Only Rear Shock ?

[simoncharles]

Has anyone ONLY changed the rear, either Ohlins or Wilbers, shock on his bike ?.

If so, do you regret not changing the front one as well, or haven´t you noticed a difference.

All opinions welcome.

Thanks

[simongs]

My front shock was the worst...mirror's trying to fall off when you hit bumps, flinching when you knew a bump was coming..that got old quick.

I also believe the stock shocks were responsible for cracking my exhaust manifold (fixed under warranty when I had the dealer install the new shocks at about 24k miles).

I'd do em both, you'll love the ride.

In addition, the slow speed handling improvements with the ohlins was worth the price of admission.

I haven't owned one single bike that I haven't upgraded the suspension on and I've never regretted it, excluding my 06 K12S since it only has a couple thou on the odo.

regards...geo

[bmwrubbercow]

If the rear stock shock is gone, the front is almost surely about gone too. The stock shocks don't last very long and they are not cheap to replace with more of the same. Do them both. And go with a better and rebuildable shock. The Ohlins or the Wilbers are tops.

[rmg08057]

Simon

Sorry, my Wilbers are on both front and back. Of course, hearsay has it, and you know from your question that if you only had to change one, you'd change the back as providing the biggest effect on the handling.

I will note that prior to changing, I had dropped my mirrors probably 4-5 times including one very public moment in NYC. Since then, 60k+ miles and they've never come off (touch wood).

[SilverBuffalo]

A lot of that would depend on you and your riding style,
The 05 LT is the first bike I've ever had with Ohlins and it does handle very well,
much better than the 02 I totaled with 32K on the clock.
If you listen to some of the guys on this forum,
you'll be replacing your shocks as soon as you get the bike,
I doubt if I would do that, especially because of the cost involved.

On the other side of the coin I just read where Don Arthur
(a very well respected high mileage rider)
didn't change out the shocks until he had 150,000 miles on his LT.
http://www.donarthur.net/

[JATownsend]

Has anyone ONLY changed the rear, either Ohlins or Wilbers, shock on his bike ?.

If so, do you regret not changing the front one as well, or haven´t you noticed a difference.

All opinions welcome.

Thanks
To answer your question. Yes!

My rear shock failed (Read: Broke off at the top bracket) in SD this summer. I had a rear Ohlins installed at Bak BMW in Iowa. The ride improved... more stability, slightly plusher, better control through dips and coming hard out of corners.

I still have my stock front shock. 49,500 miles. I am planning on upgrading it to an Ohlins as well...BUT, the rear made more of a difference than I suspected...and now the front really feels better too!

Perhaps, the Light Truck is so tail heavy that there is a significantly greater need for a more dynamic REAR shock than a front?

Anyway, don't sweat it...change the rear and you'll enjoy it. Change the front when you want or need to.

[simoncharles]

Thanks for all the replies so far.

The reason I asked was because both myself and a friend are going to change our shocks, but he was not convinced that it was neccesary to change the front one.

Seeing that his bike is a 2001, and having read the above comments, he has now decided to change both.

[kdog]

I got most of my improvement on my front shock. I know this because it arrived a couple of months before my rear shock did and I installed it right away. The difference with the front shock was amazing. Potholes that used to make me cringe, basically vanished. The compliance in the shock made a marked improvement on how the tire stuck to rough pavement in corners. The rear shock made a big improvement as well, only not as dramatic as the front. At least for me.

Regards,
-joel