Ohlins shocks for 2017

[Houtman_imp]

Yesterday I picked up my Ohlins shocks from Fast Bike Industries in Hendersonville NC , about 30 minutes from my home.
The owner David Behrend is one of the best suspension guys in the USA.
On the 2013 and 2014 I had ordered the plus 1 springs from Ohlins in chrome but this time I went with their stock chrome spring , no I did not loose weight yet (225) !
I fitted them this morning and went for a ride to the Pisgah Inn on the BRP (very little colour change yet )
They really made a difference for my worn out back , cost for the shocks HO 011 was $ 991 including tax .
Is it worth spending $1000 on new shocks ? for me it was but other people might not think so.
Dave is now also the sole importer for NITRON shocks , beautifully made in the F1 area in the UK.

 

[baxtercat_imp]

interesting report. do you have any photos?

 

[Houtman_imp]

I find it very difficult to post pictures but some times email photos to Cormanus who is kindly enough to post them for me.
Will send a picture of the shock on my 2017 soon.

 

[Cormanus]

Happy to oblige.

 

[baxtercat_imp]

thanks to you both. Houtman, I remember that you upgraded your 2013 to Ohlins, same model. curious to know if you saw that same amount of improvement with the 2017 install.

 

[Cormanus]

And ...

Drum roll ...

 

[the Ferret]

Are they on upside down? (i figure they're not, but it looks like it to me)

 

[Cormanus]

Interesting question, Ferret. I missed that.

Is the mounting bolt standard or a Houtman improvisation? It's a good idea.

 

[Houtman_imp]

They fitted the right way , preload on top , rebound and length adjuster on the bottom.
Thanks Cormanus for posting the pictures for me !
I know that Australians drink very little Foster , only Americans think that that is your favorite beer.

 

[Cormanus]

Americans may be forgiven for thinking us awash with Fosters!

Can you tell me about the end of the upper mounting bolt? I’ve lost the right word, the thingy for attaching a strap. Was it always there on the 2017, or did you improvise? I like it.

 

[jtopiso_imp]

Americans may be forgiven for thinking us awash with Fosters!

Can you tell me about the end of the upper mounting bolt? I’ve lost the right word, the thingy for attaching a strap. Was it always there on the 2017, or did you improvise? I like it.

It's standard on the '17
https://www.motorbikemag.es/prueba-honda-cb1100rs-2017/?foto=99799

 

[Houtman_imp]

Yes , it is the mounting bolt. It has a very small rubber insert to prevent dirt getting into socket. It is useful for bungee cords etc.
You probably can retro fit them on earlier models.

 

[baxtercat_imp]

excellent. Earlier installers of the HO O11 reported that the Ohlins on the '14 improved handling but stiffened the ride--the stock shocks were more plush. What has been your experience with the 2017?

 

[Houtman_imp]

Yesterday I took my 2014 with the Ohlins shocks AND the 2017 forks on the same road as I did my 2017 with the newly installed Ohlins.
I felt that the ride on my 2017 with stock Ohlins springs was a little softer than my 2014 with the plus 1 springs (stiffer ones )It could have also been the tires : Dunlop on the 2017 and Continental ContiRoad Attack 2 Classic Race on my 2014.

It can also be that my back is getting more susceptible to "jarring" due to getting older (68 )

 

[Paris_imp]

Yesterday I picked up my Ohlins shocks from Fast Bike Industries in Hendersonville NC , about 30 minutes from my home.
The owner David Behrend is one of the best suspension guys in the USA.
On the 2013 and 2014 I had ordered the plus 1 springs from Ohlins in chrome but this time I went with their stock chrome spring , no I did not loose weight yet (225) !
I fitted them this morning and went for a ride to the Pisgah Inn on the BRP (very little colour change yet )
They really made a difference for my worn out back , cost for the shocks HO 011 was $ 991 including tax .
Is it worth spending $1000 on new shocks ? for me it was but other people might not think so.
Dave is now also the sole importer for NITRON shocks , beautifully made in the F1 area in the UK.

