2018 Aprilia RS4 50 Euro 4 Upgrade Project

[Berkeley]

Well Mr Tora,

You are absolutely correct about the anomalies. The shock is 100% custom so parts put together to make it the same as the old and a different shock rated spring was put in that wasnt ohlins. Saying that I do have the original one in the box.



Im thinking it will have to be a custom bracket made to hold the reservoir ( not gonna tie it on with what came with it, cheap and nasty) , I will look around but any pointers from anyone will be gratefully appreciated

Cheers

[toratora]

It does all look very nice. Looking forward to hearing about the ride report. In this photo I can see that it does indeed have the bumper. That’s positive news. I will be surprised if you can turn the spring tension ring with that tiny wrench.

The upgraded shock on the Mito used hose claps to mount, and I always thought that was ugly. There’s got to be a better solution out there.

[Berkeley]

So where do I start with this???

The original ones that came with the ohlins look crap.. I asked for photos but i got 'we have packed them so no chance of looking'

next I went hunting and found a possible substitute :

JHS racing said they would supply them for around 140 euros, but looking closer i noticed the mount to the hangar was at 0 deg, i needed ones at 90...so no good.

Trawled the internet for ages and nothing for ohlins, then i came across cafe street racer headlights . These had 50mm mounts and a pair but were still coming out quite expensive ..with no other dims on them



Then JHS Racing came back to me with this option for 180 euros, it looks nice but dont think the 90 deg hanger is possible from what i can see.



In the mean time I scouted for 50mm mount brackets and these came up for car off road car lights huh??? lol only..... 25 euros delivered so got them



and these arrived today

[Berkeley]

Its almost unfunny how you start a job and it goes so well, making great progress then all of a sudden f'ck, f'ck,f'ck!!!

this time it was no different..

the bike being stripped down



Installation of the actual shock was tiiiiiiiiiight but a perfect fit


Next it came to those god dam brackets.. where and how to fix them.


no way do they fit.. these were Chuuuunky!

Out came the grinder.


Then the paint.


then the pre fitting, but this way looked shite.




.... but finally there after swopping around, cutting more bolts, painting more, using a glue gun to wedge a nut up into the smallest gap so i could tighten it .. but finally.. it works but the bracket looks massive.










Test ride tomorrow ..... lets see how she fairs!!!!

[toratora]

Nice perseverance! Did you get any photos of the upper mount? That’s generally where the difficulty ensues.

[Berkeley]

So i thought the shock came set up.. apparently not

I took it for a v short test ride and thought wow.. this things solid.. tooo solid.. appears the rebound was set to 0 so basically the bike just squatted down and the reservoir hose nut crushed the carbon mud guard!!! ( gutted as everything up till them I ensured that i didn't scratch or mess anything up. doh

I twisted the canister around and moved it a bit, put amaya on it and its just clearing everything.. As i have two brackets I will modify the second but making it shorter this time.. this way whoever sits on it doesn't happen again

...That will be this weeks job.

As far as the top end of the shock, the fit was microns perfect and just enough space to fit in the hose too before hitting the air box.. The hose could be another 1 to 2 inches longer as everything was so tight fitting it in and making sure it didnt catch or rub was a real challenge.

When ill do the bracket mods ill take some pics of this area.. but surprised how well it fitted.

As for the ride you do notice a difference , the bike feels more planted and a lot more responsive .. a proper long road test is in order as soon as it cools down a bit over here!

[toratora]

It is very difficult to not scratch things eventually. You can put painter’s tape everywhere, and that helps a lot, but bikes just have a way of getting scratched.

[Berkeley]

Here are a few more pics of it installed.

[Berkeley]

I wish I had done this the first time, would had saved messing up the rear fender

This was the original mounting position, the reservoir didn't have enough clearance and kept hitting the rear fender when going over bumps in the road,
Also the hose was very tight and extended to the max.. not so good either



There was a hole in the bracket, so tried fitting it here, just needed the hole a bit bigger.





Upon putting the fairing back the bracket was now in the way of the bolt clip so another hole had to be made



It seemed to fit nicely and there was a bit of slack now in the hose



A little hack for putting a nut in the back , where it keeps falling out of the spanner.. a little bit of hot glue



Now fitting just and i mean just .. couldn't had done it better, its also now proud so clear of the fender..... happy days

[Berkeley]

yesterday was a little long but great, 13hrs riding with breaks in between.. We met up with a local group of riders and went all over the mountains.. epic scenery!





The bike for sure needs more power and thinking how hard would it be to fit a 125 engine into it?? both the 50 and the 125 are the same size ( at least thats how I saw them side by side ) just wondering about mounting points and whether you could put an older 2 stroke engine into it or have to go for a new 4 stoke engine??

thoughts most welcome cheers