Time for a new shock

[curium]

Racked up 29,000 miles on my SK3 and have decided to replace the shock in time for summer.

What sort of mileage are you guys getting from the standard Suzuki shock?

Investigated the possible replacements.

Hagon - £255
Suzuki - £250
Ohlins - £450
Elker - £450

Leaning towards the Hagon. Only a fiver more than the Suzuki, a straight replacement plus more adjustability.

My bike's too much of a daily workhorse for flashy Ohlin shocks.

Anyone have any experience with the Hagon shock?

I've deliberately overlooked the bodge-fit options (ZX6 shocks etc) as I want a straight fit and I want brand new as I cover plenty miles so want at least another 2 years from this one. You never can tell how many miles a 'nearly-new' shock has covered.

Any input appreciated.

Ta

[Cloggsy]

GSXR1000 K3/4/5 shock off eBay for circa £50 - Brilliant on my K3 (or it was 'til I sold it :!:)

[Viney]

How do you ever know when a shock is past it sell by date? I also done 29k on my original shock, and replaced it with a shock took form a 3000 miler, and noticed the difference. Id buy whatever shock that you could have rebuilt the easiset. that way you wont have to buy a new one everytime.

[curium]

How do you ever know when a shock is past it sell by date?
I'm no expert so I don't really. But would you buy a 29,000 mile shock ;)

Problems I've had include the bike feeling like it's very gently sliding when I'm going around corners, I'm pretty sure this is not the tyre letting go gently as I'm not too fast and the diablos have always been ace for me.

Also when i drive off the curb at home the rear seems to compress fast and not rebound too quick. To me this suggests that it's past its sell by date.

Given that I've owned the bike from new and covered 29,000 I'm fairly comfortable with replacing it.

[northwind]

That's good sense... With Ohlins, for instance, anybody will rebuild or revalve them and the bits are easy to get (though slow, it's taking Ktech about 3 weeks to get me a new spring). Elka are supposed to be good, but say you blow a seal or damage some part, are the spares goign to be so easy to find? Hagon should be fine for this.

Whatever you get, make absolutely sure it's set up for your weight... Apparently Ohlins have a tendancy to just send their standard settings, which are pretty soft. I'm under 10 stone and the spring's still too soft with the rear jacked up :roll:

To listen to the SV Rider guys, anything but Penske is a wrong choice... They're supposed to be the best, and the easiest to work on.

[Halonic]

Picked up Hagon rear shock along with hagon front springs and oil at Ally Pally show. Havent ridden it enough since the upgrade to get too much detailed information but suffice to say it has already shown itself to be well worth the money. Rear is now very firm round corners, no mid corner wobbles, and the line you pick is the line it follows.

Will wait for the roads to clear up a bit to REALLY test the rear

For all the joys of the rear upgrade, the front upgrade was the most impressive. Turned the SV from spongy budget commuter to nice precise toy. And braking with forks that dont bottom out..... oh so wonderful

[jonboy]

How do you ever know when a shock is past it sell by date?

Cos it feels like you're riding on a rice pudding. Mine's done 30k and is well past it's sell-by date, a GSXR shock is on the cards very soon.


.

[alien19779]

I Have A very Good conditon Low mileage Gsxr 750 k5 shock fof sale for £65
if anyone is interested!

[Lissa]

That's good sense... With Ohlins, for instance, anybody will rebuild or revalve them and the bits are easy to get (though slow, it's taking Ktech about 3 weeks to get me a new spring)

Blimey! 3 weeks!

We're going to be sending our Ohlins to Ktech for refurbing in the near future. We've always thought that the spring we got with ours wasn't up to the job of two-up riding everywhere, even though I'm only tiny, and now we have a new curvy with an almost brand new shock on it we can run with that for a while until our Ohlins is sorted.

We changed our OE shock after about 15,000 miles. Was just dead by then!

[carelesschucca]

What about WP??? My shockers a lovely piece of kit???

[SV650Racer]

That's good sense... With Ohlins, for instance, anybody will rebuild or revalve them and the bits are easy to get (though slow, it's taking Ktech about 3 weeks to get me a new spring)

Blimey! 3 weeks!

