Hi. After spending hours and hours trying to get the Bitubo rear suspension upgrade on my V7 850 Special to work satisfactorily, I’ve decided to give up on it. I’m sure someone who knows how to set up suspension technically could sort it, but I’ve had enough of never-ending preload and rebound changes, all giving no improvement. So the question now is, what rear suspension should I try next? I’m not a millionaire so can’t afford Ohlins level stuff but surely there is something affordable out there that’s better than the stock Moto Guzzi rear shocks. My normal ‘go to’ place is Hagon but I’ve talked to them and they don’t do anything for the V7 850. Has anyone else had success in upgrading the rear shocks on their V7 850?
Any advice gratefully accepted.
Regards
Tony
The French mechanic, based near Grenoble, who repaired my V85TT’s starter motor last year recommended Shock Factory. I haven’t tried them myself, so just passing that on, FWIW.
Thanks Simon. I’m in the U.K. but I’ll look him/them up, I may get some valuable advice even if nothing else is available
Regards
Tony
Cheaper than new suspension would be to go to a bike suspension specialist and pay them an hour’s labour to set up the static sag, preload and rebound setting correctly for you.
Yours is not an uncommon story unfortunately, with people buying decent suspension without really understanding what all the adjustments actually do and just randomly twiddle knobs expecting magic to happen. The end result is that most times it will end up worse than stock. The most common route is to whack everything up to max thinking that is the ‘best’ setting.
If you’re minded to have another go, then do some research on the web and get to understand the process. Static sag is the first place to start and isn’t hard to do. After that, set all the other settings back to the defaults and use your new found knowledge to go from there.
Hi. Thanks for your reply. I bought my Bitubo shocks from a suspension specialist who supplies several race teams so he knows his stuff. He provided me with figures for static sag and rider sag. I set the bike up to be mid-point between the relatively narrow range of values he gave me for each level of sag.
I’m confident that the bike was set up correctly. I think that the problem probably lies with the short shock travel that the V7 has got. I think that the V7 chassis is where the major problem lies and no matter what rear shocks are used, the bike will never provide a plush ride, especially for riders who are light weight.
Regards
Tony
To be honest, the stock suspension is pretty good (I’m about 74 kg on a good day), but if you’re especially light, then the only real way to go is to get springs made to suit your weight if your guys have set it up for you correctly.
Not sure what Hagon were talking about when you said they don’t make shocks for the V7 850, Gutsibits sell them
Hi. My Bitubo shocks were made to suit my weight ‘suited and booted’, which is 65kg. When I first contacted Hagon they said they didn’t do shocks for the V7 850. However, after I supplied them with the size of the stock shock they’ve come back to me to say that they do their 2820 shocks to fit the 850 so I may well end up trying a set of them, in which case I’ll then have a nice pair of Bitubo shocks bookends.
Stick the Bitubos up here on Marketplace, I don’t think you’ll have any problems getting rid of them and at least you can recoup some of your outlay .
Great idea
Hi,
I decided to replace my standard KYB rear shocks with a pair of Hagon Nitros and I’m just sharing my first impressions.
I made the switch as I felt that the ride quality on the standard shocks needed improving. I’ve covered almost 12k miles on the originals and I didn’t think the standard shocks were too bad, but ‘competent’ would be the best that I could say. They were okay for me on A roads and motorways but got out of sorts on country lanes and would actually kick me out of the saddle on some rough surfaces! I patiently tried them at each of the pre-load settings but nothing quite worked. This suggested to me that the non-adjustable damping was the main problem - so, new shocks. I rode the bike yesterday morning on the standard shocks so that the ride was fresh in my mind. I then replaced them with the Nitros in the afternoon and have done 120 miles today on the Hagons to try them out.
Plush was a great song by the Stone Temple Pilots and it also accurately describes the V7’s ride on the Hagon shocks. It handles uneven surfaces much better straight out of the box, although I have not yet had a chance for more spirited riding on country lanes due to the weather. I did try motorways, A and B roads, town traffic and some country lanes, so it was a decent test. The bike just feels like it’s lighter, probably because it feels more planted and confidence inspiring.
Another effect is that they show up the shortcomings of the front forks. These have always felt much better than the rears, but now with the Hagons in place, I realise they can also be a bit clattery over bad surfaces … no prizes for guessing what’s on the cards for being upgraded next.
All the best and see you out on the road.