Thanks for the tip on Fastbike. My back also would appreciate a softer ride, so called Fastbike to ask about the Ohlins, and got quite a bit more to think about. Not only do I need to chose between Ohlin and Nitron, but each brand offers two different models, and that’s leaving aside my color choices. The Ohlin HO 011 and the Nitron NTR 1 have an internal reservoir and one adjustment, while the Ohlin HO 239 and the Nitron NTR3 have external reservoirs and more adjustments, in Nitron’s case, three, high speed compression, low speed compression, and rebound. I am leaning toward the Nitron NTR3 at ~$1.5K a pair because they are custom built to accommodate weight and riding habits, but I’ll decide in the morning.

Yesterday I picked up my Ohlins shocks from Fast Bike Industries in Hendersonville NC , about 30 minutes from my home.
The owner David Behrend is one of the best suspension guys in the USA.
On the 2013 and 2014 I had ordered the plus 1 springs from Ohlins in chrome but this time I went with their stock chrome spring , no I did not loose weight yet (225) !
I fitted them this morning and went for a ride to the Pisgah Inn on the BRP (very little colour change yet )
They really made a difference for my worn out back , cost for the shocks HO 011 was $ 991 including tax .
Is it worth spending $1000 on new shocks ? for me it was but other people might not think so.
Dave is now also the sole importer for NITRON shocks , beautifully made in the F1 area in the UK.

Thanks for the tip on Fastbike. My back also would appreciate a softer ride, so called Fastbike to ask about the Ohlins, and got quite a bit more to think about. Not only do I need to chose between Ohlin and Nitron, but each brand offers two different models, and that’s leaving aside my color choices. The Ohlin HO 011 and the Nitron NTR 1 have an internal reservoir and one adjustment, while the Ohlin HO 239 and the Nitron NTR3 have external reservoirs and more adjustments, in Nitron’s case, three, high speed compression, low speed compression, and rebound. I am leaning toward the Nitron NTR3 at ~$1.5K a pair because they are custom built to accommodate weight and riding habits, but I’ll decide in the morning.

 

[Houtman_imp]

In the past I did put "Piggy back " shocks on both my CB 1000's as they original came with external reservoirs.
As the CB 1100 came without them I put the non reservoir shocks on them but it certainly would look good with reservoirs.
The Nitron shocks are beautifully made , worth looking into and perhaps visit Dave ?

 

[Paris_imp]

In the past I did put "Piggy back " shocks on both my CB 1000's as they original came with external reservoirs.
As the CB 1100 came without them I put the non reservoir shocks on them but it certainly would look good with reservoirs.
The Nitron shocks are beautifully made , worth looking into and perhaps visit Dave ?

I ordered a pair of Nitron NTR3 shocks, in the classic color mode. That means a titanium color cylinder and a black spring. I thought this would look best and not distract from the beautiful red tank. Nitron supplies the appropriate spring, and Fasbike will pre-tune it for me, as much as they can. I should get the Nitrons in about three weeks, and I'll post how it works out.

 

[Houtman_imp]

I am very interested to see how they look and feel on your bike, keep us posted .

 

[Lord Popgun]

+1 on what Houtman said!

 

[Paris_imp]

I am very interested to see how they look and feel on your bike, keep us posted .

I put Honda rear carrier on, and noticed that there might not be enough room for the NTR3 reservoir. The carrier is anchored by the forward bolt on the grab bar, which is extended outward about 2"by the carrier. I talked to Fastbike, did a bit of PhotoShop magic, and figured out that there is just 3/8" clearance for the top of the reservoir and the boss for the carrier. That's pretty close and I hope I'm not wrong.

Using PhotoShop to test fitment is a handy thing. You can take a picture of the bike, or find an image off the internet, and scale it to actual size by taking a few measurements on the real bike for reference. You copy that image to a layer, and create a second layer with an image of the part you've scaled in the same way. Then you put the part layer on top of the first layer. You adjust the opacity of the part layer so that you can see through it to the image of the bike. Then you rotate and move the part layer into position to see if it fits.

In this case, I went a step further and mapped the top of the shock bolt and the carrier boss on the background layer, using the bike image for reference. Then I lined up the layer with the NTR3 image and oriented it so that it matched the angle of the shock on the bike image. At that point, you can discard or drop out the layer with the bike image. Finally, I printed it out, and held the paper up to the bike to see if everything lined up, which it did.

What I came up with is below: