Ohlins Nix30 2014 R Forks

GB Tools is on Ebay.au, but I think I can get all the tools including the pull rod and cartridge clamp cheaper from triumphparts.englemotors.com. After viewing a fork oil change video, I think I need the pull-up rod. And in-US shipping is free for $100+, so I'll throw in the cartridge clamp.

I cannot find anything about shims for the NIX30 forks. The TTX36 uses 6mm ID shims.
Are the NIX 30 shims also 6mm ID? The Ohlins SKU number for the added shim would show that.

I saw somewhere that the torque for the compression stack nut is 3Nm.
I found 3 litres of new Silkolene 5 fork oil in my garage, but it’s a bit heavier than the Ohlins (24 vs 19 @ 40C). I’d rather use something lighter. The ATF idea is very interesting, I’ll certainly consider that, especially if you observed that it reduces stiction. ATF is very rugged, can withstand a very harsh environment.
There seems to be no build info on my fork legs, so I’ll assume the same stack as yours, and order the tools and shims to do both ends at the same time. Thanks for all your help.
IanB

 

Mobil 1 synthetic LV ATF is not available in Australia at a reasonable price, but there is a local equivalent in Penrite synthetic LV ATF. Similar viscosity to Mobil, 28 @40C, a bit more than Ohlins 1309-01 (19@40C). I’ll go for the Penrite, keeping in mind it's heavier than the Ohlins fluid, change all the shims under the transition shim to 0.1mm.
In the shock, add a transition shim, thinner shims under it and pressurise the shock to 10 bar. From previous experience 12 years ago with the Showa suspension on my Daytona 955i, I won't regret making the suspension a bit too comfortable, as long as it doesn't bottom out on the worst bumps, but I'll aim to keep it a bit firmer this time. I'm retired, and my bike is used only for road riding.
IanB

 

I just bought the tools
T3880341 top nut tool
T3880342 17mm spanner
T3880343 pull up tool
T3880344 cartridge clamp
T3880345 cartridge tool
for $110 including US domestic shipping, not too bad.
And I found what the Ohlins guy did to my left fork 4 years ago. He changed the clamp shim from 15mm diameter to 10mm, to soften the whole stack, he said.
So my stack was certainly different to yours.
In your modified stack
0.10 x 26 x 3
0.15 x 16
0.15 x 24 x 2
0.15 x 22
0.15 x 20
0.15 x 18
0.15 x 16
0.5 x 10
0.2 x 12
the clamp shim would effectively be the 0.5 x 10. I think I'll leave my clamp shim at 10mm to help soften the impact on large bumps and do the other changes as well, the transition shim and thinner slow shims. Since I won't know what my stack is until I dismantle the fork, I'll just buy all the shims to build your modified stack. I could use the 0.2 x 12 as the transition shim
IanB

 

AUD300 worth of nitrogen bottle, regulator, hose, needle fill tool, bought on Ebay, on its way.
Now for the shims.
I just found the correct angle to look at my left fork leg. It's FL9280.
Need to somehow get the build sheet for that here in Australia.
IanB

 

reach out to Oh Au. If they are anything like Oh US, they will be very helpful and likely provide a build sheet for your forks.

 

There is no Oh AU, as far as I can tell. I have the Ohlins US phone number in NC. I'll try next week.
It looks as if the FL9280 fork build (L and R fork both say FL9280, albeit with different compression/rebound stacks) along with shock build TR9110 are the standard Ohlins builds for the 2018 ST1050RS. I didn't realise until now that the NIX30/TTX36 valve builds change for each new ST model. Triumph doesn't advertise, "new for this year, harder suspension". I'd like to know the builds for the 2016 ST1050R, because, on mine, the ride was quite firm, but I never felt I needed to change it. The suspension build info should not be hard to obtain if it's standard for any model/year.

 

The folks in NC are very helpful.

 

I bought this tool to remove/replace/torque the TTX36 shock's compression valve. I seem to have bought the last one. I was going to use a 5mm or 6mm pin wrench, but this is better. Torque the valve to 10Nm.



Looks as if 8 bar is a reasonable compromise pressure for the shock, enough to prevent cavitation.
I still need the torque for the front fork compression valve shim retaining nut
I think the shim ID is 8mm. I don't know if the nut is a different size to the TTX36 shock compression valve, which has 6mm ID shims, and according to this workshop manual, is torqued to 5-6Nm.
PDF 07606-01 CD - RE Suspension

 

I found what I need on Youtube
Nix 30 fork cartridge valve nut is a 13mm nut on an 8mm aluminium thread, thus the 8mm shim ID. No particular torque, it's not too fragile. For me, tighten to 10Nm with some Loctite 222.
IanB

 

I edited this update and the next one to eliminate extraneous info.
My rear shock TR9110 compression stack originally looked like this.
Shims ID 6mm, OD 20mm down to 12mm, thickness 0.15mm, clamp shim 6/10/1.5

6/20/0.15
6/18/0.15
6/16/0.15
6/14/0.15
6/12/0.15
6/7/1.5 clamp

Four years ago, the suspension specialist reduced the clamp shim from 6/10/1.5 to 6/7/1.5. This softened the whole stack, but not enough.
I will leave the smaller clamp shim, reduce the other shims to 0.10mm thick to soften the stack more at all suspension velocities, and insert an 8mm OD transition shim in the 3rd position.

