR shock in mine and I mounted the reservoir up behind the mounting bracket for the rear footpegon the RHS - in this position I can adjust the compression from over the wheel on the LHS BTW I put a section of bicycle inner tube over the canister to protect it and just used a big hose clamp around the subframe in the middle and cable tie around the wiring loom at the front

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BLAKCART

Para045, why did you pick the cbr900 shock to fit, and is it a direct replacement? Did you make any mods to the shock to compensate for the extra weight of the Bird? Does anyone know of a shock off a later model bike that would also be a direct replacement?

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Sometimes I sit and think, sometimes I just sit.

Para045

There was a lot of threads on [OzBlackbird] :: Index and http://cbr1100xx.org that talk about using the 900RR shock as a replacement for the stock shock. Basically you get a shock that is the same overall length, stroke and mounting as the stock shock but has a remote reservoir, compression damping and best of all a stepped preload adjuster for easy adjustments. They are fairly cheap and easy to find on eBay etc. I did have to get a heavier rated spring as the stock spring on the RR shock is only ~850lb and the stock XX is ~930lb but as I am ~130kg(300lb) I needed one around 1100lb anyway. The second hand shock, rebuild and new Eibach spring cost about $420AUD all up whereas a Penske or Ohlins are about $1500 in AUS and even with the latest group buy from Warchild worked out around $1000. The later shocks are different sizes and have a piggyback res that makes them a lot harder fit There are some that I believe have used a F4 shock as well although this a fraction shorter overall (~6mm)

Here a some bits from several threads.

Year 93 to 95 FireBlade shock. I got a 95 one for $50 off eBay.
.95kg Eibach spring bought direct from Eibach. Look them up in the phone book. $145 delivered. Check with Stealth as he can give you the spring rate you need for your weight.
The shock didn't need it but I had it rebuilt and a 15mm shim installed for $120. The shock peeps also installed a collar as the Eibach spring isn't tapered like the OEM. They also installed a valve on the gas canister as the standard Fireblade shock is a sealed unit and regassed it up to 1300kpa with nitrogen. Before you take it in work out where you want to mount the gas canister and get them to fit a hose to match. I found that I had to mount the shock with the hose coming out to the left hand side of the bike as the radiator reservoir got in the way of mounting it out to the right. I got all this shock work for the $120 which I thought was great. The place is called RAD Shocks at Sherwood here in Brisbane and are Bike shock specialists. The twist with them though is don't rely on them to tell you what you need to do and you have to source everything yourself i.e. spring and shock. They did make the shim and collar though. You tell them what you want and supply the stuff and they are brilliant. Fitting the shock is only a matter of undoing 2 bolts which with my bike lift was even simpler.
Tony


I've just pinched the following stuff from a previous post of Stealth’s but it gives all the numbers etc. The Eibach code is for a .95 spring so using the first part of the code and then add the spring rate you need should see you ok.
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 20042:49 pm Post subject: Full Suspension Upgrade

I had a '93 FireBlade shock (MWO-003) rebuilt (regassed and shaft rechromed) with a 950 Eibach Spring (0600-225-0950 ?), and put 1kg Eibach springs in the front (well Chris did!) with 25mm preload (I weigh 90kgs) which resulted in 31mm rider sag front and rear - which RLSusDoc said was perfect...HE 'DA MAN!

The shock has a ramp style preload and is on the softest to achieve that sag. It also has remote reservoir with compression damping. Oh CC also raised the fork oil level to 125mm IIRC.

"You will need a shock from a '93-'95 model; the later years won't fit. This will carry one of the following part numbers:
52400-MWO-003
52400-MWO-013ZA
52400-MWO-013ZB
52400-MAE-003ZB

The Showa part numbers starting with "MAS" are the wrong part and will not fit (it is 3/4" too short)."

Stealth

BLAKCART

Just gotta love the detailed answers! Thankx, that info will come in handy.

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Sometimes I sit and think, sometimes I just sit.