Toying with the idea of getting a set of Öhlins forks and a rear shock for my 848 Evo. I know they're not gonna be cheap. These along with a slipper clutch would make the bike as close to perfect as it gets I reckon. Will any from the **98S range be a straight swap? Also - are there any reputable breakers / dealers in the UK that would keep them and what else needs to be changed to do the conversion?
I put a 1098S Ohlins in my 848 Evo and tbh it didn't make a huge difference, the bike was still woefully oversprung. I would probably look to fit a cartridge kit such as K-Tech into the forks and a perhaps a Nitron/K-Tech/Maxton rear shock set up for your weight, this would be the best set up for the money I think. Ohlins is great stuff, but there is work to do to get 1098s forks to fit and you may as well just spend that on a cartridge kit and re-valve.
Thanks for the replies. I had contacted Maxton and explained that I wound the proload off as much as I could and could only get 5mm of sag on the rear. They offer a fork conversion service to counter the lack of rebound damping and reduce the amount of compression damping that involves revalving the forks and fitting springs tailored to rider weight. They also replace the hydraulic bump stops with a progressive spring stop and increase the range of damping adjustment The big problem on the 848 is the rear shock. As he explained: "the standard spring fitted to the unit is too soft for the average rider weight making the back of the bike sit down under power. The bigger problem is the unit has too much compression damping. This makes the ride very harsh and hard. Unfortunately we do not revalve and respring the Showa unit and fitting a different spring gives more support but makes the ride even harder. We recommend replacing the unit. We supply our GP10 Maxton unit for the 848. The GP10 unit is a fully adjustable shock absorber via a shim stack system, it has a spring measured to suit your rider weight and for what purpose the bike is used for. The unit is also adjustable for preload, rebound damping and high and low speed compression damping. The unit is a GP10 piggy back remote unit like an Ohlins and costs £740.00 + V.A.T" It's all food for thought as I'm weighing up my options.
I would agree with the comments about the rear shock mate, JHS tried with mine and got just over 5mm which was terrible, the standard Ohlins unit fitted to the 1098s seems to be limited in how much u can get also. I would say for around £1000 you are looking at a really spot on set up if u go down this route. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have a TTX36 rear shock and FGRT813 forks in my 848, the linkage is the issue with the rear, a new eye for the TTX is required and a revised linkage to match, talk to Dan Kyle he sorts a kit, fork wise the FGRT forks need work for the road, they are harsh, I still need to revalve mine to get them as smooth as the OEM Showas, forks are amazing but just not as soft as I need, high speed damping is just too harsh! Same goes for my TTX, been re shimmed already but still harsh. I run BST wheels and even though many will say that you don't need to correct suss I disagree, with less mass the shock becomes more aggressive IMO, anyhow, if you change don't think it's the end of it all is all I am trying to say, sometimes it adds up to 60 clicks more hassle lol, the setting with the Showa shock wound right off, OEM Spring, 3 or so clicks of compression damping was great! Same with the Showa forks, they don't respond like the Ohlins but back off the compression and check your sag and it's all good IMO with little money spent in my case, I am 11 stone btw, I often reflect on that and still have not found such a good setting, perhaps it was that the roads have got so much worse over the last five years who knows...... Anyway these days I spend more time looking at my bike than riding it
I'm surprised to hear the pre-load was that bad. Mine was rock hard out the box, but once wound off I could get the sag in , which improved the ride no end. Was the compression also wound back?
Is the OPs bike one owner from new, has it been resrung before? As Nelson said mine was in range once preload was fully wound off, ideally I would respring it and set the preload somewhere in the middle and would like sag in that range rather than just wound right off, fear not and just wind it all right off, check how it feels by hand with no comp, then full comp, shock may be ferked?
I fitted an Ohlins off a 1098 to my 848 and it didn't make much difference / improvemt. Had the forks and Ohlins revalved at Reactive and it is now spot on.
@nelly has some ohlins forks in for sale. When I bought my 848, it already had the 1*98 ohlins forks on, so I can't compare... What did make a massive difference was adding the ttx shock and ride height adjuster. Made it miles better.
You could ask Ducati dealer WM Snell as they sold around 8, 848 bikes fitted with Ohlins front and rear from a 1098s complete with the carbon extras when new, as people were asking them are Ducati going to make an 848s, so they came up with this idea as an extra option, i brought one two years ago from them a 2010 848, and they had stickers made for it.
