Penske 8900E

[ozzieboy]

My new shock has arrived, I've installed it and got it pretty close to setup (maybe a click or two to go).

Not too shabby, I must say. The rear has a much more planted feel on the gas now, and I didn't touch a peg for the whole day today.

There does seem to be a the little matter of the front seeming to come up easier now, especially out of a turn, but I think I can live with that...lol.

Everything was straight forward, the to the door price was $800-ish Au, and it can be upgraded later with remote. (The double clicker FTW 'cause our roads are so bumpy, I'll need the high speed compression adjuster).

If you're looking for a not too expensive way to get a better rear shock, this is probably it I reckon. Height adjustment, Rebound damping adjustment, and later on a choice of high and low speed or just the single compression adjustment.

I'll get some pics later...lol...too busy riding it today

 

[Hellgate]

Is that shock the da bomb, or what OZ? For the price you can't beat it with a stick! I'm glad you like it so far.

I've got about 850 miles on mine so far and the bike is night and day. My wife and I went for a quick 100 mile ride last Saturday over twist roads and the bike was completly planted. Over chattery surfaces I simply gave a sinister laugh and twisted the throttle. :woot:

 

[Buildercher]

One good thing with the Penske that the Ohlins doesn't have, height adjustment. Once set-up your tyres will wear better, are you doing the front?.

 

[ozzieboy]

Is that shock the da bomb, or what OZ? For the price you can't beat it with a stick! I'm glad you like it so far.

I've got about 850 miles on mine so far and the bike is night and day. My wife and I went for a quick 100 mile ride last Saturday over twist roads and the bike was completly planted. Over chattery surfaces I simply gave a sinister laugh and twisted the throttle. :woot:

I got them to set it up for 90kgs/198lbs and I'm still at 94kgs, but falling. After installation, I went riding today, and it was wallowing and standing up so I very roughly adjusted the spring preload while I had my cuppa and then went and got on it.....hard...lol. The hardest I've gone on the road so far on this bike. Felt good but I have to be careful at the moment, as the roads are cold, and covered with an almost imperceptible layer of sludge and moss. Still destroying my tire, but only towards the centre of it, 'cause I do a lot of turns in first and it just spins up so much...lol. If I go minus 1 on the front and use second, this will stop.....although I like the way it pulls out of a turn in first...lol.

One good thing with the Penske that the Ohlins doesn't have, height adjustment. Once set-up your tyres will wear better, are you doing the front?.

As for the front. I'm going to work on getting it all spot on, and then riding it nice and hard on warmer roads, come summer, and I'll make my mind up then. I reckon I will upgrade, but it's not too urgent. In the meantime, I'm gonna work on wearing out these Pure's and then I might go a BT003 pair for a laugh:Rockon:. I'm wanting to do a track day now, but I might hold off until I've got my offset plates made up for my rearsets (got the material, just need to spend a few hours in the man cave fabbing up to fit).

I didn't do the Eagle today, which is the easiest road known to man for scraping pegs, but I'll get up there soon and see how hard it is to get a peg on the deck. I'm hoping I have to really work for it. This will mean that with some offset plates for my rearsets I should be able to a track day without scraping.

I did notice that the height it's set at is lower than the stocky (not much) and that this made turn in a little slower, which is why I went harder into turns, so that the front compressed more and it tipped in easier...lol. I might have to lower the front a few mm to match. Don't want to put my pegs too close to the road though...lol.

 

[FZ1inTX]

Sounds like what I'll be asking for for Xmas then! Thanks for all the great input and keep it coming.

Mike, I dropped the front 10mm and OH BOY! She turns back on herself in a heartbeat! I may have to bring it back up to about 6mm because it seems to be too easy falling over into the corner....

 

[ozzieboy]

Sounds like what I'll be asking for for Xmas then! Thanks for all the great input and keep it coming.

Mike, I dropped the front 10mm and OH BOY! She turns back on herself in a heartbeat! I may have to bring it back up to about 6mm because it seems to be too easy falling over into the corner....

Yeah, I'm thinking around 3mm. This should sharpen it up to how it was before without going overboard. I do some 'tracks' where high speed stability is pretty important (240kmph/150mph through a turn kind of roads...er...I mean tracks...lol) and with a naked at those sorts of speeds you need the front to be pretty stable...lol.

 

[scottyd]

Hey Ozzie, does your new shock make a big difference on the rough roads? up here past newcastle we have a lot of crap roads...

 

[ozzieboy]

Hey Ozzie, does your new shock make a big difference on the rough roads? up here past newcastle we have a lot of crap roads...

LOL...yup, I know that feeling. Most of the folk I ride with moan about me taking them down bumpy, skinny little backroads.....newsflash! They're all bumpy skinny little backroads in the hills, full of patches, branches, gravel, mud and moss...lol.

It will try to throw you out of the seat on the big bumps as usual, but for the rest, it feels a lot more firmly in touch with the road. There is a corrugated bitumen road (bitumen laid straight over the corrugations...lol) up a hill out of Clarendon, so all the weight is on the rear, and it is really nasty. Yesterday, I didn't even notice it. Admittedly I was zooming, which always makes it feel smoother, but it felt loads better.

I also nailed a crest corner, and got air, mid turn heading from Strath to Goolwa, and it handled that just fine.....more than I can say for me..lol. I usually try to keep it on the ground through turns...lol...so I puckered for a sec:kuku:.

