I did a quick search and found one topic that mentioned a rear shock hissing....so....

When I got home today I noticed my rear shock hissed a little when I would get off...never noticed it before, may have been like that forever. Anyway, I decided, alright, quick swap, might as well do it. The bike came with the stock shock installed, but a Katana shock as a spare. I planned on swapping, but never did, until today.

Problem: It makes the exact same noise the stock one was making....WTF? Both blown? Other than the noise it seems fine. It rebounds nice, absorbs MUCH better than the stock one. Performance wise, it seems fine...am I just sitting on a dud or does it need to be worked in a bit after sitting for so long?

my fiancee's does it. the sv1000 shock on my sv650 does it. i would chalk it up as normal.

... just to mention it...

.. had a similar noise on a dirtbike years ago ... kinda a hiss and same sound to that but not exactly like air movement .. over time it developed into a 'bull frog croak' (and not cool like the budweiser frogs either!).. drove me mental ... mate came over and heard it... little spray of WD on the piston shaft and then a light smear of marine grease (cos is repels water a little better and sticks longer) ... noise went away ...

was easy on the dirtbike cos had exposed section of piston rod ... from looking at pics some katana shocks have a sleeve over the rod and some dont (missing? .. different year?) .. but it worked

maybe this is different and some shocks do have a louder 'vent to atmosphere' sound hole thingy ..

mostly new noises get noticed because they are new .. some can develop over time and be 'part of the background' noise till they get loud enough to notice... but i would check it more just to be sure eh!

Thats why I thought I should ask. THe fact that it seems to perform perfectly makes me think it's ok, BUT, I know it could be temporary. Just seems like perfect bad luck if they are both bad.

I've heard that hissing noise from bike and car shocks for years and never given it a thought about not being OK.  Now if you see oil leaking from the shock that's a sign of impending doom, only a matter of time until there is no shock action left.

My 02 bought with about 4k miles on it had a slow leaking shock and I continued to use it until it was too late.  One day about 30-40 miles from home it went completely all at once, no shock action left at all.  Hitting a little bump even in an easy curve at moderate speed had the rear jumping out sideways.  It was a slow careful ride home.

Leaking air OK, leaking oil NG!

Ok. Thanks Jack. I have spent the day bouncing on it quite hard in the garage just to see if it would do anything...weird. Dry as a bone, so no oil, just air. I will keep an eye on it for a while though just in case.

The 15 or so miles I put on it last night, I can say...it's amazing what a difference a simple shock can make!

whoopee cushion hidden in the seat?

I rode without my (one) headphone in on the fourth and heard a noise I thought was my shock.. it was my leather jacket rubbing on my helmet somehow.. was driving me nuts at first till I realized and corrected.



Mine don't do that. weird.

It would drive me crazy if it did. .. I have probably jinxed myself now.

Going to try that grease & WD40 route?

I am going to try the grease method, don't like WD-40 as it attracts stuff...not that cleanliness is an aspect of the bike. I only hear it when the bike is off, it's quite so once she's running I don't notice. First sign of a bounce though, I'm getting a new one!

Quote from: Soloratov on July 05, 2013, 06:51:55 PM
I am going to try the grease method, don't like WD-40 as it attracts stuff

Grease will attract and hold a whole lot more than WD-40.

Good point.

WD-40 it is! 

Quote from: Soloratov on July 05, 2013, 06:56:53 PM
Good point.

WD-40 it is! 

graphite? used in rc world a lot... lubricant but doubt it would stop a squeak.

I actually have an extensive RC collection and a lot of graphite lube, but I doubt that would work well here. Too bad rebuildable shocks are so expensive, and, well, not for this bike.