Rear Shock Oil Leak (Wilbers)

Hi all. A few years ago I had a Wilbers rear shock installed on my GRiSO. Following a decent ride up through the hills, I subsequently noticed oil residue on the preload adjustment threads and collars. Not sufficient to drip, but I could wipe oil off onto my finger from the adjuster collar area. No oil anywhere else in the general vicinity. Compression adjusters on the remote reservoir are dry. Swingarm totally clean. Ditto for the rear spring itself. Given that my bike has done pretty nominal mileage, I'm more than a bit disappointed given the cost of the unit, so I've contacted the local supplier & installer to give him the story. There's been a bit of back and forth commentary via email, and the comment was made that he's really surprised as it's very rare that oil leaks from the shock "head" area.

Now, before I make a total goose of myself, has anybody else seen an oil leak from that part of the shock? It may be rare, but is it possible? Conversely, are there any other oil lines or breather pipes in that area that may be responsible for dropping oil directly onto that part of the shock?

Thanks,
Brent.

Check the front airbox drain hose hasn't fallen off. Any oil from there might blow back onto the shock.

Thanks Pete. Checked that. The front drain hose is attached to the drain spigot (albeit not by much more than 4-5mm but its attached nonetheless). Took the air box lid & filter off and the only sign of oil was a tiny patch right at the very front of the box (bloody hard to get your hand into there!). Rest of the airbox is bone dry.

Willbers shock - other than potential oil leak...
Is it any good?

Its on my list next to Nitron for next year

Am still considering the Stelvio shock built to last that thing and so much cheaper, am still trying to understand or experience the bottoming out everyone says the rear shock does. Had the odd experience over a nasty pothole but even with a posh shock your going to experience that

lcjohnny wrote:

Willbers shock - other than potential oil leak...
Is it any good?

Its on my list next to Nitron for next year

An interesting question, but the answer is somewhat relative to your own expectations I think.

When I first had it fitted, the improvement to the original Sachs unit was immediately noticeable. Significantly more supple ride. Less banging over the big bumps, less skipping over the smaller ones. The valving is clearly superior. The model I have (643) has high & low speed damping adjustment, plus rebound adjustment. Almost endless scope to fiddle with damping setting if that's your thing. So, if your expectation is an obvious improvement to stock, you'd likely ride away a happy man.

The flipside? There's a few things. I find the design a little odd. It has a shorter spring length compared to the Sachs for reasons that still elude me. Also, whilst I never had the opportunity to compare both units side by side, the body of the Wilbers appears slightly longer than the Sachs, thereby the distance to the bump stop appears slightly less on the Wilbers. I wish I'd measured both, but optically when installed, I was almost certain there was a difference. Now, with shock travel already inherently short of the GRiSO, preference would be for more travel, not less. End result is that, in my opinion, the spring and shock has an awful lot of work to do within a very narrow band of travel. The right setup (inc spring rate and damping) becomes critical.

This brings me to the spring rate. Wilbers do the whole spec to rider weight thing, so I was slightly surprised when my supplied spring was a 95Nm......same as stock. I'm about 85kgs in gear. Gut feel is that whilst it's a close match for me, it's a bit on the light side. I've heard others offer the same observation that Wilbers tend to go at the lighter end of spring rates. If you're ordering a Wilbers, add 10% or so to your quoted weight. Just my opinion though.

I never had the idea to check the eye to eye length of the Sachs vs the Wilbers, but I'd do that if I had my chance again. I found out after the fact that there's a variation on the model shock that I bought which includes some adjustment on the overall shock length (an extra 10mm I believe). I reckon that would have been perfect. Was never offered to me at the time by the supplier, so I was none-the-wiser unfortunately. There's also a remote hydraulic preload adjustment option on that range. If you're often travelling with gear or two-up, that would also make lots of sense.

So, overall, it feels a better shock than the Sachs, but has its own slightly quirky design aspects. With a slightly stiffer spring and the adjustable length option, it would likely be significantly more compelling. They are expensive though, so the value equation is something that each buyer has to work out for themselves.

Regards,
Brent.

I had a Wilbers fitted four or so years ago also. Have the hydraulic pre load adjuster fitted and it is great when loading bags n swags to adjust sag.

Have had no problems with the shock to date. (Went out and checked it after reading your post regarding possible oil leak.)
Like you I found the supplied spring to be a bit light. I went up two rates and now find it excellent. Five or six clicks of pre load sets my sag to 30-33mm. ( been a while since I set it but I think those values are right. Or close.)

In hind sight I wish I had known at the time that the Stelvio shock fitted the GRiSO. I would have ordered the Wilbers for the Stelvio to increase the rear ride height.

All in all I'm happy with it and have it pretty well dialed in for spirited touring. I also have ohlin forks fitted which together with the Wibers shock makes for a solid ride.
Can't remember it ever bottoming out and I've hit a few heavy bumps over the time, so I don't think the shorter spring length is an issue.

I remove the shock every two or three years and take it to get serviced and new oil. That's something I think most people overlook. I also change the fork oil at the same time and grease dog bone etc whilst I'm in there.
Hope you get it sorted anyway.