I noticed my bike riding a little stiff yesterday so I checked my air pressure. 25#s , hmm seemed about right. I then sat on bike and bounced up and down a little and it still seemed stiff.

Next I put the hand pump back on and tried to bleed them down some. Pressure dropped some but not much. Thinking my pump may be bad from being in the saddlebag I took it off and bled by hand. This is when I noticed oil coming out.....

Isn't it supposed to be air over oil ? Did I blow my shocks ? Shocks are factory.

Thanks for any advice.

 

Factory shocks are very simple and there is nothing to separate the air from the oil. The service manual tells us not to lay them down if removing them from the bike, otherwise oil may leak from them. I have confirmed that first hand!

How much oil came out of yours? There is another thread on here today from someone who wants to know how much oil to put in his after they leaked. If you lost any more than a drop take a look to see if he has an answer.

 

I didn't lose maybe a drop or 2 as far as I can tell. I'll look for the other thread. Thanks

 

I believe you need to add a couple of pumps of air 1st to clear the lines of any oil before bleeding of excess air. The shock oil bounces around a lot when you ride and gets in the lines and has to be blown back into the shock so it doesn't leak out a little when checking. It's happened to me also. Not a big deal.

 

hey kinda late to this thread..but whenever you take air out of that system,you have to pump a few pounds in first(to stop the oil fro bleeding out),before you start to bleed the shock.

 

Its probably not enough to worry about! The other contributors have made a useful tip about first pumping in some air, before lowering pressure. The fact oil can get in the lines shows these shocks are not very sophisticated! I ditched mine several years ago.

 

Excellent advice,thanks everyone. This is my second bagger and naver had it happen before.

I'll try the couple of pumps before adjusting and see how it goes. Eventually these will go and be replaced with a better shock. Looking to go to gear drive cams first though.

thanks again

 

do yourself a huge favor and ditch the factory suspension.

the shocks are garbage and the forks are crap

Progressive 440's and fork internals are the way to go.

I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record but it is true.

 

Probably best to bleed the air using the hand pump. Without it the air comes out too fast taking some oil with it.