The curious case of the self disassembling shock

[Meeni]

Hey guys,

I noticed that my rear shock was not behaving right. Sure enough, I took a look, and the adjuster shaft was hanging there like a sorry asparagus.

So I removed the handle and the plastic clicker assembly. The main adjuster shaft is loose, and I can't get it to thread back in.



Unfortunately, documentation on servicing that shock is scarce to say the least, so any ideas are welcome! That little hole in the backplate is used to further disassemble? Should I worry about springy things springing in my face?

[Lowndes]

Meeni,

You might call Ted Porter at The Beemer Shop: https://www.beemershop.com/

He is very helpful on all things related to suspension, doesn't matter the brand or where you got it. Leave him a message and he will call back.

You didn't give the year, model, miles, or where you are, etc, but it looks like a box stock R11S (still has the carbon canister). If there are more than 40K miles on the shocks, it's time to consider replacing the stock units. You would be amazed at the difference good units make.

Let us know what you find!!

[Chris Canning]

Certainly isn’t stock 1100s because they are blue and come in at 315mm.

With the yellow spring which were considered(cough) the sport shock could be any length early versions were 318mm,BM had a spell of 310mm with the short para arm and then various Boxercup were mid 220.

Regardless their junk produced in Spain at $50 each so that gives you some idea of the quality over the years their have been some folks prepared to break into them but increasingly rare,if cost is a hurdle look secondhand on eBay or ask on here just check the length but as already been said even the most basic aftermarket shock will be a league better.

[Meeni]

R11S 2004, The shock unit is a Showa B0142 (made in japan) (BMW p/n xxx 660 624). It has 25k miles on it. No leaks.

[Chris Canning]

The part you are looking at maybe we’ll have such on it but I can assure you the shock is a product of Spain even if one part came from Japan.

25000 miles? It’s certainly seen better days not that they were any good in the first place

Although oddly I like the front never been keen on the longer aftermarket options upsets the balance of the bike unless you go very tall at the back like the very last Boxercups.

[Nitro]

Stock sport suspensions had yellow springs.

[lennie]

I had the stock yellow springs in my 1998 R1100S and they were Showas.

I had mine rebuilt by a reputable suspension service here in Sydney and had Gold Valve installed and shimmed the shocks internally to shorten the front and lengthen the rear. I had the remote compression damping reservoir fitted to the rear and was able to tune the suspension to suit my style. Along with the short paralever arm it turned in fast on the slow speed and was stable in the faster curves as well. This is an option and you can get the shocks setup for exactly for you.

[Chris Canning]

Jeez i’d Be typing all night but any newbies to the1100s if you do no other home work about the bike do some on suspension because over the years for what ever reason BM messed about with suspension lengths and as the years have gone on I dread to think how many bikes out there have mixed up shocks.

If you have a blue springed rear shock then it’s an absolute dead cert it measures 315mm that was BM’s stock length shock if you have a yellow spring shock frankly it could be anything.

We got the bike in September 98 the only way you could have yellow shocks was to buy the SS kit it caused a riot for obvious reasons and was very quickly called the Super Sport option they came in at 318mm but years later you could buy a stock bike with yellow rear shock at 310mm but their ain’t no 315mm yellow spring shocks unless some one has painted them at a later date.

The fronts also vary

The search button on here is your best friend theirs a full shock list somewhere.

[ckcarr]

You didn't give the year, model, miles, or where you are, etc, but it looks like a box stock R11S (still has the carbon canister).

"Box stock" means different things in different years and different configurations of the 80,000 R1100S units produced.

Of course there's 50 ways to cook an egg, but in the end it's still an egg (in the BMW world).

[Meeni]

I'm pretty certain that the shock is the stock unit the bike left the factory with. I had this bike for many years, it was almost new when I got it (5k miles or so).

I'm not super interested in replacing the unit, as it's expensive and so far I have been satisfied enough with performance. What I'd really like is look behind that adjuster plate to see if the bike is safe to ride. Last thing I want is a collapsing strut mid corner. If it doesn't adjust anymore, so be it. I ride solo 98% anyway.

[spacetiger]

Another option is to buy another stock shock (not expensive) and disassemble that shock to recover the preload adjuster and swap that over to replace the one you have that has come apart.

Since you have the springs off both, you can verify the damping functionality of each shock and go with the best one.

Yes, not the best, but the least expensive option.

Jerry