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I'm thinking of replacing the rear shock on my R1200S, the original grey one, same for same swap.
My question is - Do I need to remove the exhaust to replace the rear shock?
I've got an ABBA stand and am hoping that I can just jack the R1200S up on that and do a straightforward swap without disturbing anything else on the bike.
Cheers....

I had the exhaust off when I got my rear shock overhauled - use some heat on the bottom bolt to soften the thread lock

I can't say for sure on the S, but my ST was a piece of cake really as there's only 2 bolts (top and....yes, you've guessed it.....bottom! ) holding it in place. I think the S has a spacer at the bottom, which other models don't have. If you've got clear access to the bolts, and the exhaust system doesn't prevent the unit coming out, leave it in place.

The bottom bolt needs some heat because it's threadlocked - I used my wife's mega-hairdryer (more powerful than some heat guns!) on the underside of the swingarm....there's an obvious raised bump there that's the end of the threaded section that the bottom bolt goes into. I reckoned that if the hairdryer marked the paint, it wouldn't matter under there! It worked anyway, the bolt came out easily...and it was ****ing hot!

Pete

I had to remove mine to get at the bottom bolt, I just loosened the silencer under the seat and broke the joint under the swing arm to allow the exhaust to hang in position but allow me access to that bottom bugger.