DIY Tutorial - YSS Rear Adustable Shock Installation

The Vino could definitely use softer suspension. Many owners in the reviews I had read prior to getting the bike had complained about the rough ride over potholes and uneven city roads. Shortly after getting the Vino, I can agree. Some bumps are hard enough to bump me up off the seat! This makes it that much more difficult to hold on while braking if I need to.

After some research I quickly found the YSS Rear Adjustable Shock. It's 5-way adjustable and is the cheapest of the 6 contenders. At $60 shipped, I grabbed it in a jiffy (actually about a month later). This was my Christmas present to myself.

Here it is freshly delivered by UPS.



Right out of the box. Super clean and it's white! Matches the white on the jacket and helmet. Perfect color. I'm glad YSS chose to make the base black rather than chrome like the stock one. Chrome's nice, but it wouldn't look right against the white springs - not enough contrast.

One good thing about the size of the "key/tool" for adjusting the settings is that it fits in the Griffter license plate storage box! Perfect in case I need to make adjustments on the go.

This is what we're starting with. See that spring thingy? We're taking that out and replacing it with the new one. There are two bolts holding it in place. A 12mm bolt at the bottom and a 14mm bolt on top (hidden under the side blue panel).





Although there's probably enough room to squeeze your hand through to access the the top bolt, I chose to remove the side panel to get more room to work with. To get to this philips screw though, I had to remove the rear passenger bracket. I wanted to remove the storage bracket anyway, so here it goes. I think this was an 11mm hex bolt. Not completely certain.


Once the brackets are removed, the three screws holding the panel can be removed. I didn't really have to use the extention, but just decided to anyway to give myself some clearance away from the panel. I didn't want to scratch anything when I got to the top screw. The panel needs to be pushed upwards to be removed. because there are three tabs that secure it at the top.


Here's the naked scooter. To get to this stage, you'll have to unplug the left turn side signal from the panel. It's just a simple plug. All that stuff there may look more intimidating than it really is. I promise it's not too bad. There's a lot more space to work with once the panel's taken out. I'm glad I removed it.




Start with the bottom bolt. It's a 12mm one. We'll have to torque it later to spec which is 11 ft/lbs.








This is a picture of the torque wrench. It was less than $15 from Harbor Freight Tools. I love that place. The prices are often so good on their products, that it's actually cheaper to buy one than to rent. They've got saws and everything else you'd want in a dream garage.




Now turn to the top bolt. This one's a different size. It's a 14mm. It will have to be torqued back to 22 ft/lbs. This torquing stuff is important b/c we don't want this coming loose!O nce the stock shock is removed, take the time to clean the black plastic parts (do as I say not as I do) now that everything is accessible. When you put the new YSS shock on, decide if you want their logo sticker showing or not.


I hadn't realized until just now as I'm uploading the photo that the new YSS shock spring is actually fatter than the stock one. The length is the same and the bolts will be reused. It's literally plug and play. No modification needed. Perfect for the guy who doesn't know what he's doing. Notice the YSS spring is shorter (more compressed). I think this means it's on the hardest setting from the factory.


Installed! I bolted up the top one first followed by the bottom one. TIP: It's probably easier to do the bottom one first. Once on side is secured (be sure to use some blue locktite), you'll have to put some weight on the scooter to align the holes on the other end. Forcing it by hand won't work as well. I literally leaned over tummy down on the seat to align the last bolt.



That's it! I haven't yet taken a ride on this thing, but the ride height is definitely lower when I sit on it. I wonder how it goes over bumps! Can't wait until tomorrow morning!

A detail of how the adustment works is shown here. Notice the notches of varying depths surrounding the circumference of the shock. Each setting changes the length of the spring and therefore the softness or harshness of the suspension. The photo shows it on the deepest notch on the right of the cylinder creating a shorter spring length and therefore a harsher ride.



A compressed shock needs more force to compress it even more. This means unevenness of the road will transfer directly to the scooter more quickly and aggressively.

More compression = harsher ride.
Less compression = softer ride

Klaus from YSS informed me that if I find that the ride is still bumpy on the softest setting, I might be bottoming out. He's advised to stiffen it up one notch and give that a try.

REVIEW:
I couldn't wait, so I took the Vino out for a spin this evening. I traveled about 4 miles round trip on the hardest setting and then again on the softest setting. Perhaps I was too dreamy to think the shock would absorb all unevenness in the road and I'd be riding on a cloud. Far from it. I can still feel the jolt at the softest setting, but it's definitely less jarring. The shock did it's job.

One of the reasons I wanted to get this aftermarket adjustable shock is so that it would absorb the impact of at least manholes so that I keep keep an eye on my surroundings rather than stare at the ground. I don't want to have to keep avoiding unevenness of the road. Most scooters don't even see these as obstacles and ride right over them. I barely feel them when riding on Uncle Victor's Elite 80.

The shock served it's purpose for me and I can now pay more attention to my surroundings rather than stare at the ground trying to avoid minute things that only the Vino sees as an obstacle (like manholes). I can still feel the unevenness of the road but the jolts are less jarring. I'm no longer popping out of my seat going over big bumps. I feel it, but my butt stays planted.

All in all, I'm satisfied with the purchase. I doubt riders would be able to pinpoint the differences between all 5 settings though. 1 and 5 are noticeable, but 2, 3 and 4 are probably too similar to notice. As for lowering the ride height? Err, I can barely tell. If there is a difference, it's probably a 1/4 inch. I can't notice anything yet with the roads I've gone on so far. More updates to come when I get a chance to ride more around the city.