“Hello Ed,

Go ahead and reach over your shoulder and give yourself a pat on the back.  The rebuilt shock now sprung properly works like a dream.  Jaw dropping and truly awesome.  My GS went from baby buggy to guided missile. I put the bike through all its paces, drove it hard and fast and performance is truly enhanced.  Gone is the springy all over-the-place ride now replaced with a sharp, firm and decisive ride.  I now can break hard in the turns without the rear wheel moving sideways.  It’s now planted and the bike goes exactly where and when I want it to.  What I thought was too much clearance above ground causing a poor ride was all suspension.  The bike now steers with the hips, and follows my inside knee.  I can lean over confidently and find myself in a taller gear moving faster and still with plenty of comfort.  Job well done!  Many thanks.  I also like the color of the aftermarket spring. I am 100% satisfied.”

I rebuilt Martin’s BMW GS rear shock and gave it a stronger spring.  I think he’s happy.  I think I may have to turn From Baby Buggy to Guided Missile into a slogan.

On the right we have a damper rod. The 4 big holes near the bottom control compression and the two small holes near the top control rebound. The oil flows inside the rod and through the holes. The size of the holes and the weight of the fork oil determine the amount of damping.

I change the damping by welding the holes closed and drilling different size holes. I like to adjust the hole size to work with 15 weight oil so you can fine tune the damping with 10 weight for less damping or 20 weight for more damping.

On the left I have added the top out spring at the top of the rod. It cushions the blow when the forks extended all the way. The wide part at the top of the rod can’t pass the bottom of the fork tube. This is what keeps the fork from falling off the end of the tube.

The bolt comes up through the bottom of the fork leg and holds the leg to the damping rod. The spacer fits over the end of the rod and is cone shaped. It uses fork oil to damp out bottoming.

In the early 80’s Kawasaki found a way to take away all damping in the forks on the 600 & 900 Ninjas while at the same time making the brakes feel mushy.

Damper Rod forks work just fine but if you give them super wimpy fork springs plus a system to add air pressure to help the springs you get a weak front end with extra stickthion.

If you make the compression holes way too big then add a brake pressure controlled valve to give extra comp damping when braking you add lack of damping to the weak front end as well as poor brakes.

But not these forks! These 900 Ninja forks no longer have any of that extra junk. Now they are strong, well damped weigh less and the brakes will have much better feel.

$300 to rebuild & re-valve your damper rod forks. Plus a little extra to undo good intentions.

When you send me just the tubes, $400 per set. Plan on it taking about a month.

Applying a Diamond Like Carbon coating to your forks tubes is not a repair. It’s a very thin coating that reduces friction and looks good. You will still be able to see any marks that are on the tubes.

Lindemann Engineering To Sponsor Ultra Lightweight Cup At Moto West Grand Prix Events In 2014

Lindemann Engineering is posting rewards to racers of Ninja 300s and Ninja 250s, as well as Honda CBR250Rs and CBR300Rs, in Moto West Grand Prix Ultra Lightweight Cup competition in 2014.

Each of the first six finishers in each Ultra Lightweight Cup race will receive $50, says Lindemann Engineering owner Ed Sorbo, who also races a Ninja 250 and is determined to keep as much of his cash for himself as possible by beating everyone who grids up against him.

“I want to encourage racers down through the field to feel the rush of earning a check from racing a motorcycle,” Sorbo says. “And I want to encourage people to race, the Ultra Lightweight Cup is the perfect class to attract new racers into the sport.”

Not only does Sorbo race in the Ultra Lightweight Cup events, but Lindemann Engineering will support three other racers in the class, including defending class champion Tony Serra, the world’s oldest motorcycle club racing class champion.

Moto West Grand Prix has scheduled a nine race event series in 2014, with races at the wide-open, high-speed 2.5-mile Willow Springs main course, the tight, twisty 1.8-mile Streets of Willow (in both directions!) and at Buttonwillow Raceway Park.

Lindemann Engineering provides motorcycle performance suspension services for street and track. Owned by former AMA Pro Road Racer and crew chief Ed Sorbo, Lindemann can make your performance machine reach its full handling potential.

For more information, contact Lindemann Engineering at www.le-suspension.com, or call (909) 838-4587. Moto West Grand Prix can be reached at www.motowestgp.com.

In order to recharge a shock that does not come with an air valve I add one. On some bikes you will need to cut a notch or drill a hole to make space for the air valve. This is a BMW R1150RT with a hole drilled to make space for the valve.

Be sure to trim off any burs and paint it. Also see post “Air Valve” 1/27/13.

New 3-Way WP shock for a ‘99 to ‘06 CBR600F4 $600