Preparing the Werewolf for the season.

[Bønne]

Finally got the Varadero out and washed!



While washing it, a lot of motorcycles passed, enjoing the fine weather. And in the afternoon Schou came by on the Crosstourer for a beer and a chat, so when finished, I thought; well, if everyone else can do it, I can do it too, despite the salt there might still be on the roads, I want to ride in the fine weather too! So I startet it up and took a ride to the kiosk at the Munkholm Bridge to buy a roasted pork burger and a beer, this was my first trip there this year.

So, now the Werewolf is on the road again!





I can´t say much about the suspension yet, as this was just a small trip at moderate speed, to make sure everything worked as it should.

[Grayfox]

Hi Bonne,

I can't believe that it's been a month and you still have nothing to say about that Ohlins :-)

Is it sooo good that you even can't find the words to describe it or so bad that you are simply ashamed to admit it ;-)

Jokes aside, I'd really want to hear your comments, so I can decide if I should spend the 800+ GBP on an Ohlins or on some nice sounding Scorpions.

[superfunkomatic]

Any updates on the suspension. I recently completed a long trip in the US and offroad parts, when the bike was fully loaded, does make the Varadero wallow and wander a bit - feels underspring in the rear shock. The Ohlins is the top of the line. I'm curious if it made a top of the line difference in your handling, especially since you also did the front springs.

[Bønne]

Yes, I know, I know, I owe you a feedback... as you can se, Grayfox has been after me ealier 
Here, after around 10000 km with the Öhlins, I can only say that I´m very, very happy and satisfied about it
Generally the bike is much more tight and precise in the handling and because of the more opportunities of adjustments than the original damper, I can adjust the bike to be totally neatral steering in the corners, together with optaining small bumps on the road much much better.
I´m also very happy that I decided to buy the front springs and fork oil too. I´ve always thought that the bike had a tendency to get heavy in the front when going through sharp corners, e.g. hairpins, but now it doesn´t, it just goes exactly the line I´ve planned  . I don´t think I´d have had the same interaction between the front and rear if I´d kept the original front springs.

If I should give any excuses not having written earlier, one reason is that from the mounting and until going to VCIM17, I only managed to do around 1800 km, and didn´t make any adjustments in that period. After VCIM17, I had something to catch up (so I didn´t have the time to write  ), and try some adjustments too, before I´d have a feeling of the differences.

My first impression was, with the pre-adjustment from Öhlins, that it was much harder than the original, and when I hit a bump on the road, I got a kick in my butt, but, as time went on, and VCIM17 came closer, I thought that I might try the pre-adjustment on my way to France with all the luggage on, to feel the difference. And, in fact, the kick in my butt disapeared, and the bike actually felt more precise with the load on it. On the trip, I, of cause, did some riding both with and without the luggage, so when home again I had an idea where to start changing the adjustments.
In the manual, there were some hints; if the bike feels like... adjust this, and if it feels like... adjust that. This seemed quite equal to my own thoughts about what to adjust, so I started by loosening the rebound one click at a time, until I didn´t get kicked in my butt anymore, then on to the compression and the spring preload.

At this moment I´m having the spring and the compression each two clicks harder than the pre-adjustment and the rebound three clicks softer.

As I ride the same 34 km to work every day (and back), with almost the same riding stile I think, from a small country road with poor tarmac, to a good conditioned highway, some speedbumps, and a very nice 110 km/h  , curve just before my work, I could feel the differences from day to day as I made the adjustments. One day on my way home on the small country road, I noticed that in a curve to the right I didn´t end up in the left side of the road as I used to, but only in the middle. At home I adjusted one more click in the same direction as my previous adjustment, and the next day I kept the bike in the right side of the road through that same curve  .

Of cause I cannot make it optain a speedbump, but as mentioned before, opposite the original damper, small bumps and minor imperfections gets optained now so that I barely feel them, I think this is due to the rebound adjustment, an option the original didn´t have.

