[jermoe]

Hello all,

Was hoping to gather advice/opinions on my situation. Tried search and nothing came up with my particular situation.

Bike is 2010 Streetfighter S with 9500 miles. I'm 3rd owner and I acquired it at 6k miles.

My rear end suspension seems locked up. The shock barely compresses (or not at all) and the ride is harsh and bumpy in the rear. I tried compressing the shock by jumping on the seat and it maybe compressed a MM or 2 (I recorded--it's hilarious). I leaned the bike on it's sidestand to have the wheel off the ground and the shock didn't extend and didn't compress when I set the bike back down.

I did research and it seems it might be either 3 things--swingarm bearings seized, rocker arm suspension bearings, or the actual shock absorber itself needs servicing.

I set the bike on floor jacks under the rearsets to have the weight off the rear. I removed the pivot bolt to the suspension rocker arm and the swingarm/wheel dropped and moved freely up and down. I tried moving the swingarm/wheel side to side and there wasn't significant amount of play. From the research I did (mainly results from dirtbikes and other street bikes), I feel relieved because I hear if the swingarm pivot bearings were bad, the swingarm would not drop when I removed the linkage bolt and there would be significant amount of play moving the swingarm left and right.

So my question(s):

Am I right about the swingarm pivot bearings not being the issue? Does it seem like it's the linkage bearings on the rocker arm? From researching, I feel there's a low chance it's the shock absorber but I'm not going to leave that possibility out--there's no obstructions in the spring.

I can't believe I overlooked cleaning and greasing these bearings in all bikes I've owned. I just never paid attention because it wasn't in the maintenance schedule. I hope people learn how important it is after reading about my issue.

 

[gws]

I saw that same thing happen one time when one of the rear shock adjusters rotated on a friends bike closed and was not letting any fluid flow. The shock was like a brick and totally locked up the rear suspension, but as soon as the adjuster was backed off a little the shock worked and compressed like the day it was built. Likely not your problem, but check that the shock adjusters have not become closed before you dive too deep into other things. Who knows how those things rotate sometimes, but I once came out to my RC51 and some dude was turning the external pre-load! lol

 

[jermoe]

I saw that same thing happen one time when one of the rear shock adjusters rotated on a friends bike closed and was not letting any fluid flow. The shock was like a brick and totally locked up the rear suspension, but as soon as the adjuster was backed off a little the shock worked and compressed like the day it was built. Likely not your problem, but check that the shock adjusters have not become closed before you dive too deep into other things. Who knows how those things rotate sometimes, but I once came out to my RC51 and some dude was turning the external pre-load! lol

Thanks for this because hmm—I didn’t even think about that. It might be a possibility since it is like a brick. Which adjuster did he/she back off? Compression?

I did adjust a good number of times the compression and rebound but obviously it didn’t do anything but I can fiddle around more with it. This is the first rear fully adjustable ohlins I’ve owned. I’m gonna check on the reservoir possibly leaking because I did see some dirt build up around the base of it.


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[gws]

I think the compression was the dial that was closed but I am not sure anymore. Worth making sure all of the adjusters at least 3-4 turns off of closed.