Ohlin rear Spring Rates

After hours searching I finally found this chart.

Standard GRiSO spring is equivalent to -31 (orange column)  9.69 Kg/mm
Free length of spring (off the shock) is 180 mm = Part No. 1095 (yellow, top row)
GRiSO has 9.6 Kg/mm rear spring.

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Most bikes have suspension spring rates to support the bike plus a fully dressed (leather clad) rider in the 75-80kg (165-175lb) range.

Found a link for calculating correct FRONT spring rate for your weight.
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Remember, this only applies to fork springs.
Every monoshock bike has a different linkage system and rocker ratio, so this doesn't apply to the rear.

Thanks Ghezzi..I been trawling the suspension threads and getting all confused.

Ghezzi, are the original Sachs springs stamped in some way to see what the spring rate is ?
I haven't removed mine but can,t see any marking from where it sits .
Nwv

No markings that I know of, but I had some shocks disassembled and springs measured.
Bellagio has 9.0 Kg/mm rear spring
GRiSO has 9.6 Kg/mm rear spring.

I also note, that Ron's unmolested GRiSO has a lot of pre-load wound on.
The 2nd hand GRiSO shock he supplied me with, has +20mm pre-load. It looks untouched.

I remember seeing the 1091 or 1093 spring recommended somewhere, but these seem too short per the chart. Does the 1095 have the same outer diameter so it will fit through the swing arm?

Thanks for finding this info.

According to the chart, all Ohlin springs have a 57mm ID.
Outside Dia would be determined then by wire thickness. (minimal difference)
1095 (180mm) will fit inside the swingarm easy, same length as stock spring.
1096 (190mm) is the longest spring that will fit on the stock Sachs shock.
1093 (150mm) length will be fine, especially if the rate is correct.

Ron has an Ohlin shock with 01091-31/95, 9.6Kg/mm or same rate as stock spring. It's 160mm free length with 10mm of pre-load for his 94kg wet weight.
Result was 3mm static sag and 30mm rider sag. That's on the outer limit of being 'soft' for road use, so we might go the 36/105 for track use.
Matris fork cartridge kit on its way.

Also note, the stock Sacks has a total stroke length of 55mm, half of that space is taken up by the bump stop rubber, although I'm told these will compress to S.F.A.

John, go measure your spring.

I spoke by phone to suspension bloke in Perth and he recommended a softer spring! But with your
Experience of frigging around with the original shock and then still having a half baked shock etc is
A help for us as we can go in with our eyes wired open so thanks for your info Ghezzi.

How much do you weigh Nev?
Pedrosa or less?

Bout 78kg
Gotta go to workghezzi

78kg naked or leathered up?
Either way, the spring rate is close for you with "no fat chicks". A 10.2Kg/mm wouldn't hurt.
Problem with Sachs is hi-speed compression suffers from hydraulic lock. It can't flow oil fast enough.
Backing off your compression adjuster will help but unfortunately it has a greater effect on lo-speed compression. So it might be more comfortable but you will get too much squat in corners.

I definitely have squat in the corners, and a bit of wallowing when rough. I live with it so far, but it's probably one if those things that you don't really know what you're missing. With the hi compression limitation on the Sachs, I may just need to bite the bullet and upgrade.

A stiffy hard on stronger spring will help with the squat too.

78 kg in the raw .
cant flow oil fast enough is just what it seems like , its not every bump in the road just the larger ones , I see them coming
and start thinking yowsers this is going to hurt ! you mentioned in a post elsewhere waste of money trying to improve the factory sachs,
sounds good advice which i'm going o take .

Matris appears to be very race/track focused.
Also they take ages to respond to emails, hard getting spare parts directly from Italy. See Beetles post below for local agent in Australia.

Penske and Wilbers are either US based or have large agencies there, and are prepared to build to your requirements.

Ohlins don't offer a direct bolt in fitment, spacers are required. Also off the shelf shocks come with a standard spring, you pay extra for another spring to suit your requirements.

Walter Presig from YSS in Adelaide will build a shock to suit anything. May use combination of Wilbers, YSS or HyperPro parts to get correct fittings and adjusters etc.

So this Ohlins requires spacers?  Are you referring to the bottom u-connection that is a few mm too wide?

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I was ready to go this route, but not if this quoted price doesn't include the correct spring for my weight.

ok ghezzi, so you are the man with the experience on the GRiSO.

The rear needs to be stiffer, so i am looking for a 580lb 10.5kg/mm 180mm free length, what is the maximum OD?

so would this fit? 600lbs 10.6 kg/mm 175mm free length 57mm Internal Diameter

John Lyon wrote:

So this Ohlins requires spacers?  Are you referring to the bottom u-connection that is a few mm too wide?

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I was ready to go this route, but not if this quoted price doesn't include the correct spring for my weight.

John, if the photo is an accurate representation of what they will supply, it will not fit.
The reservoir needs to be horizontal, not vertical.
The bottom mount needs to be a clevis (inverted'U') mount, not an eye mount as shown.
Look at your shock.
Yes, the clevis mounts in the Ohlin catalog are wider than the Guzzi rocker.


As for the spring rate, you would need to confirm with the supplier.

ghezzi wrote:

Matris appears to be very race/track focused.
Also they take ages to respond to emails, hard getting spare parts directly from Italy.

Matris have an agent here in Oz.

I have found my lowly bottom of the pile K series shock to be a superb all rounder, even on the goat tracks NSW calls roads.

sidrat wrote:

ok ghezzi, so you are the man with the experience on the GRiSO.

The rear needs to be stiffer, so i am looking for a 580lb 10.5kg/mm 180mm free length, what is the maximum OD?
so would this fit? 600lbs 10.6 kg/mm 175mm free length 57mm Internal Diameter

It should fit easily.

All Ohlin springs are quoted as 57mm I.D.
Only two ways to increase (linear) spring rate;
1. Same wire thickness but with less turns.
2. Thicker wire but same number of turns.

Generally speaking, all springs within a similar range will use the same thickness wire, hence the O.D. will be the same.
For these springs, the small increment in spring rate is achieved with less turns of the wire.

When there is a need to finally increase the wire thickness, it would most likely be an increment of only 1 or 2 mm. Therefore OD would would increase the same.
Check clearance between your swingarm and stock spring (80 mm O.D.)

Sachs spring 56 ID x 79 OD (9.6kg/mm) 11 mm wire.
Matris spring 57 ID x 80 OD (12kg/mm) 11 mm wire.
Eibach spring 60 ID x 82 OD (10.5Kg/mm) 10.5 mm wire.
I have an 11kg Eibach on my Matris and it just clears the swingarm by 2mm when topped out @ 330mm shock length.
Ohlin spring 57 ID x 86 OD (17.33Kg/mm) 14 mm wire. #01092-69/170 off a Honda Blackbird.

Excellent find Beetle, post up his contact details.
And somebody ask him, will he supply with correct spring fitted for your weight.

Suspensions R Us/Matris Australia



Izzy Dafni
Managing Director
Suspensions R Us
Factory 2/92 Brunel Rd.
Seaford 3198 Vic.
PH: 03 97864414
Fax: 03 97735410
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He's a good bloke. Did my fork cartridges. He did enquire as to my weight.

Here is a photo of an Ohlin's clevis.
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This mount is wider than the 'L' rocker arm it attaches to.
If you try to squeeze it up, it will break.

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So if you fit an Ohlin shock you will need 2 small spacers.
PM Ron (waterbottle) for specs. Also be aware of the top sleeve width of your stock shock.

Ghezzi, how critical is the I.D.? i can get 58.5mm I.D. spring easily will that be ok?