Rear wheel damper question ..

[Old Geezer Richard]

 I've got a 98 std with about 69,000 miles on the clock .... should I be thinking about replacing the orig. dampers thats in it now or if not what will I notice or feel telling me its time to replace them ..... since I went Darkside back in Dec. the service mgr. at the Honda dealership did not mention anything about the dampers ..... just that he did all the usual serviceing of the wheel splines and and replacing the o- rings while mounting the C/T .... are they suppose to check them also when having a rear tire replaced ?

[Steve K (IA)]

Well, you will notice some play in the drive train.  All you need to do is just cruise down the street, maybe 35 mph (you don't have to go fast) and let off the throttle then roll it back on and see if you can feel a little delay in response to the throttle back off & come on.  If they are bad, you will know what I am trying to describe.

[Udo]

If you feel, the dampers are worn, i would recommended (see lower thread) to buy a set made from Polyurethane from ShockbushingGary (aka Pruor). They have a tighter fit, and will last much longer, than the OEM rubber pieces.



Disclaimer: No, i´m not Gary´s son, father, wife...just a happy camper...

[Old Geezer Richard]

Hey Udo , I have read about this Gary fellow , is he the same person who makes the shock bushings ? if so does he still make the dampers and about how does he sell them for ?  because I'll be needing some shock bushings later this month when I change out my oem shocks to progressive along with the front springs ......  I'm just curious what will a worn out damper look like ? does it start to come apart at a certain number of miles or is everybody different .... if its made of  a type neoprene type of material then can I assume about every so many thousand miles then they would need to be changed out I'm just adding this info into my head file ....

[Shockbushing Gary]

The technical measure of worn dampers is 1/4" of rotation at the OD of the drive pin assembly. If you have a stand you can "kind of" get a feel for it by putting the bike in gear and seeing how much back and forth tire motion you have. The problem with that is there are several items of backlash that will all be cumulative.
And yes, it's me that has the shock bushings, too. The Progressives will come with new bushings. I'd always like to sell some more, so you decide. Progressive bushings are different than OEM shock bushings, so you need to specify what you want.
Dampers are $75 shipped in the USA.