Part 1 – Rear suspension replacement

This rear Ohlin is for Oil cooled GSA, designed and config for a rider who is 70-90kg. And more, this is low suspension, theoretically lower than OEM one approx 1inch.

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Put the bike on center stand, remove muffler to get space to remove the suspension bolt:

Before removing any suspension bolt, suggest to put a timber or a brick to support the rear wheel. It would help to reduce friction at the bolts, do not let the wheel dropped down after pulling the bolts.

In case the suspension nut is too difficult to pull out of the swing arm, use the hammer handle (wooded one) to do as a lever to slowly push out the suspension:

After bolts removal, try to remember which one is for the top and which for the bottom. The shorter bolt is for the top of the suspension, longer one is for bottom, don’t mistake – otherwise you will damage the suspension as well as facing with risk of loosing bolt while riding.

The suspension on my bike was OEM one, with HyperPro spring for better suspension and lower the bike a bit.

It is noticed the Ohlin is shorter than the OEM (with HyperPro spring) a bit at free condition:

One more comparison, their weights:

Put the Ohlin in place:

Then move to the hydraulic preload adjuster – not to put on this side as the space is restricted by the support of telelever.

So I decided to mount it to the left side of the bike. The mounting kit of adjuster is interesting design, you can play with bolts location and plate position to have your best choice of mounting. Before tightening the bolts, you should sit and stand on the bike to make sure the adjuster is nicely fitted without any touching, clashing while  riding. A every important note here that you need to make sure the hydraulic line is routed freely, no twist or bending, no touching with any moving parts, i.e. the wheel.

Adjust to the best position and orientation then tighten the bolts.

Part 2 – Front suspension replacement

Bike on center stand, remove all fairing on top of gas tank.

Remove the top nut of the existing suspension:

Loosen or remove the engine guard to make room working with the bottom bolt of the suspension. Remove that bolt:

Lower down the suspension so you can take it off the bike.

To be noted that you need to transfer three things to the new one as the metal washer + rubber washer + 1 small metal tube.

Be aware of the rubber washer shape, it needs to be fitted with the same profile of the frame:

The top bolt head of the new Ohlin is different from the OEM one’s. No more hex key.

Put the Ohlin in place, locate the lower bolt and then tighten the top one, then back to the bottom one.

Done the front Ohlin installation:

This low Ohlin suspension set makes the bike pretty much lower than original. It is very difficult to put the bike on center stand by the rider only. People normally shorten the center stand for ease of operation.

Next step is taking the bike out for a ride, feel it, adjust the suspension as your liking and preserve the old suspension.