Ohlins shock sevice
 

Anybody know a shop that can service my rear shock between Panama and NYC, hopefully closer to Panama than NYC!

Cheers
Pete

OK, part 2, I will have the parts needed for a full service in my hands for the end of next week, so the question now changes to any good repair shops you can recommend to do the work?

G'day Pete,

I would try the guys at the main BMW agency in Panama. They are known for looking after travellers. A full service and some other work was one of the cheapest that I've ever had done (with the exception of the free one in Tehran!) In this instance don't let those three letters put you off, they are a great bunch of guys.

Chris

Nice one fella, I don't mind those three letters too much the shocks is attached to a X Challenge :clap:

I'm off to Google them, I was told that the guys in Bogota were great but turned out to be less so! Cheers for the info.

Pete

We have an Ohlin trained expert in Guatemala. If you can wait that long.

Going into Panama BMW first as they said they can do the work, I now have the seal kit so that part of the problem is solved :)

Is it leaking or the bottom bit fallen off?

If not then I'd say ride on. Servicing in third world can make things worse - I though the same that my shock had more kilometers than manual recommended (20 000km) so I decided to let my Ohlins serviced in Colombia by Ohlins authorized dealer and they completely messed it up - they put non-standard valve on it (the same one you have on tyres) plus it bew up after 100km of smooooth tarmac riding. It took as additional month to send it to US for repair, then it was good for another 2X of the recommended service interval. This mistake effectively cut out our planned Guyanas-Amazon loop. I've had the same horror experiences in Buenos Aires with Wilbers shock that I had to repair multiple times.

It's really day-and-night difference in work ethics and quality. What's better - to repair it every 100 - 2000km riding it carefully like an egg-shell or wait a couple of weeks and it's good for 20 000+km in Öhlins case if you're "normally" careful on bottom outs and overheating.

Moral of the story: on going to the trip do the full pre-emptive maintenance in US/Europe, ride till it leaks or brakes in half (common for Ohlins - we had this) and unless it's emergency, ship them for service to the same place to be sure it's quality and peace of mind behind it. The most time-, nerve- and money consuming is to constantly repair it in short intervals in third world "authorized" / "specialized" shops with no guarantees if it'll hold for another few hundred klicks or pisses out all the oil again.

Or best, get the Hyperpro shocks in the beginning (proven the most reliable shocks on our RTW beating the much-hyped Ohlins and Wilbers by an astronomical margin).

Safe roads,
Margus