As I get more and more into this 88 K100 I'm thinking about what I can do to give it a better feel.The ride is harsh.I feel every bump in the road especially on concrete road .The rear shock looks to be stock and I adjusted it to the softest setting but it still sucks.I also think I might like to replace the fork springs ,at least change out the fork oil to something lighter.This bike hops over cracks in the road and if I hit a hole it's downright scary . I am thinking Progressive 412 .Anyone try these? Any recommendations of fork oil weight and amounts? In other news,I ordered the new shoes today .I went with the Avons and will be fitting them early next week when they arrive.

Get a RAM from Realm engineering in UK.

Hello!

This is a good and inexpensive shock.
BMW K 100 RT 1988 YSS Shock Absorber Adjustable Rear Mono Shock ME302-350T-01-X

Oil change is always good.


Cheers

Chocolate wrote:Hello!

This is a good and inexpensive shock.
BMW K 100 RT 1988 YSS Shock Absorber Adjustable Rear Mono Shock ME302-350T-01-X

Oil change is always good.


Cheers

Not so inexpensive considering what they want to ship to the US...  Almost as much as the shock itself...

 Shipping: GBP 110.00 (approx. US $143.74) 

Buy the YSS shock from Germany........lot cheaper for shipping.

Call the YSS USA distributor with the part number and see what they come up with for shipping.
http://www.yssusa.com/order_how.html

yamaguzzi wrote:....The ride is harsh.I feel every bump in the road especially on concrete road .The rear shock looks to be stock and I adjusted it to the softest setting but it still sucks.I also think I might like to replace the fork springs ,at least change out the fork oil to something lighter.This bike hops over cracks in the road and if I hit a hole it's downright scary . I am thinking Progressive 412 .Anyone try these? Any recommendations of fork oil weight and amounts? In other news,I ordered the new shoes today .I went with the Avons and will be fitting them early next week when they arrive.

I switched to RAM shocks on both my bikes and that made big difference - when one of my old original shocks was at the end of its life, the ride comfort became very harsh - of course, I didn't notice at first, because the degradation crept up on me and I just cursed the bumpy roads. Every bump, ripple and drain cover felt like I was bottoming out and the cornering capability left a lot to be desired. Due to the cost of a new shock, I was in denial for some time - blaming the road quality and not enjoying the ride, but eventually took a crowbar to my wallet and bought a RAM shock - holy cow, what a difference! Goes to show that you don't realise how bad something has become until you replace it.

I also have played with the fork oil to see if that softens the ride - standard grade is 10W. Add a little less than the recommended amount and the ride is a little softer (less oil means more air in fork to compress and a spongier ride). When draining the oil, you need to ensure that it is all gone before adding the measured amount...otherwise you can, in effect, over fill the fork which, of course leads to a harder ride (more oil, less air, hard ride) which is not at all comfortable. When I experienced a hard ride, I tried blending 10W fork oil with 5W oil to give a less viscous 7.5W mix. This seemed to improve things and soften the ride again, but since then I have reverted back to 10W oil and to be honest, I didn't really notice any difference. I reckon that the hard ride I experienced before was probably down to overfilling (adding measured amount of new oil on top of a little residual oil left in the forks after draining) and was down to my inexperience rather than the oil viscosity.

I have no experience of progressive springs up front or the YSS rear shock though.

Born Again Eccentric wrote:

yamaguzzi wrote:....The ride is harsh.I feel every bump in the road especially on concrete road .The rear shock looks to be stock and I adjusted it to the softest setting but it still sucks.I also think I might like to replace the fork springs ,at least change out the fork oil to something lighter.This bike hops over cracks in the road and if I hit a hole it's downright scary . I am thinking Progressive 412 .Anyone try these? Any recommendations of fork oil weight and amounts? In other news,I ordered the new shoes today .I went with the Avons and will be fitting them early next week when they arrive.

I switched to RAM shocks on both my bikes and that made big difference - when one of my old original shocks was at the end of its life, the ride comfort became very harsh - of course, I didn't notice at first, because the degradation crept up on me and I just cursed the bumpy roads. Every bump, ripple and drain cover felt like I was bottoming out and the cornering capability left a lot to be desired. Due to the cost of a new shock, I was in denial for some time - blaming the road quality and not enjoying the ride, but eventually took a crowbar to my wallet and bought a RAM shock - holy cow, what a difference! Goes to show that you don't realise how bad something has become until you replace it.

I also have played with the fork oil to see if that softens the ride - standard grade is 10W. Add a little less than the recommended amount and the ride is a little softer (less oil means more air in fork to compress and a spongier ride). When draining the oil, you need to ensure that it is all gone before adding the measured amount...otherwise you can, in effect, over fill the fork which, of course leads to a harder ride (more oil, less air, hard ride) which is not at all comfortable. When I experienced a hard ride, I tried blending 10W fork oil with 5W oil to give a less viscous 7.5W mix. This seemed to improve things and soften the ride again, but since then I have reverted back to 10W oil and to be honest, I didn't really notice any difference. I reckon that the hard ride I experienced before was probably down to overfilling (adding measured amount of new oil on top of a little residual oil left in the forks after draining) and was down to my inexperience rather than the oil viscosity.

I have no experience of progressive springs up front or the YSS rear shock though.

Now this is just what I was looking for. I know from working on my other bikes that the amount of oil is actually more important to the ride than the weight but they are mostly Japanese bikes from the 60's and 70's.My Moto Guzzi has  a unit that us MG guys refer to as screen door closers in the forks and just uses a little bit of ATF to act as   lubrication and the springs and those screen door closers do all the dampening . So now it's time to look into which of these shocks won't break the bank to have shipped to New York from Europe. I'll be changing the fork oil next week when I am mounting the new tires .Thanks for all the information guys. With any luck I'll have this bike all dialed in by late winter and she will be traveling next summer packed like my Moto Guzzi  heading someplace out in the world that I have yet to see .

I bought a Progressive 412 shock a month or so ago.  My story is almost identical to Born Again Eccentric; original shock slowly degrading to the point that riding wasn't fun any more.  I had planned on a 2500 km five day trip so decided to pull the trigger and replace the shock.  As the ride date was approaching fast I realized that delivery times would be important.  I decided on a Progressive 412 as it would arrive in time for the ride and the cost including delivery was reasonable.  Unfortunately the shock arrived at my house four hours after I left on the ride so I did 2500 kms on essentially no rear shock.

I installed the shock after I returned but have only put a couple of hundred kms on it since.  As mentioned by others, going from terrible to anything better is wonderful.  I am not into dragging my pegs/knees/elbows and most of the roads I ride on are usually well maintained.  Having never ridden a K with a high end shock I have very little to compare it to but the 412 suits me just fine, especially for the price.  

nvboy

Thanks for the input.I'm a traveler and like you not into pushing it to the limits in the curves. I like a nice comfy ride that I can get aggressive with when I feel like it. What I really need is something that can handle the weight of camping gear , tools,and all the other crap needed to live off the bike in a tent for extended periods of time but at the same time give me a good ride unloaded when I just want to have fun.

Sounds like you want a Nivomat OEM shock by Boge. Automatically adjusts according to load, self levelling and provides consistent ride height. And allsorts of other magical suspension related magic. I've always wanted to try one but I have never ever seen one for sale in OZ. Rarer than Yowie poo, but some one in the US might have one and give you a review.
Regards Martin.