One of my biggest concerns when purchasing the TLS was the weird rotary damper. I was afraid that since it was unconventional it would fail early or simply not perform adequately. For the first while that I owned the bike, (approx. 6000 miles) the damper did perform well, however, after that point its performance fell off dramatically. By the first spring of ownership the damper was starting to concern me. I was continually upping the rebound damping, which would help for a while, until I was completely out of adjustment. Then in the autumn of 2001, almost all at once, the damper failed. Halfway through a very fast sweeper the bike started to bounce at the rear. The damping characteristics disappeared. Fortunately I had the courage to nail the throttle, putting more downward force onto the rear wheel, controlling the bouncing through the corner until I came onto the straight and was able to scrub off a lot of speed. That pretty much ended my riding for the year.

Kris, being a goodly wife, ordered me an Ohlins rear shock to replace Suzuki's horrible attempt to "revolutionize" the suspension world. Read more about Suzuki's thinking here:www.motorcycle.com

A British Magazine did a series of extensive reviews of Suzukis stupid damper and what they found is posted on www.tl1000.com. To Summarize their findings; the stock damper provided lots of compression damping and very little rebound damping when just the opposite is whats needed for a motorcycle to handle properly.

I looked long and hard at a replacement. Penske and Ohlins both make alternatives. The Penske has solid mounting bracketry that retains progressive linkage. The Ohlins does not. The Ohlins mounts to the frame utilizing the same mounting points as the sub-frame. However, the Ohlins uses the original spring which retains its progressive linkage. I chose the Ohlins after talking with owners of both units and finding an Ohlins at a price that was very competitive.

I started replacing the stock unit by removing a good portion of the tailsection. All the plastic and the inner-fender My reasoning was the less in the way the less likely I will be to mess things up.
(Click on images for larger, more detailed views).

Here is the rear of the bike with most everything removed. You can see the original rotary damper and the linkage. While I had everything apart I decided to grease the swingarm bearings. Suzuki does not put much grease on these bearings and regular maintenance will help the rear suspension work the way it should. The best suspension components in the world can be slowed down by dry, rusty bearings.

To grease the bearing, it is necessary to remove the exhaust system and the damper mounts. (Another good thought by Suzuki - Making routine maintenance that much more difficult.) I dropped the exhaust, and removed the entire damper (as it was coming out anyway.) To allow the swingarm to move away from the frame and open access to the bearings. I was unable to remove the bolt that held the spring in place and didn't want to force anything. So I left that in place.

I first cleaned the bearings, then coated them with grease. I was super careful to remember how the race went in to ensure that I replaced it the same way it came out. (Look at all those tight links on that chain! A new chain is definitely in order.) After the new grease, I reinstalled the swingarm and torqued everything back down to specs.

Here is how it all looked after the swingarm was in place. It looks better already without the horrible rotary thing in there.

The next step involved the installation of the Ohlins. (Very exciting!) The directions from Ohlins were pretty good, including a drawing illustrating how the Ohlins sat. However, the drawing was from the perspective of the front of the bike while I was looking at everything from the rear. This required me to translate the perspective in my head to fully understand the image.

Included in the kit were the three bolts, three locknuts, the bracket, a spacer and the shock. The top of the shock mounts beside the top mount of the subframe, just underneath the left rear tank mount. Critics complain that this point would not be as strong, but with the addition of the bracket tying the shock in with the original rotary damper mounts, I don't think there will be any problems. It distributes the stress over a farily large area. And honestly, it cannot be much worse that the rotary, which is known to sometimes crack frames.

This image is a bit blurry, but you can tell how it mounts at the top. You can also see the orange bracket coming down along the right side of the shock and the blue spacer.

Here is another image taken from the left side of the bike. You can see where the top of the shock ties in with the subframe. When I installed mine, I loosened everything up to lessen the chance of breaking any of the other components that are nearby. The only part of the installation that was not seamless was having to notch the tank bracket to allow room for the top of the shock.

I used a Dremel to grind away the bare minimum of material and still allow room for the shock bracket. This image was actually taken halfway through the grinding process. I wanted to make sure that the tank bracket completely cleared the shock bracket. My concern was that if there was contact it would prevent the rubber tank mounts from absorbing the vibration and the bouncing that results from riding may result in cracking the tank mounts. I hate to do anything to scratch paint, but at least this paint cannot be seen when everything is installed.

Here is an image of the shock just before installing the last few bolts. Installing the bottom bolt required that shock be compressed to get it in place. The instructions stated "use an appropriate tool to compress the shock." I used a rag and a really big screwdriver with good results. I wedged the screwdriver between the swingarm and the bottom of the shock .... and slip. It went right into place.

Here is the Ohlins after the installation was complete and the bike was reassembled. Access to the adjustments are fair, requiring a little contortion of the hand. Those with big hands will find making adjustments more difficult. I did find that the spring preload needed to be increased to balance out the rest of the bike. I set the rear sag at 1/4 inch.

My only concern prior to extended use, is the potential for chain lube getting spattered all over the shock. I'm afraid that lube may get on the shock tube and get dragged into the internal components of the Ohlins. If this proves to be the case, I already have some ideas on building an extended chain guard to prevent excessive filth from getting on the damper.

All in all, the installation process was much easier than I expected it to be. My only real complaint was the lack of torque specs from Ohlins. I had to guess at how tight the bolts should be. After riding the bike extensively, I have decided that this is one of the most effective improvements that can be made to the mighty TLS. The rear of the bike now behaves properly and tracks the road much better. On top of that, the increases rebound damping provides a lot of much needed stability. This is the way the bike should have come from Suzuki and after installing the new rear shock, the steering damper seems less important. It makes me wonder if the screwy rotary damper helped induce tank slappers because of the negative handling traits.

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