DIY disasters: ‘Owner swore blind someone had nicked rear shock’
Chris Self discovered a criminally neglected shock on this Deauville
‘The owner told us someone had nicked his shock’
Many of us have experienced that cold chill when we stare at an empty parking space and realise that our bike has been stolen. A Honda Deauville rider in Ipswich went through similar emotions when he thought his shock absorber had gone walkies.
“He was in quite a flap, pointing at the vacant mounting point and wondering who would do such a thing,” explained Chris Self, of Chris
Self Motorcycles in Ipswich. Chris quickly reassured him that no crime had taken place as he could push up and down on the rear end and feel the shock working. The single shock the bike uses is tucked away near the front of the swingarm, and that vacant cast mounting point was because the swingarm was first used on an earlier model which featured twin shocks.
But there were still issues with the suspension and any damping was a distant memory with a strange ‘clicking’ emanating from the tired, but definitely unstolen, shock. “Deauvilles tend to be workhorses, but when I took a look at the shock it was a mass of corrosion. Damping fluid had leaked out long ago. It had to come off.” But that was easier said than done as the bottom mounting bolt had seized. Some heat and hefty work with a lump hammer got it out in the end, when the cause of the clicking revealed itself… the shock had snapped. “When the bolt seized solid that meant the shock couldn’t pivot as the rear wheel rode up and down over bumps in the road and it broke the damper rod,” Chris said. Ironically that would have given him back some suspension movement, but it must have been a horrible ride. He got away with a £300 Hagon shock, but it could have ended in disaster if he’d hit a particularly bad pothole.