We're going to be sending our Ohlins to Ktech for refurbing in the near future. We've always thought that the spring we got with ours wasn't up to the job of two-up riding everywhere, even though I'm only tiny, and now we have a new curvy with an almost brand new shock on it we can run with that for a while until our Ohlins is sorted.

We changed our OE shock after about 15,000 miles. Was just dead by then!

Or take it to an Ohlins dealer that has the parts in stock :wink: :wink:

P.S i have two brand new SV650SK5 shocks that come off our new race bikes £30 posted each?

[Biker Biggles]

My son has bought a high mileage curvy and the (original)shock is totally shagged to the extent that the rear judders at speed over eneven surfaces.I have two spares,a ZX636 nearly new one and an older Yam TRX which looks exactly like an Ohlins job.The Kwak one has a really hefty looking spring in it so I might try the Yam first as my son is not that big,and the remote reservoir means it might even fit.

[northwind]

Or take it to an Ohlins dealer that has the parts in stock :wink: :wink:

There's a funny story about that. The thing was booked in 3 weeks in advance, they ordered in my spring, my replacement reservoir case, my longer clevis, and the rest was all stock. Then they put it on a SRAD 750.

On the other hand, they're much cheaper than a certain Steve Jordan's ;)

[northwind]

What about WP??? My shockers a lovely piece of kit???

No idea... Though your fork springs didn't arrive in a hurry from memory ;)

Lissa, it's not a problem if you have just a wee bit of organisation, to be fair to Ktech they just mucked up this time. I always find organisational and social incompetence reassuring in a specialist- the consultant who worked on my leg could barely speak, so he must be good to have succeeded despite that ;)

[21QUEST]

Have a look at Technoflex(£425). Comes built with the right spring for your weight.

You get a five year guarantee and the service intervals are quite good. I'll dig up the details of the importer or do a search. I posted the details some time ago.

Cheers
Ben

[21QUEST]

The link below should have all you need to contact them.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Brand-New-Technoflex-Shock-Absorbers-for-any-Kawasaki_W0QQitemZ8043892837QQcategoryZ25623QQrdZ1 QQcmdZViewItem.

Cheers
Ben

[amarko5]

I have a 3000 mile old standard k3 shock gathering dust in my garage (i swaped it out for the gixer shock at that mileage)

read your pm's

its yours for the cost of the postage (at this time i have no idea how much that will be)

Mark D

[johnnyrod]

The Ohlins shock does feel a bit soft but it's the same spring weight for up to 15 stone of ****. No surprise that two-up it'll feel soft. If you want a heavier spring you have to ask for it when you buy it, but bear in mind it'll only work for what you ask of it.

Biggles, the 636 has the same spring weight as the curvy SV, check this out:

http://www.svdownunder.com/forums/index.php?topic=6158.0

[Graham]

What sort of mileage are you guys getting from the standard Suzuki shock?
60000 miles and still going :roll:

[Flamin_Squirrel]

What sort of mileage are you guys getting from the standard Suzuki shock?
60000 miles and still going :roll:

Your bike must handle like poop!

[Sid Squid]

Not necessarily, if the roads you commonly ride are better than standard issue British ones, the shock simply does less work per mile, this may well mean that it lasts considerably longer, as does being lighter, or simply riding less agressively.

All of these factors make a difference, but ultimately I would respectfully suggest that any standard SV shock at 60,000 miles, is not going strong, it may well, due to the above mentioned factors, be functioning within acceptable boundaries, but that's a different thing.

Even for an experienced rider, what you can get used to, due to the gradual fall off in performance, is usually best gauged by a back to back comparison, it can be surprising.

[northwind]

Yup, I think Sid's spot on... You can get used to anything if it happens slow enough. That's why so many people ride around with practically flat tyres and never notice.

[ratmat02]

on my old sv i had the (standard)shock on max preload,coz i'm 18stones,and that worked ok,so got my new(but old) sv and it has a hagon shock on the back that feels a bit bouncy,so i thought i would wack that up to max as well. jumped on to see how she felt and the suspension didn't move at all!!
i wound some preload off and now she is just great,this bike must have seen plenty of 2 up action in its previous life,thats the only way the spring would need to be that hard shirley(yeah i know thats spelt wrong,police squad innit)