I just finished setting the sag, and I had it really very close yesterday doing it by feel at a cuppa stop. I've gone 1 click lower in rebound damping, 'cause I'm heavier than it is set up for, and as soon as it stops raining long enough I'll head out again.:bowdown:

 

[scottyd]

Thanks for that. I'm just a novice rider, so I'm still learning a lot about my riding. I've been reading Keith Code's books and have been learning alot out of those.
I'm mainly looking at things that will keep me upright on the bike, so suspension is one of them, but I have to also consider that my novice rider style may not take advantage of expensive suspension upgrades yet... so I'm just checking it all out and asking questions and enjoying reading everyones experiences...

 

[Krispy1]

I found the best way to learn was to follow a faster rider but not pushing beyond your abilities.

 

[Buildercher]

Track days are excellent for rider learning & training, take your time & go at your own pace and learn technique, lines & braking. Push your bike to the limits safely, you will become a better road rider. Important, make sure you ride to the level of grip you have!!!, for example, touring tyres will grip but wont give you any warning before they let go. You get used to a level of grip and personally i can't go back to the sport/touring tyres.

 

[ozzieboy]

Following some experienced riders you trust is definitely a good way to learn.

Track days are another, and has the added benefit of no psycotic cagers trying to ruin your day.

I like to head out solo and do a road repeatedly, slowly working my way up to ramming speed...so to speak...This way you learn the road, your bike and your tires, progressively without pushing it.


Lowered the front about 2mm, and it is the perfect height now.

Backed off the rear rebound one click and the back of the bike no longer exists..lol...it is perfectly smooth and even over the roads I tried (roads just dried out for an hour or so). Need to tweak the front a smidgeon, but the rear is setarty0011:.

View attachment 3034
The new shock:cloud9:

View attachment 3035
The chain lube and goo from riding on wet roads...DOH!:spank2:

View attachment 3036
The lowered front:blowing_kisses:

Phone pics. Camera not charged.

 

[scottyd]

I think I might save up for a set of leathers and go do a few track days later this year then. I looked at Eastern Creek and they even have the California Superbike School running there too! Might have to go to that one day as well!

 

[Buildercher]

I think I might save up for a set of leathers and go do a few track days later this year then. I looked at Eastern Creek and they even have the California Superbike School running there too! Might have to go to that one day as well!

Eastern Creek would be awesome!!!, i am lucky as i live close to Taupo which has an international race-track and it is fairly $ cheap. Former WSB champ Freddy Merkle from USA lives in NZ now and does rider training in Taupo. I personally haven't done one of his workshops so far, but i have followed him on the track for about 10-15mins to learn his lines. It is awesome to have a rider of that calibre spending time training novice racers and average riders.

 

[ozzieboy]

I think I might save up for a set of leathers and go do a few track days later this year then. I looked at Eastern Creek and they even have the California Superbike School running there too! Might have to go to that one day as well!

A mate did The Cali SBK school thing at PI and reckoned it was awesome.

Me personally...I just wanna get on PI..lol.

 

[scottyd]

A mate did The Cali SBK school thing at PI and reckoned it was awesome.

Me personally...I just wanna get on PI..lol.

Yep I'm hearin' you guys, I've been thinking about riding and tracks, etc... and I can't wait to get on a track!

And... I'd love to be taught by Keith Code himself!

 

[FZ1inTX]

After the ride I had up north a week ago, I know I need this shock. I was coming through a long sweeper up a hill where all traffic was in the slow lane and I thought... "Jeez! They all immediately moved over just for me?!?!?" Well, THEY knew something I didn't.... I was in a spirited run and it was like a washboard in the passing lane! I thought all my teeth were going to rattle out of my head! The bike was all over the place and I gassed it harder to overtake the last two cars and get the hell out of that lane.

I already knew the stocker was not great but that was an eye opener....

 

[998Razer]

After the ride I had up north a week ago, I know I need this shock. I was coming through a long sweeper up a hill where all traffic was in the slow lane and I thought... "Jeez! They all immediately moved over just for me?!?!?" Well, THEY knew something I didn't.... I was in a spirited run and it was like a washboard in the passing lane! I thought all my teeth were going to rattle out of my head! The bike was all over the place and I gassed it harder to overtake the last two cars and get the hell out of that lane.

I already knew the stocker was not great but that was an eye opener....

Ive ridden a friends 05 gsxr600, it had showa suspension on the front end, they were so good you could take 15kph speed bumps at 35kph without getting off the throttle now!. I know its an oranges to apples comparison but still..

 

[scottyd]

Ya know, I thought if I spend the extra money and buy a new bike I would get a better bike than something older so i won't need to upgrade stuff. Ah what a fool am I! But I've gotta be at a better starting point on a new bike than an old one? Surely!

 

[ozzieboy]

Update.

Now that I've got it all sorted out, and the roads are starting to warm up, I've discovered that I'm back to scraping pegs again....just going faster through turns...lol...I thought this might happen so I've got some aluminium squirreled away to make up some rearset offset plates, to gain some more clearance.

The other thing I've noticed (and this is the more important part) is that after doing 50% of Lobethal road hard (very tight, and a little bumpy, for 20km)the rear starts to wallow bigtime. Oil is getting too hot. Time to upgrade to the double clicker on the remote reservoir I think.

Of course Lobie Road does give it a work outarty0011:

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