Aprilia Falco Shock Installation

This is really straightforward, but I wanted to share a couple tips.

When I measured rear sag, I suspended my bike from an engine hoist to raise the rear. It's much easier to put the bike on a rear stand, then push a piece of steel rod through the swingarm pivot. Place jackstands under the rod and lower the bike off the rearstand onto the jackstands. You can then put a scissor jack under the swingarm buttons to just take the weight off the shock. Now the shock will practically fall out with no muscle.

The swingarm pivot on the Aprilia is hollow, so you can slide a length of rod through the bike. Use a jack to just take the weight of the wheel and swingarm off the shock.

After removing the one top and one rear bolt on the shock, there is enough clearance to drop the shock and pull the top through the right side over the swingarm. Here's a picture of my Penske with original hose, bolted up. I sent the shock back to have an 8-inch hose put on (measured from fitting end to end).

The subframe has a crossmember behind the shock which would neatly tie up the shock reservoir, I think. On my RS250, they actually molded a reservoir cavity into the inner fender plastic here. There's some hoses to clear on the left side, so I think it would be best to have the compression adjust face to the right. The stock hose is too short for this.

With lengthened hose, the reservoir fits neatly to the crossmember using the standoffs and clamps supplied by Penske.

Finished product.

Discrete.

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