Rear Shock Doughnut

[Grappa]

Was poking around on my bike this afternoon, cleaning and what not.  Noticed the little spongy doughnut on the rear shock looked a bit dirty, touched it and it seemed a bit brittle.  Poked at it some more and it just completely crumbled.  Don't know what to call it, but it's the thing that sits inside the coil, towards the bottom of the shock, guess it's kind of a last resort buffer in case you bottom out on the suspension travel.  This brings two questions...  Can I ride around without it, while waiting for a replacement part, assuming normal street riding?  Secondly, does anybody make one with a slit in it so that I can install it without having to support the motorcycle from above to unload suspension, remove and take apart shock to slide a new one into place?  I don't have the equipment to do that properly.  Thanks in advance for any help.  Bike is 2001 M900S.

[Blake]

Generally speaking if you don't ride over something that compresses the shock all the way then you're o.k.  However, if it gets compressed all the way w/out the bump stop in you could end up w/ a blown shock.  I can't imagine a new stopper would be that much.....of course if it's made in Italy....

[Scottish]

Are you sure it was a stopper. From the way you described it it sounds like a wiper to prevent grit and dust from getting between the rod and seal and causing premature wear.

[ducpainter]

The rubber is in fact a bottom bumper.

The shock has to be disassembled to install a new one correctly.

[Raux]

aren't the new one's delrin or something.

[battlecry]

I can't imagine that, Raux.  Delrin is a rigid material, like Nylon.

[Raux]

maybe it just the look of the texture and color that made me think that.

[gage]

A stock one with a slit cut in it should work - put a zip tie around it.

Or contact DucVet he may be able to rebuild the shock for you which nets you the benefit of a better valve stack and a spring optimized for your weight.