ESA fix, might help someone.

My recent purchase of a 2010 30th Anniversary GS turned out to have ESA issues, ie I could change the damping but not the preload.

Anyway I acquired a GS911 a while ago and decided to use it to change a few bits on the bike, ie display a 24hr time format and add the heated grips status to the rider display.

I also checked exhaust valve operation and a couple of other things.

Next I recalibrated the ESA, low and behold it all works perfectly now.

So if you have similar problems and before thinking it’s going to cost a fortune to fix, get it hooked up and recalibrated, might just work.

I’m well chuffed with the 911 and as I have 3 bikes I’m sure it’ll pay for itself over and over.

Good to know as I have a 2010 30th Anniversary GSA. Mine seems to be working in that I can see the shock expand when I toggle between big mountains and one crash helmet. I am thinking about getting one of those Motoscans but not just yet.

GrahamWebb said:

Good to know as I have a 2010 30th Anniversary GSA. Mine seems to be working in that I can see the shock expand when I toggle between big mountains and one crash helmet. I am thinking about getting one of those Motoscans but not just yet.

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Yes, mine does that, but has still failed , no damping -- £2k for a new shock!!

£170 odd quid for a reseal and bushes, MTC suspension specialists

https://ttechsuspension.com/ . My 2010 30th Anniversary needed the shocks overhauled and rebuilt . I gave it to Denz0 from this parish . That was my 3rd bike shocks he overhauled. He is 100% reliable and very reasonable. I got a total overhaul and heavier spring fitted for pittance

The only setting where I get a bit of damping is big mountain, soft. And then if the bike is well loaded it's better. I have recalibrated.

Need a rebuild front and rear and about 20mm lower for me I think.

There’s a difference between shocks and the ESA motors. I haven’t had a service from Denzo but I’d be surprised if he serviced the esa bits of the shocks. These are sealed and bolted onto what bus otherwise a pretty standard shock. I’m sure he will remove them and check their operation but White Power (who make them) assured me they were not serviceable. Not even by them it seemed when I asked a few years back.

The electric preload motor squidges the spring up or down according to the setting (there’s only three levels of preload -25%, 50% and 90%). It’s bolted to the top of the shock - the big black plastic thing. Damping is a smaller motor fixed into the lower mount. Not sure exactly how it works as mine never broke so didn’t dig into them.


Edit to add when doing a calibration your shock has to be in the preload position, or close to it, that te bikes ECU thinks it should be. So if your display shows 1helmet the shock needs to be somewhere close to 25% of its preload range. If, as I had, your esa motor packs up midway through a change from 1 helmet to 2helmets+luggage and the display shows still shows 1 helmet but the actual shock preload is unknown so anywhere between 25% and 90% the calibration will fail. At least it did with me. A shock that was genuinely in 1 helmet fixed it all but by then I had fucked about with the original esa motor so much I had to swap out anyway.

Afternoon Dicktheleg
Also have a GS911 and am interested that you were able to apparently turn on the heated grip indicator on the dash - I had noticed this symbol when doing an instrument cluster test, can you advise if you managed this and if so the process as cannot find this option under the coding options.

EURTRAF said:

Afternoon Dicktheleg
Also have a GS911 and am interested that you were able to apparently turn on the heated grip indicator on the dash - I had noticed this symbol when doing an instrument cluster test, can you advise if you managed this and if so the process as cannot find this option under the coding options.

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Phew, now you’re asking!

I’ve been to bed since I did it but seem to remember it was an option on the screen that allows you to change the units and clock from 12 to 24 hours. Hopefully someone will correct me if I’m wrong.

Good luck

Worth noting that any bike with ESA needs the preload adjustment be exercised regularly. If you've had your bike for years & never changed the pre-load, don't be surprised if it doesn't work !

dicktheleg said:

Phew, now you’re asking!

I’ve been to bed since I did it but seem to remember it was an option on the screen that allows you to change the units and clock from 12 to 24 hours. Hopefully someone will correct me if I’m wrong.

Good luck

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Or you could just look to see what position the switch is in…or failing that…if your hands are feeling hot…!

No charge or the need to thank me for the technical advice��

Well i changed the preload regularly,

And rode it on the softest lowest setting to make sure it was all ok

it's just failed at 39K,



And it's not just as simple as get it rebuilt ... (I wish it was )

You need to have any new / rebuilt unit re calibrated against the bike, so the esa can work out your rate of travel / damping

For the home user / diy method requires a GS 911, so if you dont have one , add another £300 - 400 to the refurb costs

Plus you need a lift to get the bike off the deck, to alow the suspension to go through it's range of travel so any where from £30 - £120 for a lift

If you replace all your fixings add another £20 or so with vat

and that assumes you dont strip or shear the bolt in the swing arm dont ask me the cost for that lol

so your heading toward £800 for a shock replacement ouch

AustinW said:

Edit to add when doing a calibration your shock has to be in the preload position, or close to it, that te bikes ECU thinks it should be. So if your display shows 1helmet the shock needs to be somewhere close to 25% of its preload range. If, as I had, your esa motor packs up midway through a change from 1 helmet to 2helmets+luggage and the display shows still shows 1 helmet but the actual shock preload is unknown so anywhere between 25% and 90% the calibration will fail. At least it did with me. A shock that was genuinely in 1 helmet fixed it all but by then I had fucked about with the original esa motor so much I had to swap out anyway.

Click to expand...

Can we tease this one out a bit. I am wondering if I can "fix" my 2008 ESA suspension by calibrating in a different way.

I had my rear shock serviced (with a heavier oil?) but was never really happy with it. I calibrated on the centre stand using GS911. I only know that the suspension seems to perform better when fully loaded 2 up, and then only with big mountains SOFT, this is the only usable combination.

I think I would have done the calibration with the system on 1 helmet, NORM. Any views on correct or different method to calibrate? The front shock has never been serviced so I might be chasing my tail until that is done. TIA.