The Rear Shock Upgrade Thread

[CrazyCam]

Originally Posted by Old Scratcher

Yeah I figured that would be the easiest fix too.
If the stock shock had adjustable pre-load, like the Daytona, it'd be easy to dial the shakes & shudders out of the rear.

The striple has adjustable pre-load on the back.

That's all that's adjustable, but, at the first service, I got them to wind off some of the pre-load, and it felt a good bit better to me.

I dunno if there is a "standard" setting that they put it to from the factory, but, for normal road use, it was far too tight for me.

YMMV.

[Old Scratcher]

My owners manual said only the Daytona's rear shock was adjustable.
I must admit I haven't checked, & was just going by the book.
I'll have a talk to my Triumph mechanic & see what he reccomends.
Thanks for the info

[Diego]

Originally Posted by Old Scratcher

My owners manual said only the Daytona's rear shock was adjustable.

You may notice on close examination that it only says the damping is adjustable. Triumph actually considers preload not to be a user adjustable item on either the Daytona or the Street. (The reason for lack of a spanner in the toolkit, I suppose.) Dealers will usually oblige.

One thing to be aware of: there is more to the feel of the rear end than the shock. Be sure to maintain correct tyre pressure meticulously. It seems to make a lot of difference on this model.

[Edit:] And now, of course, it appears this may be the solution for some of us:
http://www.triumphrat.net/street-tri...ck-recall.html

[triffin]

I've been reading all these posts about shocks and what people think about them and to be honest i think some of you are influenced by public opinion and here say...

A shock is a simple thing; it has a spring wich should match your weight and it has dampening; compression and rebound wich you want to be just right.
Finally you dont want it to be sticky so it absorbs bumps has to be smoothly.

Springrate is most important as it influences geometry. Usually standard springs on any bike are to soft..(ive replaced several in the past)...however, after adjusting my ST's shock to max i get perfect static sag numbers. I weigh arround 90kg's clean on the hook. So the springrate seems to fit even over average europeans.

The shock also feels pretty well dampened (even though i have a recall standing out for my bike...but maybe thats just a matter of time). I can feel compression when i push the bike down and i can certainly see rebound compression as the bike comes up.

After reading a LOT about setting up shocks and experimenting with them myself (when i did have a fully adjustable bike) ive come to the conclusion that even if you have a grade-a shock you need to set it up perfectly to use its advantage. It is a hard task for a normal rider to feel the differences between dampening settings. Yes when there is realy TO much of anything you can feel it but otherwise the effects are minimal...unless youre a racer with a lot of experience who rides on the edge.

Preload offcourse is easy...just messure the sag and you know when youre done.

So please tell me in a nutshell..whats the true problem with the standard shock?

So far i dont have any real complaints...besides the front fork springs being a bit to soft for my weight.

[Old Scratcher]

Originally Posted by Thirdway

I suspect it's what we call 'British Roads' these days. Having spent some time on Hollands highways and byways they always seem to be in good condition. Roads in Britain are getting quite serious once you get off the Motorways and A roads (and TBH they are quite appaling in places).

On a smooth road the bike copes perfectly well (other owners that have the luxury of a fully run in bike have had problems when really pushing on). On a bumpy road the back end is pretty awful (although I have not had the shock replaced as yet under the recall). The front really bangs off bumps and collapses when you brake hard, again, on a smooth road this is not an issue as you can just be easy with the controls, but just try braking while you hit a bump

Yep, same thing in Oz too.
The roads around Cairns (where I took my test ride) are smooth & well made. But as soon as you get into the hinterland the roads are a mish-mash of badly repaired potholes. & the poor old shocky just can't cope.
The thuds & whacks are what hurts my back the most, but it's the way the back wheel chatters up & down over corrugations which I find the most annoying.
However, it's a testament to the rest of the bike's handling geometry, that this doesn't upset the bike's line. & it still whips through corners with gusto. It's just disconcerting & unnerving to feel (& hear) my new pride & joy going through such torture.

PS Note to Mods. Can we re-open the recall thread? I have more to say about the recall than the upgrade. & the two topics are so closely related, I think it's pedantic to sepparate them.

[Diego]

Originally Posted by Old Scratcher

PS Note to Mods. Can we re-open the recall thread? I have more to say about the recall than the upgrade. & the two topics are so closely related, I think it's pedantic to sepparate them.

As I wrote before, we will re-open the recall thread. It's not as if we're creating two separate threads, though; they were separate threads to begin with.

At some point the recall fever is going to die out, whereas upgrading is an ever-popular topic. No point wasting good upgrade information in a thread that's going to be a dead-end someday...or giving it potential to come back as an infamous zombie thread.

[Shakey]

I'd be curious to hear from any rider that has done a track day with their Street Triple using the stock suspension. Most all of us are not in the position to really push the suspension on a good track surface which is where any real weakness would show up. I try to avoid pot holes and ruts in the road, but when the bike hits the occasional bad stretch it pretty well jars my teeth. I suspect though that no amount of suspension tuning would affect the outcome on a truly nasty road surface. My recall shock should be installed by next weekend (the part arrived within three days of the shop ordering) or as soon as I can get the bike to them. I haven't really noticed any degradation of the original yet, but I'm having them swap it out just to be safe. On good roads I've been really pleased with the bikes overall handling. I still have a Daytona shock I may, or may not use. It all depends on how the stock equipment reacts after having 1500 miles or so on it. An update from Jamie, or some of the other riders using the Daytona set up might be good. I'm interested in feedback regarding the affect on steering geometry at high and low speeds and any other insight they might offer.

[Fart Knocker]

Replaced the stock shock with an OEM Daytona. Spring is much better for my lard*** at 230 lbs, but need to tweak the damping before I would give my full approval of this mod. The stock shock for me would wallow at the exit of corners and the weight transfer would be extreme making it not want to finish the corner.

Now it feels just the opposite where it makes the rear feel "loose" at the exit like the bike want to come around. I think some tweaking on the damping will help this.

Thats the nice thing about the Dayona shock, you will gain some adjustability.

[denthnpalevw]

Have anyone used Hyperpro?? Rear or front?
if yes plz comment some on them!

[CrazyCam]

Well, two days ago, now, I received my new Penske shock for the striple.

I took it round to my friendly bike workshop yesterday, to have it fitted.

The first surprise was how light the new shock was, compared to the standard one. The stock shock and spring weighs in at 2.7 kilos, while the new one, complete with external reservoir and adjustable ride-height, felt about half that.
(Didn't have handy scales at the workshop.)

The ride height adjustment looked pretty much the same as the stock item, so it got fitted.

Then we adjusted the pre-load, which was a pleasure. The collar on the Penske to do this has a couple of grub screws and then a series of holes into which an adjuster bar fits. Much nicer and safer than the two castellated discs of the standard item.

The ride home confirmed that I hadn't wasted my money. The rear end felt much more comfortable, but still very controlled.

Don't get me wrong, the standard item worked OK, but felt a bit harsh to my bum.

I got a bit of a ride in today, but, due to bad weather, and our state police having double fly-buy points on offer 'cos it's a holiday, I was limited to fairly sedate speeds. Still happier, tho, with the added comfort and control.

From the info I got from Rick (of Cogent Dynamics) mine would have been one of the first Street Triple shocks that Penske have done, since, at the time of my first contact with Rick, they hadn't actually gotten hond of a striple shock to even measure it.

I'm definitely a happy customer.

Now, all I need is the front end similarly "magicked".