shocks

[Happy Eeyore]

Does anyone know the length of standard rear shocks center line to center line of top and bottom mounting bolts?  What is the longest people have done?  Any in excess of 325mm?

[Barry]

Standard shock for type 248 R45/R65 is 325mm 

Other contemporary type 247 Airheads e.g. /7 are 340mm

[Happy Eeyore]

Thanks Barry.   Do you think a 340 would work or would that make the drive shaft in more of a rotational bind.  My uninformed opinion is that a 340 should work just fine but I am often wrong, particularly about stock market movements.

[dogshome]

Are you taking the R65/45 offroad? I'm 6'3" and far too fat. I very rarely have an issue with bottoming the shocks, and never an issue with clearence, Clarence, on road. The driveshaft will probably take it (like GS models do), but why?

[Happy Eeyore]

Dog   I live in the north Georgia mountains  and we have lots of gravel roads. During heavy rains the gravel gets pushed off and there are deep ruts formed.  I do not like to drag.  I do not use the R65 on single track trails and have a Yamaha xt250 that I ride on a lot of rough stuff.  But the R65 now has about 4.5 inches of clearance which is very low and I have Hagon shocks ordered to replace the brick like, too short shocks now on the bike.  The R65 currently rides as hard as a Morgan Plus 4 which has about as much spring action as a skate board. It sits so low I find it impossible to put it on the center stand.  Gotta fix that problem.

I also have an old basement find 1995 R1100GS which I have brought back to life if I want to get the speed up a little. That bike has great clearance.  It also does not have the ABS mess and was made without ABS.   This is my 3rd R1100 and I have been able to get the Montronic fuel injection system to work pretty good.  The problems with that system is that the Hall wire insulation  simply rots and the electrons wander around on their own. 

The R65 is running pretty good now with the Seibenrock pistons and jugs and rebuilt heads.   

[Barry]

Thanks Barry.   Do you think a 340 would work or would that make the drive shaft in more of a rotational bind.  My uninformed opinion is that a 340 should work just fine but I am often wrong, particularly about stock market movements.

I haven't tried the longer shocks but I do find the bike feels a little cramped so I prefer to run the stock ones on the middle pre-load setting even solo and I weigh next to nothing.  The preload adjustment easily raises the ride height by that 15mm difference in shock length.

The other variable though is the spring rate which may be different for the 325mm and 340mm  shocks.  Stock 325mm shock springs are dual rate at approx. 105/145 lbs/in

[Happy Eeyore]

I have my new Hagon shocks in hand and as soon as I get the work done on the Yamaha XT250 and get it off my work stand I will put the new Hagon shocks on .  The Hagon folks were impressive.  They seem to know exactly what I needed  and in about a week the DHL driver showed up at my house in North Georgia with the shocks in a really nice corrugated box.

I pay close attention to corrugated  boxes having been in that industry for years.  I was also in the carton business and was responsible for  a large carton plant in Bristol years ago and I enjoyed that work talking to the old hand printing press operators in that plant.  I am glad to see someone besides the China folks still making stuff.

 I had to pay a pretty stiff tariff through DHL but the process was all on line and painless other than the money.  Odd that I can get BMW parts from England faster than I can get BMW parts ordered from Colorado.

The Hagons are at least 2 inches longer than the current short, hard sprung, shocks now on the bike.  I am hoping for a softer ride.  Currently the double kick stand is unusable and you cannot take out the axel without removing the muffler. 

The new Sieben Rock pistons and jugs along with the re-valved heads have the bike running pretty good. 

[dogshome]

Surprised about the centre stand. Then it only takes about an inch to do that 

I imagine DHL use monster trucks where you live. Where I have potholes, you have blemishes. Jacking up the back end is fairly easy. Not sure where you go with the front though. I have uprated progressive rate springs and 20mm spacers (for the heavy RT fairing), so can't suggest what you do there.

Whatever, enjoy   
 

[Happy Eeyore]

Balancing the front and rear.---  My very old fashioned system is to sit on the bike and bounce it up and down.  If it stays level through the bounce you are pretty close.  Adjust by more or less spring front or rear. I like a soft ride and will give up faster riding speeds to get that.   Dampening and rebound are subjects all their own.  Once I get the static sag right and balance close, I quit fooling with suspension.  Others spend a fortune and lots of time trying to maximize suspension tuning so they can haul it right up to the edge of sane speed.  I don't do that.  Comfy slow is my goal.

[Happy Eeyore]

British Hagon  shocks are on and work well.  The bushings were a tad too long but that is what God created angle grinders for. Bike no longer looks like a low rider.  I will be able to change a rear tire now with relative ease.  I can use the double kick stand also. The soft setting on the shocks feels about right. 

Question?  Were extra deep oil pans ever added to the R65?  The oil pan on mine looks deeper than the standard pictures I can find.

Roads in Georgia  Dogshome.  Our state highways are intensely crowded around the entire Metro area of Atlanta.  Our political leaders have done everything possible to attract new people here and it has worked as populations bail out of poorly managed cites in the extreme west, midwest and northeast.  Our roads streets and bridges have not been maintained and our state highways are a crowded mess. Fortunately for me I live near large areas of National Forrests which were set aside in the 1930s and they have lots of great motorcycling roads.  Look up Chattahoochee  BDR X on u tube and watch what I get to ride in everyday.  If some of you are ever this way, let  me know and I will guide you on some great gravel road rides.

[Barry]

Question?  Were extra deep oil pans ever added to the R65?  The oil pan on mine looks deeper than the standard pictures I can find.

What year is your R65 ?

The sump capacity increased for the 81 model year onwards but not by much, I think it was only 250cc more oil but more important in my opinion was that half of the extra volume was given over to increased crankcase air space to alleviate issues with crankcase compression.

To identify your pan try here

https://largiader.com/tech/oilpan/