Ohlins Shock Failure and Wear

My 06 GS12 has had Ohlins on it for 2 years, 9K miles. The front shock was leaking so I sent it to Ohlins USA for repair under warranty. It was finished today and Eric (repair tech for motorcycles) called me up to tell me it was on its way back ready to go, and that the shock showed signs of being stressed from one side of the bike, and told me to check the telelever bushings on the bike to make sure they are solid and aligned correctly. Otherwise it could leak again and have premature shaft wear.

I said, "You think those bushings could be worn or otherwise need attention at 15K total bike miles?"

"Absolutely" he replied. "I've seen it before on BMW's".

This is a new one on me, and I've not seen this topic discussed here before. Anyone had any experience with this?

*********

While I had him on the phone I asked him what the service interval was on the Ohlins, and he said every 20K miles they should be sent in for a rider like myself that does 90% blacktop and 10% off road. He said that at 20K miles they will still feel good and lull the owner into pushing beyond that, but what happens them is they start wearing internal parts and the service will wind up being twice as expensive as parts have to be replaced. Right now its $ 75 for a front and $ 50 for the rear on basic 20K service. So there's a data point for for all you Ohlins guys (and its probably the same for other premium shock brands as well).

Rebuild every 20K?!?! For primarily street use? If this is true, then just about every Ohlins out there has more miles on it than it should.

I suggest that the tech you spoke to is:

A: used to dealing with racing and not street shocks

B: working on commission

That would be once every 8 months for me. Not a chance. I'll stick to my Wilburs that have 40K on them and don't need a rebuild.

-jeff

Another data point, relevant or not.

Both front and rear Ohlins started to leak on my 1150RT in less than 2 years and less than 10K miles. No abuse, 0% off-pavement riding.

--
Mikko

I too will stick to my Wilbers 200,000km still no issues
R1100GS 271,600km

Funny this thread poped up now....

I replaced my Ohlins (rear)with a brand new Ohlins set up for my weight, luggage, and passenger 3500 miles ago. The new shock is now leaking and I have not had a chance to pull it and send it in. I ride 65% street. It doesn't seem right that this caliber of shock should fail so soon.

-Terry

My front barfed it's guts out at some point in the past few weeks. Off the top of my head it has about 30k miles on it. I figured its seen one too many wheelies. But maybe it's totally worn out per the Ohlins tech guys comments.

How quick is turn around through Ohlins? I got a pretty distinct feeling from San Jose BMW that they don't really like rebuilding them. (They say authorized service center on website). Guessing the rebuild will cost $150-200. But have no idea.

If you watch "Long Way Down" you'll learn that the rear Ohlins on 2 of the 3 R12GSAdventures failed less than half way into the trip. :huh

They had installed the Ohlins to prevent just such problems, but ended up mounting an OEM shock they carried as a spare and ordering another.

Well, I send mine in at the worst possible time, UPSed it off Dec 23rd to Ohlins USA and it was finished yesterday. There were several days over the holidays they were not open. Quoted time is usually 3 to 4 days turnaround on a normal basis.

It was Eric Knight at Ohlins, the head Service Tech for the Motorcycle Racing Division whom I spoke with. I think he's probably qualified.

Note that the recommended service with Ohlins is 20K miles, and thats just oil and rubber changes. You can push them WAY further (as you are probably pushing your Wilburs) its just that you'll be buying hard parts when you go for the rebuild, instead of a simple oil change.

I think it foolish to say "Wilburs are better than Ohlins", etc...and this was not meant to degenerate into that kind of thread. My original question was if anyone has experience with worn bushings on the GS Telelevers which would cause a shock - any shock - to prematurely wear.

Thanks, that's not too bad all things considered.

I don't necessarily think that Wilburs are better than Ohlins in quality, although I think they are a better value in features vs price.

If I service my shocks 3 times at ~$75 each plus shipping and downtime vs taking them out longer and spending ~$200 with some parts replacements, I'm better off from both a monetary and convenience point of view.

I was right about the racing aspect. When you are used to rebuilding everything every race or every second or third race at the outside, it is very easy to get into the mindset of that being normal and expected. For a street rider without sponsorship or dedicated wrenching staff, it makes more sense to spend a bit more money less often.

One of the things that does concern me about Ohlins though, is the number of catastrophic failures that are being reported. It may be anecdotal, but it seems disproportionately high.

-jeff

The Ohlins in my Triumph Trophy did 50,000km before it's first service, when my conscience got the better of me. Every internal bushing etc needed replacing. Subsequent 20,000km services were just routine oil changes. Ditto one I bought used for the Honda NX650 Dominator that had done 35,000 adventure km - major overhaul required.

Consider non-Telelever bikes have 1000mL of fork oil but only 200mL of shock oil. People understand and accept fork oil needs to be changed regularly, say every 20,000km for a road bike, but then look at you funny if you dare suggest the shock oil should be changed at the same schedule. It might not be so prone to contamination, but there's a heckuva lot less of it, and it gets hotter due to the confined nature of the design and position on the bike.

Race shocks would be serviced as often as every race weekend, so doing 20,000 on a street bike is comparatively quite a long time. I've been advised to replace all the bushes in the forks at that interval!!

Wilburs have become a popular choice in this part of the world.

Agreed.

And.............









it cost almost $500 to repair and replace the necessary parts.....

there was a "pitted" shaft at $155....and all the seals and fluids came to almost $500....

So, I'd say that it pays to do it sooner......

Uh oh. I'm sure hoping that's both front and rear.

yes, it was for both......

From what I'm seeing here, I'm glad that I have in the past, bought Wilbers for my BMW's , and will continue to buy them!

I am stuck in Punta Arenas with a blown front Ohlins and a leaky rear shock. I am planning on sending them to the shop in Santiago, listed on the Ohlins website to get rebuilt. The shocks only have 20k miles on them, but a lot on dirt roads.

Regarding the telelever bushings alignment issue. How do you check this? I have dropped the bike a few times on the way down, but nothing too hard. Could I have knocked the alignment out that way?

Here'a mine with less than 5k miles after a trip to Baja.



Shock is fully compressed and wouldn't release. Tech at Ohlins said it looked like a grenade went off inside the body. It took several weeks and a lot of screaming to get them to warranty it. Their reasoning; "the shock was not being used for it's intended purpose" ????
Had to ride 300 miles back to the US on a hard tail GS.

I spoke with the lead Ohliins tech at the Indy show a few years ago and he confirms the 20K service interval. Fine knives require sharpening more often than do axes! Bruce