Another thing I´ve noticed is that at heavy acceleration, the rear doesn´t get pulled down as it did before and it feels as the acceleration gets more concrete.
In fact, last weekend on my way to a meeting, I caught up with some other bikes behind a truck. The bikes started to overtake the truck one by one, but the last one, a 650 V-Strom, made the same mistake every time he tried to overtake, so I decided that the next time he did that, I´d overtake both him and the truck! So, I did, went to the left in what must have been 4th. gear and full throttle, but then thought, I need to go faster, so I took it down to third and again full throttle, and now we went ahead, went to 4th. again and felt a bump in the front... when the frontwheel touched the road again  . I didn´t notice it raising the front, as it didn´t get pulled down in the rear, the front just raised with the acceleration  .
Having said that, I think that the reason why the acceleration was so heavy, I think I can ascribe to the PowerCommander  .
(think I have an unfinished busines here too  )

[superfunkomatic]

Good feedback. Is it worth the money in your opinion? It's a lot of money to do front and back.

[zebulon]

this is due to the rebound adjustment, an option the original didn´t have.

Thank you Ole, nice report! Notice since 2007 ABS models have rebound adjust.

[Bønne]

... since 2007 ABS models have rebound adjust.

You´re right Zebulon, it´s the compression-adjustment that´s missing on the original damper (mine is a 2008VA model)

Is it worth the money in your opinion?

Depends on, do you calculate keeping the bike, or do you plan to change it to the new Africa Twin next spring

If you plan to keep it for years/many kilometers, then yes, I think it´s worth the money, it´s a very different and much better bike to ride now and as the damper can be renovated you actually have the Öhlins for the rest of your bikes life. And for the fork springs, I think the price for these are the smallest part and I´m very happy that I changed them too.

But, if you plan to change bike in a year or two, I´d look for a cheaper solution.

[superfunkomatic]

Cool. I plan to keep the bike for a while. It's on my list of things to do in the future then. Thanks for sharing.

[Nysse]

Hi Bønne,
Did you change to 8 or 8,5 N/mm fork springs? Is the oil included?

//Åke

[Bønne]

Hi Nysse.

According to an old mail from when ordering the stuf, it´s Öhlins partnumber 08725-85 I ordered. This should be the ones at 8,5 N/mm, and the oil was not included, but was in stock at the dealer.

[Nysse]

@Bønne
I just bought a second hand Öhlins rear chock and having problem to mount it.  Your pictures on your mounting is missing. Can you repost them or email them to me?

[Bønne]

Hi Nysse.

Yes, I´ll post them again, so you´ll get the pictures and the text linked together again.

Of some strange reason, Facebook, were I have my pictures linked from, seems to change adresses on the pictures now and then, resulting in the pictures disapearing from here, as the adresses doesn´t match anymore 

[Bønne]

Done 

[Nysse]

Hi Bønne
Thanx. I got it. But I did't realise that the rebund adjuster fits on the right side. Need to look at that tomorrow.

[Bønne]

Hi Nysse.

The adjuster mounted to the footrest bracket on the right side is not the rebound adjustment, but the hydralic spanner adjustment for the spring preload.
The rebound damping adjuster is the black plastic wheel at the buttom of the damper.
The black knob on the end of the reservoir is the compression damping adjuster.

When adjusting, all three adjustments are at the hardest when turned fully clockwise.

The ground setup for the Varadero is:
Spring preload: fully anticlockwise.
Compression: fully clockwise and then 10 click anticlockwise.
Rebound: fully clockwise and then 14 click anticlockwise.

My settings:
Spring preload: 2 click clockwise (from fully anticlockwise).
Compression: fully clockwise and then 7 click anticlockwise.
Rebound: fully clockwise and then 16 click anticlockwise.

When adjusting, start from ground setup and then make one adjustment at a time. And write down the adjustments you make, so that you can easily go back if it doesn´t feel right. I made a table in Word to write my adjustments in to.

Good luck and enjoy!