6/20/0.10
6/18/0.10
6/8/0.15 transition
6/16/0.10
6/14/0.10
6/12/0.10
6/7/1.5 clamp

The transition shim along with the softer low speed section should allow the shock to absorb rapid, shallow bumps such as on the coarse stone chip roads typical in Australia, and the thinner overall stack with the small clamp shim should allow higher suspension velocity for large, sharp bumps.
If this is too soft, I won’t mind, provided the rear does not bottom out on the largest bumps.
But see next update.
IanB

 

I verified in Ebay photos that the 1050RS shock build is TR9110, like mine, and the 1200RS fork build is FL9510, like lolachampcar’s. The complaints about excessive Speed Triple suspension hardness I’ve seen in forums and reviews seem to be confined to the 1050RS and 1200RS. It's likely that my FL9280 compression fork build is similar to that of the 1200RS FL9510.
8/26/0.15 x 3
8/24/0.15 x 2
8/22/0.15
8/20/0.15
8/18/0.15
8/16/0.15
8/10/0.50 clamp

Following lolachampcar’s success with inserting a crossover shim and changing the three 8/26/0.15 shims to 0.10mm thick, I’ll do similar in my TR9110 left fork.

Shim stiffness is proportional to the cube of the thickness. Reducing thickness from 0.15mm to 0.10mm reduces the stiffness in the ratio (2/3)^3, or 8/27, about 30%. If every shim is reduced, the whole stack stiffness is reduced by 70%. That’s a much bigger change than reducing the clamp shim diameter. I guess the shim thickness, in increments of 0.05mm, is a very coarse adjustment of shim stack stiffness. Clamp shim diameter, in increments of 1mm, is a finer adjustment. Of course, the shims in a stack can be different in thickness.

The stiffness/thickness cube rule means that reducing 8/26/0.15 x 3 to 8/26/0.10 x 3 is about the same as removing two shims to have 8/26/0.15 x 1. No wonder it made such a difference in lolachampcar’s ST1200RS. The slightly heavier ATF might compensate for some of that reduction.

I’ll probably do this in my bike:
Remove two 8/26/0.15, one 8/24/0.15, add a 8/10/0.15 crossover shim. Other shims still 0.15mm thick to avoid softening the stack too much.
8/26/0.15
8/10/0.15 transition
8/24/0.15
8/22/0.15
8/20/0.15
8/18/0.15
8/16/0.15
8/10/0.50 clamp

The transition shim might go behind the 24 instead of the 26. After adding the transition shim initially, lolachampcar then reduced the first 3 shims to 0.10mm, reducing the slow speed stiffness by 2/3. With the transition shim behind the 26, it's about the same in this layout. Behind the 24, it would be reduced by 1/3 instead, without changing the high speed response.
Overall, remove the multiple same-diameter shims in the original stack and add the transition shim, plus the earlier clamp diameter reduction. The high speed response should be improved by the removal of 3 shims.

For the shock, change 6/20/0.15 and 6/18/0.15 to 0.10, add one 6/8/0.15 transition shim.
6/20/0.10
6/18/0.10
6/8/0.15 transition
6/16/0.15
6/14/0.15
6/12/0.15
6/7/1.5 clamp
Option here is to make the 6/18/0.10 shim 0.15 thick instead, to soften the low speed a bit less, but I want the high speed softened quite a lot. If the low speed is too soft I can turn the compression adjuster in a few clicks. Or I could do this
6/20/0.10
6/18/0.15
6/8/0.15 transition
6/16/0.10
6/14/0.15
6/12/0.15
6/7/1.5 clamp

At least I can try again if the result isn’t ideal. I hope to do the shock next week, the fork when the tools arrive from the US. The fork shims are on a 6-7 week back order.
IanB

 

I did this in my ST1050RS rear shock first because IMO the shock is more important to comfort than the forks.
6/20/0.10 was 0.15
6/18/0.15
6/8/0.15 new, crossover
6/16/0.10 was 0.15
6/14/0.15
6/12/0.15
6/10/0.15 new
6/7/1.5 clamp, was originally 6/10/1.5 until the bike was a month old.
Pressurised to 8 bar.
Overall, I added a crossover shim to divide the stack into low-speed and-high speed sections, and softened both a bit with thinner shims. High speed suspension movement on sharp bumps depends on both sections, of course.
Because the forks are still too hard, it's more difficult to evaluate the change, but I rode over my rough road test section 3 times at varying speeds. It's still sportsbike firm, but progressive, about what I think it should have been ex-factory. I could not induce any bone-jarring, vertebra-crushing shocks, though I was briefly weightless a couple of times. It's quite a bit better, I'll do the front end, and ride it for a while and see if I want to put a couple of thinner shims in.
IanB

 

