Will 06 Adventure shocks fit a 2004 GS?

[prwatts]

Hi, I have a 2004 GS - will 2006 GS Adventure Shocks fit it?
Thanks
Peter

[MacGyver]

I'm about to find out! . . . I'm going to buy a set from someone tonight. They only have 500km on them, so they should be in pretty good shape. He seems to have bought Ohlins or something right away after buying his '06 GSA.

I developed "ground clearance envy" one day riding with a friend with a GSA. Sitting having coffee before we set off, you could see a significant difference in ground clearance between my '04 GS and his '11 GSA with the two bikes on sidestands. I had my shock pre-load adjusted quite soft at the time, so that made up for some of the dramatic difference. My last bike was a DL650, and one of the things I didn't like about it was for a dual-purpose bike, the ground clearance was abysmal. Now I have no illusiions of trials riding on my GS, but I do get into some interesting areas once in a while.

I discovered that if I crank the pre-load right up on the GS shocks, (front full, rear almost all the way up) it gave me about an inch more ground clearance, and actually sit's about perfect for me from that perspective, but now I'm ridiing on stiff suspension all the time. Although I could probably learn to live with it, I also do a lot of commuting, so softer suspension would be nice without compromising ground clearance.

I can't put out the money for Ohlins or Wilburs, so this seems like a not-so-wallet-breaking thing to experiment with. I got both barely-used stock shocks for $250. If I like it and decide later to upgrade to expensive aftermarkets, I'd probably get Adventure model shocks with height lowering adjustment capability. This I believe would provide the best of all worlds. I think BMW should just provide GSA shocks with height lowering adjustment for both the GS and GSA. They'd only need to make one set of shocks for both bikes and riders would have the full range of adjustability. Of course, for a lot of GS owner's it seems, they'd be replacing them with aftermarket's before the bike made it to their garage anyway!

There are a few things I expect to have to deal with. You can't make a change to bike geometry like that without side-effects. I'll take photos and post things as I go along.

First, extension of the side stand and center stand is undoubtably going to be necessary. My first choice for that fix is to "pad" the bottoms of the feet of both using dense rubber (probably from a hockey puck). But that will depend on how much length is required. I do have a welder, so if need be I could slice and weld in an extension, but then there is no ability to go back to stock if necessary.

Second, it is possible the brake line on the front may need to be extended. I've already got mild front brake line issues after putting a handlebar riser-back on, so I'll deal with both at the same time if I need to.

I have heard others talk about the need for a different paralever brace length, but I'll cross that bridge if/when I come to it. There are some aftermarket ones available that are adjustable, but I'm trying to do this without adding too much cost.

[MacGyver]

Short answer is YES!!They bolt right in.

I had some trouble getting the front one out and in, but mostly because I was too lazy to pull the lower engine guards and front cover for the alternator belt. I squeezed it in without doing this before I realized the top rubber/bushing had fallen off and I had to re-install it. The first time around I was really nervous about the strain on the brake line. I decided to go the other route for the re-install.

I discovered you MUST remove the engine guards and alternator belt cover to eliminate strain on the brake line. This is also a good opportunity to check the alternator belt for degradation/tension. Also check for corrosion on the lower front of the engine. The brake line by the way, is fine . . . no lengthening is necessary. There is also no need to remove the side covers and gas tank as shown in the manual, but it would make things a bit easier to work around.

The rear just popped right in. You have to remove the muffler, but that only takes a couple of minutes. I had to use a small bottle jack to push up on the bottom of the shock to line up the hole, but only by about 1/8".

The springs are noticeably thicker and longer and the piston on the rear is thicker by about 4 cm. The front piston is actually smaller but only by about 1.5 cm. The rear shock's lower mount point is heavier duty and the preload knob is larger, so it's easier to adjust. While you may not be gaining the benefits of Ohlins or other aftermarket shocks, this is definitely an upgrade for the '04 GS.

With both shocks in, the front and rear wheel are touching the ground on the center stand, but not by a lot. The bike still feels stable on my lift. Early estimate is that it will only take about 3/4" pads on the bottom of the centerstand legs to account for keeping the wheels off the ground and the weight on the center stand. Same probably for the side stand, maybe 1" on that one.

I'll post some photos tomorrow.