That sucks. Anything available on eBay?  Can you take Yun's bike?  You can certainly borrow the FJR if you want it.

I sincerely appreciate the offer, but I'll take the K bike down and will do my best not to complain. It's a privilege to be able to go at all.

Do you no longer have your old progressive shock of the correct length?I see plenty of Hagons and wilbers on ebay; at least the wilbers are generally considered comparable to the Ohlins units. The down side is that these run about $500-600; what about Penske? They might be available much quicker (though pricing looks steep @ ~$1700).While you can certainly live with a poor/inappropriate shock for the trip, one only gets so many good riding days in one's life. Just saying...

In addition to that, if you have your old progressive shock of the correct length, there is a local shop in MD that could probably do a quick rebuild to get you through the DG trip with the correct suspension geometry.:http://www.progressivesuspension.com/dealers.aspx

and, not meaning to beat this topic into the ground, but is it possible to ask Bob's to see if Ohlins can expedite your shock repair? The USA service center is located in Henderson NC, so there's potentially  a chance to make this happen quickly.

buffalo, thanks for the suggestions. It's more than a repair. There's some question as to whether or not the Ohlins I have is correct for the bike. 


I've been doing some searches but now if you search for "Ohlins K100RS" the M-BY-MC threads on the subject are all the top results. I noted that the model number of the shock was BM 4200 but can no longer find the links where that shock was described. I had, when I initially got the shock, verified myself that the part number was correct for the bike. 

The tech was mentioning there was some evidence that the shock was not clearing some frame member and that's what caused the failure. So one of the questions that has to be answered is whether or not that shock was ever correct for this bike. It's supposed to be. I know it was pulled off a K100RS, but it may be the case that something got overlooked. 

As for Progressive, I was never happy with that shock. If memory serves they have two versions, a regular shock and a higher end more adjustable shock. The only spare shock Bob's had to loan me was a regular shorter one. It's at least something and lets me ride the bike.

Given the amount of money I've spent on the Ohlins and how hard they are to find combined with how much I like how the bike handles with it, I'm loathe to spend a bunch of money on some other option just for the trip. It's tempting, since I'm not going to be able to push it much at all with this shock as the bike bottoms out too easily and the center stand hits the ground way early even in moderate cornering. The upside is that we'll all be able to ride together more.

There are still a few options out there if it turns out the Ohlins is beyond repair. It doesn't look like Racetech has any options for a rear shock for this bike:


 

 But there is Works Performance:


 
As you point out, there's also Wilburs with their HyperPro shocks. It looks like they do still offer a shock for my bike:


 
I'm not sure what other options are available. My bike is verging on "Vintage". It's too bad. I really like the way the bike performs with the Ohlins. I hope they can figure out what the issue is.

Dammit. I thought that the damage to the reservoir was there originally but looking at old photos proves it was not:



I went out and looked at the bike but couldn't see anywhere it was making contact. Then it dawned on me. I look at the bag and there is a corresponding wear mark on the right hand bag. Given the amount of damage to the shock I'm surprised the bag only shows some abrasion but no real damage.

Reading online, it looks like there was a different shock with a remote reservoir but I have been unable to find the part number.  

An overseas shock option for the K100RS, BiTurbo:


 
Thanks, Yun Lung Yang

Apparently, I misread the part number. I'll have to look again but the part number from the shock is probably BM-420, which, after spending almost all day looking, is only spec'd for '94 and later models as far as I can tell.

You now officially own an Old Bike, the maintenance of which will become increasingly challenging.  I hope you get a good shock back on there - I know how much you like that bike.

So thanks to Yun Lung Yang, it looks like this is the correct shock, which looks nothing like the shock on my bike:



It's model BM002.
 

Although from the photo it seems a bit short.

So what is your next move?

I'm going to talk to them about it tomorrow. I bought the shock over 2 years ago, so any kind of warranty is long since over. We'll see.

I just spoke to Anton in Charlotesville to see if he had anything laying around his shop that you could use...no dice.
If it was the wrong shock to begin with I would say that there is no warranty issue at all, they owe you the right shock, period.  Not only is this the right thing for them to do, it really is unconscionable that they would have wrongly supplied you with such a critical component.  A wrong shock could have had serious safety ramifications.
If it was the wrong part, they got very lucky and they owe you a new one.  That's my take on it.

Yea, understood.

I think it was an honest mistake. We all looked at the specs for that shock and it was listed for a K100RS. It looked like it fit. I haven't talked to them about it yet. The service department opens up tomorrow at which point I'll give them a call. I also still need to verify with Ohlins themselves that my new understanding is actually correct, but I'm pretty sure it is. 

FYI, if you go to this site:
http://www.ohlins.com/Product-search/?query=bmw%20k100r... type in BM 420 (if you put in BM 4200 it defaults to BM 420), your bike is not listed.  If you type in BM 002 your bike is listed.

Frustrating. I'm not sure why, but I have typed in every conceivable combination into that very search box and it never returned any results .. until, of course, now that you point it out. 

Sometimes I wonder how I've made it this far. Yea, it's clearly the wrong shock.

Thanks for pointing that out. 




 
 

Yermo I know we've talked about the "K" and the particulars around it that would keep you from selling it or otherwise getting rid of it. It would be well worth considering "retiring" it though. Beyond things like the shocks age is punishing to mechanical objects regardless of amount of use. Considering the relatively mild steels used and all of the other aging issues (platform aging), it will become increasing dangerous to ride and put any real stress on it.

think about giving it a nice retirement and use it as the occasional "special" bike. But you should really think about getting a more reasonable daily driver and heavy use bike. 

It will be a frigid day in hell before I retire my bike.

The K100RS is so over-engineered that it'll take many many more years of serious abuse before metal fatigue, or frankly anything else, comes close to being a showstopper issue.

There is nothing about the bike that is unsafe.  If I had not maintained it to the degree I have, then it would be another story.

This issue with the shock was due to a mistake, not any fault of the bike's. In the grand scheme of things, It is minor and will get resolved.

Yermo I was not insulting you or your bike, or questioning its build quality. I think my comments were reasonable and not terribly off base.

Keep it and ride it into the pavement if that's your want to do. 

For clarity....my "...ride it into the ground" comment was not me being flip. I can be far more snarky than that if that is the goal. Rather I wanted to simply point out that it is indeed your object, your machine, to do with as you please. 

My only investment in this is your friendship, thus I only want you to be able to enjoy the things you enjoy most. I believe that you truly and deeply enjoy riding, and that the instrument of that enjoyment may sometimes have more ascribed to it than maybe it should.

It's like climbing hills off road...once on the top you have to wonder why it was "so" scary at the bottom.

rshaug, some things get lost in translation. In my mind, the first sentence was funny, but re-reading it I see how it could be read in a different light. The original edit was something like "when they pry my cold dead fingers off it", but that seemed a bit gruesome.

As always, I appreciate the insights and the perspectives and didn't mean to come across as if a nerve had been touched. It's fascinating to see how perspectives differ sometimes in small but meaningful ways. Contrasts are key to understanding.



It's just that it's my bike and the thought of losing it does bug me. I guess I was reacting to that and not anything you said. 



There are so precious few things that I honestly like in life. My bike happens to be one of those very few things.

So what's the latest on the shock saga?