This is the compression stack in the left fork of my ST1050RS:
8/26/0.15
12/24/0.15 with 8/12/0.2 concentric
8/24/0.15
8/22/0.15
8/18/0.15
8/16/0.15
8/13/0.32
8/10/1.50 clamp
This is supposed to be the original FL9280 build with only the clamp changed 4 years ago, from 8/15 to 8/10, but it looks a bit strange. Why would a 13mm shim follow a 15mm clamp? At 0.32mm thick it now looks effectively like a 13mm clamp. The concentric shim looks like a 8/12/0.05 crossover.
Why no 20mm shim?
Not knowing what is in the fork until now, I had planned to build
8/26/0.15
8/24/0.15
8/10/0.15 new, crossover
8/22/0.15
8/20/0.15
8/18/0.15
8/16/0.15
8/14/0.15
8/12/0.15
8/10/1.50 clamp
but this does not look very different overall to what is there now, so I'll change a couple of shims to 0.10 thick to soften the stack.
IanB

 

I'd like to think I would be Ian if I only had more follow through.

GoodOnYa!

 

I built this compression stack in the left fork leg.
8/26/0.10
8/24/0.15
8/10/0.15 new, crossover
8/22/0.10
8/20/0.15
8/18/0.15
8/16/0.15
8/14/0.15
8/12/0.15
8/10/1.25 clamp
It’s great! At least, I don’t know how I would improve it. After a 500km ride it’s obvious that I need another go at the shock though, to improve the high speed response. Change a couple more shims to thinner 0.15mm to soften the stack.
I changed the fluid in both forks to Silkolene 5. After 48000km there’s plenty of black sediment. I flushed the forks with kerosene. I’ll change the fluid more often, 20000km.
OBTW, if you remove the piston from the shaft and lose track of which way around it was, I verified in a video that the larger ports in the piston face the check shim, and the smaller ports face the shim stack.

 

It's nice that readers are getting multiple examples of simple shim stack changes that bring excellent results.

 

I was going to detail the changes since new in the left fork leg;
4 years ago:
Reduced clamp shim from 15mm diameter to 10mm, to soften the whole stack.
Now:
Introduced a crossover shim to divide the stack into low speed and high speed (suspension movement speed, not motorcycle speed) sections.
Reduced thickness of 26mm shim to improve low speed response at the more rapid end of longer wavelength undulations. This interacts with the compression damping adjuster, which also affects low speed by adjusting the needle valve in the stack bypass.
Reduced 22mm shim thickness to allow high speed movement more readily on sharp bumps. Because the low speed shims must deflect also at high speed, reducing a shim in each section should change the high speed response more than the low speed.

In the shock I need to improve the high speed response especially, but I'll reduce shim thickness in both sections.
6/20/0.10
6/18/0.15 reduce to 0.10
6/8/0.15 crossover
6/16/0.10
6/14/0.15 reduce to 0.10
6/12/0.15
6/10/0.15
6/7/1.5 clamp

Reducing shim thickness by 1/3 reduces shim stiffness by 70%, so these are significant changes, needed to make an appreciable difference rather than a subtle one. I won't mind if it's too comfortable, provided it does not bottom out on the worst bumps. You may need firm compression damping to optimise traction on smooth race tracks, but you need compliance to hold your line and get drive through bumpy corners on public roads.

IanB

 

It worked! The rear suspension matches the front now. I can look down and see the front brake hoses flexing as the suspension moves (actually absorbing bumps!) and the rear suspension works in unison. I can power through bumpy corners on my chosen line. On my rough road test section I was briefly weightless, but never had the breath knocked out of me by a bump I couldn't see, as used to happen. I went looking for bumps and found them. The bike has been transformed from an uncompetitive track bike into a superb road bike, what Triumph should have built originally.
With the preload, compression and rebound adjusters at the Triumph recommended settings for road riding, the ride isn't plush; it's sportsbike firm but comfortable, a good compromise for my purpose of extensive solo touring. It may be slower at 10/10ths on a smooth track now but It's effortlessly faster on public roads.
To make it a bit simpler, from my experience I'd probably make the 12mm and 10mm shims 0.10mm thick too, for uniformity, and perhaps make the crossover 0.2. The difference would be small; I'm not yet motivated to spend another 2 hours modifying the rear shock.
IanB

 

Ian, Can you please consolidate the final results in one post and hashtag it with some good search titles....

You and I are not the only ones who needed to address this issue

Awesome work. I wish I had your stick to it. I got mine good enough and then, squirrel......................

 

I rode 1200km over a variety of roads. It's so much better!
On bumpier roads I did get a couple of shocks I didn't like, so I'm motivated to do one more change in the shock to reduce high speed damping, when I receive my Knipex 4611A0 circlip pliers.
It will look like this:
6/20/0.10
6/18/0.10
6/8/0.20 crossover
6/16/0.10
6/14/0.10
6/12/0.10
6/10/0.10
6/7/1.5 clamp

I considered simply deleting the 12mm and 10mm shims, but I have the 0.10 thick shims, and they are only 30% as stiff as 0.15, so I'll install them.
I wound the compressing damping adjuster in from 20 clicks out to 15 clicks out to tighten up low speed undulation response, necessary because the low speed section of the shim stack opens more easily.