Rear tire hit my license plate

[rideserotta]

So... took the REALLY long way home today. I took a 100 mile round trip jaunt to the mountains (Hendersonville, NC area) and ran into some bad pavement on a curve. As I took a 90 degree turn I hit about a 20 yard patch of really bad pavement. A couple of pot holes thrown in for good measure. At one point I heard and felt a loud thump. I pulled over after getting through it and noticed that the bottom of my license plate, dead center, had a dent in it that was caused by my rear tire. I inspected the tire and there's no damage.

I'm on an 05 Monster 620 with the stock shock. I'm about 180-185lbs and had my eye on an Ohlins but it fell through. I'm assuming that the stock shock is not strong enough for my weight. Will I be able to set the sag so that this won't happen again? I'm going to get a new shock as soon as I can find a good used one for a good price but that might take a while.

I'm assuming the spring isn't heavy enough as well.

Any thoughts?

[Speeddog]

Looking at your avatar, you've got a tail chop, yes?
Many of those end up with inadequate tire-plate clearance.

At 180+, you're well beyond what the stock spring can handle.

You could add preload to the stock spring, but it's a very poor way to address the problem.

An appropriate spring for your weight would be the best approach.

[Buckethead]

An appropriate spring for your weight would be the best approach.

...and cost significantly less, installed, than a used Ohlins (which would probably also need to have it's spring replaced.)

[rideserotta]

Thanks for the advice. Now I'm on the hunt for a spring to handle my 185lbs (210 w gear). Where do I look?

[minnesotamonster]

You could also just bend your plate at more of an angle. Which is free. This wouldn't fix your inadequate suspension problem, but you wouldn't crunch your plate anymore, if that's all you're after.

[gregrnel]

EPM Performance did a nice job rebuilding my "non-rebuildable" on my 620. They could probably recommend a good spring.

[bikepilot]

The problem is inadequate clearance between the plate and tire.  You should be able to use all available wheel travel without the tire hitting the plate.  The shock may also be too soft, but no matter how soft the wheel can't travel further than it is intended to, it will only use all the travel more frequently.

[lazylightnin717]

You could also just bend your plate at more of an angle. Which is free. This wouldn't fix your inadequate suspension problem, but you wouldn't crunch your plate anymore, if that's all you're after.

I wouldn't recommend this 

[pcv57]

I have the stock Sachs shock on my s2r and put an Ohlins spring on it for my weight. Any motorcycle supply place that sells Ohlins shocks will have them.