OK, so I've finally admitted to myself that I'm a bit too portly for the standard springs fitted to the bike and need to change the springs. From what I can gather I need to go to a 7.0 front spring and a 100nm rear spring. Now here's the big question. Does anyone know who sells Ohlins springs? My bike will be going onto Riders Cardiff soon to have the front fork shims fitted so I'll ask them to do the springs at the sme time and I reckon I'm up to changing the rear myself. I've done quite a bit of searching but can't find anywhere that I can buy these online. Also, has anyone else done this upgrade and how difficult was it to do the rear? Cheers.
When I was pricing up a 2012 multi I asked the dealer if they would uprate the standard springs as I'm a bit on the large side and I want to go touring with the wife so that would meen 3 paniers, they said they do quite a few and it's normaly about £170 fitted on top of the price of the bike, but I'm not sure if I would have got the standard springs handed to me after with them being unuse so to speak.
K tech are the people to speak too. K-Tech Suspension, road race and offroad motorcyle suspension It doesn't have to be an Ohlins spring. You are going to need some sort of spring compression tool to remove and fit the new spring and its probably worth taking the shock off and asking a specialist to do it for you.
back in the early days of the 1200 there was someone who changed the rear spring and had problems with Ducati re the warranty, I don't remember what the outcome was but it is something to be aware off.
I had the rear spring upgraded on my 2010 MTS1200S Touring due to my "big bones" and about a year after I had it done, my rear suspension went tits-up (about 2 weeks before the warranty ran out!!!). I took it back to Riders for warranty replacement and a service. Fortunately, whilst I was there, I fell in love with the new Matte Titanium 1200 MTS touring & traded my old one in for a spanking new one (got a cracking deal actually). This was last July. Part of the deal was them swapping all of my aftermarket bits including my uprated spring onto the new bike, however they had serious reservations about swapping the spring, telling me that if they did so Ducati had clearly stated that they would absolutely not warranty the suspension. Something to do with the uprated spring overworking the adjustment doings. So I didn't have that done. So... the upshot of it is, I have an uprated spring going spare so P.M. me if you want to buy it, but be very careful, it could well bugger up your suspension. Personally I just ride in 2-up setting permanently and am on a diet.... not that it's working!!!
Go for more preload, more compression damping and try a little less rebound damping. That might help; us muscular guys don't need much rebound damping on account of being fat bastards...
I'm stunned, the 100nm spring is listed as a Ducati part, so why would they not warranty the bike fitted with one of their standard options ? Personally I think that is a cop-out, by either Ducati UK or the dealer. Shortly after I bought my bike back in 2010 I bought the 100nm spring, took the shock off myself and my dealer swapped the springs over for free while I waited. I would have done it myself but didn't have the right tools to compress the springs so I could get the collar off. I went to an Ohlins specialist local to me first and they had no idea how to deal with it I've had no issues at all with the rear suspension (so far :tongue The spring itself is about 70 quid.
Because they've realised the DES can't cope, and are trying to avoid being deluged with claims. To be honest, I suspect the stock Ohlins setup is too soft (if going through a proper setup) for quite a large number of riders...all of a sudden it starts to look "not fit for purpose".
Probably more like "Fit for skinny little Italian blokes, not for lard-arsed pie-eating brits such as I"!!!!:wink:
OK, I seem to have got some clarity on this now. I just spoke to a VERY helpful chap in the workshop at Moto Rapido (Top dealer) and he told me that they have had a LOT of early Multistradas in with knackered suspension, most of them with standard springs. Also, Ducati did honour the warranty claim for the one-and-only unit that they had back under warranty WITH the 100Nm spring. Furthermore, Ducati themselves now offer both a 90Nm and 105Nm spring as parts for the Multistrada, so I don't see how they can possibly wriggle out of any warranty claim now. That's settled it for me, I'm going back to the heavier spring. Fcuk the diet!!!!!!:biggrin:
That's good to know - thanks jabs... I just installed the 100nm spring myself. Pics here: Ducati Spring - desmodab's Photos DD p.s. thanks to AndyW for the link and to the original poster for this - great resource.
Despite 3 e-mails I still haven't had an answer from Riders Cardiff. I'm not ringing them as I want the answer in writing before I do anything. Where did you buy the spring from DD and at what cost?
Good work Desmodab. Getting my spring back today, considering fitting it myself. How long did it take you to get the suspension unit out of the bike? Was it much of a pain in the arse? I've seen AndyW's instructions & they look very good. What suspension setting did you put the bike on before you removed the unit (i.e. which setting relaxes the spring most?)
