Adventure Rider Training

This is a bit of a retrospective look at the Wilburs shocks as I have been using them now for a couple of years on my 1100GS. However that gives some depth to the review. I purchased the units from Steve at Suspension Improvements. His workshop is unit 3 / 49 Randall St, Slacks Creek. (07) 32080082. Great guy, knows his stuff and as you will see in the is article, more than happy to customise the setup to suit your needs.

As anyone who has ridden one knows, the stock suspension on the GS is good (for about 10 minutes). After any more than that it gets prertty loose and if used enthusiastically, will wear out very quickly. Most of the stock gear (Showa OEMs them) will be shot by 50,000km if the bike gets any real use at all. My first GS was showing 90,00km on the clock when I bought it so it was only just run in, apart from the shocks which had been rebuilt and were still in good condition. The valving was probably stock but the oil was definitely not and the ride was firm but not harsh and they seemed to soften when they got hot to a pretty usable rate. The poor old dear was becoming a very close friend and I was really disappointed when I wrote her off after a high-side on a corner that was splashed with diesel from a friendly local's 4WD. Don't know why but farmers tend to be pretty cavalier with their fuel caps where I live!!! Anyhow, old dear was replaced ironically with another beast of same year AND colour! This one however had 80k odd kms on it and original shocks. They were 'shagged'. So after some research narrowed down the options to Wilburs, WP or Ohlins and being one who likes the road less traveled, thought I'd try the Wilburs. Not that there is anything wrong with WP or Ohlins but you don't learn anything from doing the same old thing and there is plenty of people out there on GSA's that wear WP OEM and likewise plenty of other Ohlins customers who all sing the same song.

The Wilburs were ordered from Steve and were a smidge under the Ohlins RRP. The standard Wilburs deal is you give the retailer the details of the Bike (obviously), Your weight, pillion or not and how often, luggage (average) and type of use (Scratching, A road touring, bush bashing) and they determine the spring rate and valving required to suit you. Great idea, probably works for most street applications but what I mean when I say dirt and what they mean by dirt are obviously two completely different things. I won't go into details on fitting as there are plenty of blow by blow how-to's with photos on the net. Albeit to say you can have them on in about an hour without too much trouble. Rear goes on easy, Front requires tank removal and the holding of the tongue in just the right place, oh and a piece of skirting board or the like under the front wheel to prevent stretching the brake lines when you undo the front shock!!

Steve had the units to me in a couple of weeks and I had them on within a day of receiving them. The factory setup was not quite right for the bike let alone me. There was not enough static sag on the rear at all. The bike could be pulled of the center stand and onto the wheels and the rear shock did not give at all! This did not bode well for the rest of the process. Needless to say the dynamic sag was too little as well. With me on the bike I was using only 35mm of the 190mm of rear travel. I like to see about 1/3 so I was expecting about 60-70mm sag! This is all with NO preload at all. The front was perfect which was a bit strange, maybe my GS was 20 kg lighter in the hind quarters than stock??

I decided to go with it and see how it rode. As with the sag, the front was great, plush but not soft, damping was probably a little harsh for my taste, I like as little rebound as possible, I wound it down to about 6 clicks from nothing and that was good. The rear damping was the same story as the sag. It was like they got my shock mixed up with someone else, it would probably be right for an 1150 GSA. The high speed compression was WAAAAY to aggressive. That was obvious from the get go but I rode it for about 15 minutes to let it warm up and it did not make any difference. I stopped and wound it back a click or two on a couple of occasions but it seemed to make no difference. I eventual had the high speed wound all the way out to nothing and it was still TOO hard. No point in continuing, if the high speed is not right then the low speed settings can never be right.

On the phone to Steve and explained my plight, he checked the factory specs for my bike and me and conformed that the order details were right and it should be OK. We agreed that I would send the rear back to him and he would check it out. A couple of days later he called and confirmed that the spring length, rate and valving were all to spec. I said well that spring can't be right and had him order me a shorter unit with a lower rate, 15kg/mm down from the stock spec of 16kg/mm. I asked him to ease the high speed shim stack off for me also so he took it back by 2mm from 18 to 16.

The shock arrived home with alternate spring fitted and stock supplied spring accompanying, I threw it on and headed back out. It was obvious as soon as I rolled it off the center stand that the spring was right. I was seeing 15mm of static and 55mm dynamic. Not what I expected but with some use it would sag a bit more so I was OK with that. On the road though the high speed was still way TOO hard. I soon had it backed off to nothing and was still getting a nasty kick up the backside on any corrugations I hit. Came home and called Steve again and he was astonished that it was still too hard. He asked me every way he could to explain what I was feeling and it always cam back to the high speed being too aggressive. Finally he said, "Put 20-25kg of weight on the back, go for a ride and tell me if that feels better". I got some dumbbell weights from the gym and put them in a backpack, strapped them to the back seat and off I went. "That's it!!" I proclaimed to myself as I rode over all the same terrain I had been testing on over that past month or so. It was exactly what I was expecting out of the box. I fed that back to Steve and that told him exactly what shim stack he needed to fit. The shock was dispatched to him that day and I got it back two days later.

The moment of truth was upon me and as I rode down my driveway I could tell that it was spot on. After an hour or so of fiddling I eventually found the settings that were right (for solo riding) and they were in the beginning (less than 6 clicks out of 22) of the range of adjustment, GREAT!! So after all that what was my feeling?

The quality of the units themselves is evident to anyone who knows anything about metallurgy and machining. They are very pleasing to the eye, typical German quality. The rear unit was optioned with remote high/low speed reservoir and hydraulic preload adjuster. They were attached to the end of exactly the right length of hose so that they mounted perfectly in the desired positions on the rear footpeg frames. Making access for adjusting a breeze on a ride and leaving the units in a protected position for the gnarly stuff in the bush. The range of adjustment is sufficient that I can have the perfect setup whether I'm solo in my favourite local tracks, giving the wife or kids a lift to the shop, going for a day ride with some gear or going on a trip with the kitchen sink 2up. can't ask for more than that.

I have had the units for nearly two years and have put about 45,000km on the bike with them fitted. This is about 20,00km of average dirt, 20,000km of B roads and scratching and a good 5,000km of totaly insane bush bashing and outback corrugated goat tracks. I have never found a situation where I couldn't dial in the right settings for the terrain, keeping in mid that sometimes the trail throws things at you that you can't expect anything to just shrug off. The old 1100s have a week sub-frame setup and the shocks have saved me from situations where I was sure I would break it. It will land from about 1/2 meter of air without bottoming if its setup for the bush at the time. There seems to be no fade or change in action that I have been able to achieve, but I'm no crusty demon! On the hot mix I can chase R1's and the odd Ducati and raise some eyebrows so all in all they are very good quality, performance is excellent and the range of adjustment is such that you can explore the capability of your bike and not have suspension hold you back.

My verdict. Buy some, you won't regret it!