Thought I'd post a few pictures of my Ohlins #6's installed on my 2011 Ultra. I know when I was considering the Ohlins with the remote reservoir, I was trying to find as many install pictures as possible. I ordered these over one year ago from Howard at MotorcycleMetal and finally got around to installing them yesterday. When I ordered these, I had a conversation with Howard explaining what I was looking for and explaining my riding characteristics, for example I occasionally ride two-up and I sometimes pull either a cargo trailer or a pop-up camping trailer (ie additional tongue weight). You'll notice in my pictures that I have a Bushtec hitch installed on my bike.

During the initial installation of the shocks, I was a bit frustrated since I did not have the appropriate tool to adjust the length of the shocks. One needs a thin (low torque) 17mm wrench to grab the shaft to loosen the 19mm anodized nut. Howard actually took time out of his day to call me after I sent an email to him, and he explained other ways of adjusting the length of the shocks. He also answered a few questions I had in regards to mounting the remote reservoir. I ended up using my dremel on a 17mm Harbor Freight wrench grinding it down till it fit.

To mount the reservoir under the tour-pak, I loosened the four bolts in the tour-pak and lifted it up and inserted a shim (in my case I used a Home Depot five gallon paint bucket stirring stick) under the front and back of the tour-pak.

I probably could have tucked the reservoirs further under the tour-pak, but I thought slightly angling them out would make it easier to reach the compression damping adjuster.

Installing the reservoirs just by myself is a bit of a pain in the *** and a second person probably would have sped up the install.

According to the Ohlins Owner's Manual, they recommend servicing the shocks every 3 years or 18,000 miles. I've been riding almost 20,000 miles per years the last 8 years or so and I'm really not looking forward to removing and installing the reservoirs every year. If it turns out that I'll need to constantly remove and install these, I'm going to come up with a different bracketing system and I'll purchase one of the different clamping systems that Howard has.

I'll follow-up with a review after I put some mileage on the shocks.

 

A few more pictures.

 

You need to clean your garage.





Just funnin'.


Nice job on the install!

Myself knowing NOTHING about those, are the reservoirs designed to work on their side?

 

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they work just fine mounted like that, lots of people do it that way

 

I just bought a 2015 Limited and I am looking at getting shocks that have a ride height adjustment on them like these. Where did you buy and how much did you have to cough up for them?

 

Make sure that the hose between the shock and the reservoir does not touch your bag lids. I had to adjust mine so they did not wear on the lids.

 

You're new, so you don't know yet. When you see the name Howard associated with Ohlin shocks, it means Motorcycle Metal. He's a forum sponsor. http://motorcyclemetal.com/gpage32.html

 

Tell Howard you are a forum member and he gives a huge discount

 

Hmmm.... you're right, the hose does hit my bag lid. How did you adjust yours?

I'm actually considering having Howard convert these and remove the reservoir. I'm thinking plain standalone shocks make more sense for me due to the ease of maintenance, removal and installation.

 

mount them behind the bags