New Shocks for the Twike

My left rear Koni had seized up.  Even jumping up and down on the rear end would not produce any compression in the shock.  Apparently this is pretty rare.  After 15 years of holding up 100s of lbs of batteries it was time for a new set.  Koni bit the dust and changed over to Ikon.  Luckily some all night googling landed me here http://www.ikonsuspension.com/v1.0/content/customer-projects.html

 You have to remove the bracket to get the part number.  Its four allen wrench metric bolts.  Its difficult to get the shock out.  I suggest pushing from the eye hole from above where you take off the 19mm nut to free the top eyelet.




I was able to contact a local distributor in San Francisco;
Recommended Service
1064 Revere Ave
San Francisco CA 94124 USA
P: 415 822 2041

Dave at Recommended Service put me in touch with Geoff the engineer at Ikon and we figured out this is what I needed;

 7610-1282SP6 for the front (unless you do not want a new spring in which case it is just 7610-1282) and 7610-1638 for the rear. 7610-1638 normally comes with a spring fitted but if you wanted it made without new springs that could done but needs to be noted accordingly.

Cost wise 7610-1282 is AUD$175.00 while 7610-1282SP6 and 7610-1638 are AUD$210.00 each shock (ie $420.00 a pair). 

Its like Christmas getting new shocks!  BEAUTIFUL!

The only difference is that the nubs on the new ones that hold the height setting in place stick out a little more so they don't fit flush into the old fittings.  I could have ground them down, but it doesn't seem like it matters.

The ride on the new shocks is amazing!  No more creaky Twike'n!  These shocks have 4 settings on them.  There is a little # at the top of the eyelet.  I don't think you can change it with them installed in the rear.  1 is the loosest, 4 for heavy loads.  I kept all mine on 1.  

Death Wobble. I'm out of commission...

Alas, at this time the Twike is completely inoperable due to a strange death wobble that occurs when hitting bumps or steering back and forth suddenly, even at slow speeds the front wheel and corresponding rudder vibrate back and forth (left & right) violently.  I have replaced all 3 shocks and inspected for loose fittings and I'm still no where.  I'm running out of hope!

UPDATE!  Its fixed!

It was the bolt that connects the frame to the fork.  (Thank you so much Ralph!) There is a nut underneath you can secure with a 19mm socket if you move the splash guard out of the way.  The socket can wedge itself against the shock so you can turn from above w/o it spinning.

An adjustable wrench will get in there, set it to 19mm.  I put a lot of pressure on it and got it really tight.  It acts as a dampener, after this was tightened the regular dampener is not needed.  So if your steering starts developing really light back and forth, meaning there is no resistance / dampening you need to tighten this nut.  The nut head had marks on it like this had happened before.  Now what else needs tightening?