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Well, my desire to improve the handling of the bike got the better of me today and I have managed to fit a 98-03 Mille Sachs shock (yellow spring / cannister). Haven't been out on it yet but it has definately improved the ride height. I always felt the bike was too low at the rear with the original spring but its definately higher now and feels much firmer.

Thanks for the offer of assistance Andy, I thought I'd give it a go on my own as my missus bought me a new Abba stand for my b'day. Took me an hour but not too difficult. Hopefully the offer of assistance will stretch to helping me with a Mille swingarm fitment (when I get one).

Thanks also to all of the people who have posted instructions or tips on the site, I would not have had the confidence to do it alone without you all.

Now then, as I said I haven't taken the bike out yet so not sure how it will perform. Has anybody any info on settings for the shock I have fitted. I assume it is on standard Mille setting but it could have been altered by the previous owner. Any help would be much appreciated.

blenks wrote: Thanks for the offer of assistance Andy, I thought I'd give it a go on my own as my missus bought me a new Abba stand for my b'day. Took me an hour but not too difficult.

Good news - definitely not so difficult with the right stand.
I'm sure you'll enjoy the improvement.

blenks wrote: Thanks for the offer of assistance Andy, I thought I'd give it a go on my own ........ Hopefully the offer of assistance will stretch to helping me with a Mille swingarm fitment (when I get one).

Just let me know when - I'll plan another trip away .....

(yeah - ok then .... though that one isn't a 1hr job - we'll need to plan for it)

blenks wrote: Now then, as I said I haven't taken the bike out yet so not sure how it will perform. Has anybody any info on settings for the shock I have fitted. I assume it is on standard Mille setting but it could have been altered by the previous owner. Any help would be much appreciated.

Ah, what you need is to come on the suspension setup day .... except we had that last Saturday.
There again, I went and have probably learned enough to get you going .... maybe ....

I guess the best thing is to take the Mille standard settings as a start point. You'll find them in the Mille Workshop manual (on Martin's website of course: http://www.martinpoll.dk/div_april.htm).
Set the static sag and then set the compression and rebound damping to the nominal number of clicks. We can work from there to set it up for you.
Give me a shout if you want some help.

Thanks again Andy. I'll be in touch!!

Took the bike out for a run this afternoon to see how the shock felt. Anybody who has not changed from the original HAS to do this mod. £45 for the shock from ebay, £20 for 4 bearings (Aprilia dealer) and 1 hour to change. What a difference for very little outlay. All this and I haven't touched the settings yet.

Very happy!!!!