Horns of Dilemas

I can't remember if - and I'm not going to trawl through my past posts to find out - I confessed to putting the 'Crowman' in a ditch fifteen months ago. In fact, it put me in the ditch!
I won't bore you with the details except to say it wasn't entirely my fault, neither the bike nor I was seriously damaged, there were several chaps with me who lifted both of us back on to the road and the bike started immediately on the button.

The thing is, I slightly fell out of love with it, having cracked/damaged the panel under the foot-board on one side, put a few significant scratches on other panels and cracked one wind-deflector in two (it's taped up with 200mph-tape and I will drill and attach a metal strap on the back in due course).
Add to that, while the bike was standing from May last year until March this year, the chrome on the rear shocks has deteriorated beyond the point of realistically reviving it.
I really wasn't up to doing anything about it then; the Move, chest and other problems pushed it far down the list of priorities.

I have been left a small legacy which I intend to spend on getting the bike back to a good standard for its age - riding with a couple of chaps from here  as well as my dream 300-mile ride from old home to new has almost fully-restored my love for it.

I will get it sorted at the Honda Dealer's close to where I live.

The main thing is the shocks: should I replace like with like or go down the Hagon route, knowing that they don't have any chrome on?
I don't want to upset anyone; I have never had any complaints about the Silverwing shocks. It's purely practical and cosmetic.

Please set aside financial considerations when offering an opinion. I have enough and I keep being told I can't take it with me!

I should value some thoughts and ideas.

I don’t recall you mentioning spilling your scoot. I’m glad to hear that you weren’t seriously injured.

My 2¢: Replace the shocks with whichever is less expensive. IIRC Hagon is/was less expensive than Honda. You could replace with OEM and restore the ride quality as original. Or you could replace with something different and be pleasantly surprised with an improved ride.

I don't think I was in a fit state to do anything at the time other than Move, Tim; it was all a bit much!

What you say makes absolute sense, of course.

I have no idea of the cost of Honda shocks so that aspect didn't enter my head.

I'll hunt around to see the price of Hagons.

I'm off for a ride with Steve on Wednesday; he has Hagons on his bike so I'll pick his brains.

I'll check his views on the ride the Hagons give as compared with the Honda ones.

Thank you very much for your wisdom, Tim.

You can contact Hagon direct; I did so a few months back and they were very easy to deal with, shipped the new shocks quickly and not too expensively. I've been very happy with them. As Tim says, they are much cheaper than OEM as well.
http://www.hagon-shocks.co.uk/

I'm facing the same dilemma. The guy I bought my machine from was big....really big, like 400-450 lbs. big. I won't hazard a guess as to what his Mrs. weighed, but with 5K miles, the rear shocks were toast. The smallest bump would cause the bike to bottom out-and the pre load was on 5! I'm going for the Hagons, but they won't get installed until it's winter here. A dear friend sent me her replaced stockers which I put on, and they are working great. Everyone I know of, that has gone to the Hagons, have been happy with them, so I'll do the same.

minimac wrote:

I'm facing the same dilemma. The guy I bought my machine from was big....really big, like 400-450 lbs. big. I won't hazard a guess as to what his Mrs. weighed, but with 5K miles, the rear shocks were toast. The smallest bump would cause the bike to bottom out-and the pre load was on 5! I'm going for the Hagons, but they won't get installed until it's winter here. A dear friend sent me her replaced stockers which I put on, and they are working great. Everyone I know of, that has gone to the Hagons, have been happy with them, so I'll do the same.

Oh Gee! Bruce for calling me a dear friend. Thank you.

I too felt the Hagon’s were an upgrade from the stock OEM’s. Along with the HyperPro springs I felt the Swing rode much smoother.

Thank you, Terry & Co.

As I said before, I have no gripe with the OEM shocks but cosmetics and now price prompted my questions.

This task may be one I don't give to the dealer; I had a kind offer on Sunday from another scootering friend - he rides a big Burger - to fit the shocks if and when I get them.
What a good community we belong to.

Mike, the Hagon shocks are a fair bit firmer than standard. That suits my riding style and two up work but might not be for you.
You can have a bounce on mine tomorrow and let me know what you think.

Thanks, Steve.
As you know I'm a fat git so extra spring may be good for me.

I look forward to having a bounce.

MikeO wrote:

Thanks, Steve.
I look forward to having a bounce.

OMG. This is beginning to sound like a Monty Python skit: “You want to come to my place, bouncey, bouncey?” ... “ Drop your panties Sir William, I can not wait ‘til lunchtime”

hahaha!

Do it yourself Mike & save a load of money from time saved by not removing a whole load of 'tupperware' just find a 'sparky' with a 25mm hole saw & a couple of blind grommets & see .....

Dimond wrote:

Right side access to bolt holding top of rear shock.



Left side access.



The 'white' in the photo is tape on the inside of the luggage compartment to better show the hole in the plastic.  The hole ID is just under an inch (0.95in) and, if I remember correctly, not big enough to pass the 'washer' that is under the bolt.  You can easily get a socket on this bolt to remove it - but need to fish the washer up inside the case - or you could make a bigger hole - which I did not want to do.  I covered my hole opening with duct tape - not classy - but effective and easy.  Someday I will search out a proper plastic/rubber hole plug.  The top the shock mounting slides laterally over a boss and there is just enough room to move it laterally to get it off without taking any plastic off the SWing.

Taken from original thread ..... https://www.silverwing600.com/t7271-rear-shocks

I very much appreciate your suggestion and the way to do it, my friend.
Certainly, if I decide to do it myself in the end I will follow your instructions.
However, a maxi-rider whom I have met several times and ridden with on one of Steve's Rides has been most insistent that he will do it for me!
Not one to refuse a good offer these days, I will almost certainly take him up on it. He 'does' motorbikes so I don't want to deny him the pleasure!

Of course, I will show him your excellent dodges to make the job much easier.

I regret not doing very much of this sort of thing now; the main excuse is that although I can get down on to the ground relatively easily, getting up again does prove difficult. Now if I had a proper bike-lift ..... !

Incidentally, Steve has offered me the OEM shocks he took off his Silverwing. The chrome on them is first-class so I won't have to look for after-market ones at good prices.

Sincere thanks again; I will keep everyone informed.

Mike, Bern’s post above covers the bodge I was talking about to get a torque wrench onto the top nut.
I did mine the hard way (full rear bodywork strip), if the shocks ever have to come off again I'm doing it the bodge way!

Somehow, I was able to remove/replace those top shock nuts using just an offset ring spanner (and patience) without any other disassembly. There's not a lot of torque required (22 Nm) so I was perfectly happy with tightness in the absence of a torque wrench.

I must admit Terry I do get a bit OCD about torque settings these days.
It all came about years back after a 'tight, tighter, tighter, oh f*** very slack' moment. The final humiliation came at the dealers when I ordered the replacement part and went down in the order book as 'Mr Rougharse'.

If the shocks were still working well enough I'd just remove them and paint them black and replace them back on the bike. Cheaper than replacing and would look like a lot of bikes that have all black shocks.

steve_h80 wrote:

I must admit Terry I do get a bit OCD about torque settings these days.

Me too; in the case of the top shock mounts, all the forces pass through the rubber grommets to the posts welded to the frame, and the bolts are only there to stop the grommets working sideways off the posts. Spanner tight was perfect in this case.

In truth it hadn't crossed my mind to paint them.

It occurs to me that having in mind that I have to look after the chrome will make me do just that; my neglect of my bike, although inevitable to some extent, was really not acceptable.