Fear my superior suspension

You may call me Sir Lozzo of Ohlins-Rear-Shock.

I love eBay

 

Congratulations. I fear none with my mighty CG125!

 

Why do better shocks cost more? You might think this is a silly question but
they look the same and have internal stuff just like stock shocks.

In 1985 (or so) the rear shock on my Kawasaki KDX250 lost its gas and weeped
oil. I bought it a White Power shock - this transformed the bike, I could go
so much quicker across the rough stuff.

I can understand the increased cost if there is extra facility. I paid extra
for my Marin MTB for a new rear shock that had had adjustable rebound
damping. I can also cope with the extra cost of a titanium cassette.

How can White Power (a small supplier) deliver a better shock than Kawasaki?

John

 

Lozzo was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever:

It's a fucking moneypit, that's what ebay is.

Like, when you buy replica XL250 emblems from the US. Never would've
occurred to me to do that pre-ebay...

Oh, and addictive as well. Oh well, selling is at least as addictive
and I think I need to switch from buying mode into selling mode,
quickly.

 

Eatmorepies says...

The same way that Maclaren can make a better car than Ford

 

Eatmorepies emerged from their own little world to say

Quality of materials and tighter control of manufacturing variables.

I very much doubt that Kawasaki actually make any of their suspension
components. Subbed out to some company in a Chinese EPZ no doubt.

 

Eatmorepies was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever:

Simple economics - Kawasaki charges for the bike as much as they think
the market will bear and still allow them to sell reasonable
numbers. The cheaper you can build the bike, the more profit you make.

An aftermarket suspension company is in a similar position inasmuch as
they can only charge as much as the market will bear but they will
have to offer an improvement over the standard item that's noticeable
enough that people will cough up enough dosh for it, otherwise they'll
go down the drain.

Now, Kawasaki pays, say, 30 quid a pair for the shocks which are mass
produced to "good enough" standards. The aftermarket shocks cost the
end user say 300, of which the intermediates take 200, which leaves
the manufacturer with a per-unit income stream of 100 quid. You don't
have to sell as many of them for a comfortable turnover and profit
provided your stuff wins races. So it's got to win races and you can't
really dumb down the production shocks too much because you can't
afford two sets of machinery.

 

Nice one mate.

So do I.

--
Molly
"Gower School" By Appointment".
GSX-R1000 (winter hack), Triumph Thunderbird,(year round hack)
GHPOTHUF#27 TGF, UKRMFBC#7, Two#24, BOTAFOF#11, YTC#9, GYASB#1.
SbS#23. DFWAG#2, DS#2, DIAABTCOD#20. remove "thisbit" in the reply
http://www.sportsbike.org
(our own race team)
http://www.bikegirl.co.uk/ladies/racingladies.html
"Nemo repente fuit turpissimus"

 

Lozzo composed the following;:

Don't you find that when you've bought something though, that there's always
that something else that you also need to buy, which leads to something else
etc etc ..

--
Paul ...
www.4x4prejudice.org
(8(|) Homer Rules ..... Doh !!!
ebay stuff Item No's
5754626752
5754638697

 

The only cars that Maclaren make that I can remember are the 3 seater
supercars or F1 racers so it aint really fair to compare. In fact Ford
manage to produce millions of cars that people actually buy and use
every day so I would say that ford make the better car not maclaren.

--
Martin:
"For a minute there, you bored me to death."
VTR1000 Firestorm
TDR250 http://ukrm.net/BIKES/Yamaha/tdr250.html
martin dot smith nine zero three at ntlworld dot com

 

Martin says...

And Showa produce millions of shocks that aren't in the same league as
Ohlins or WP kit. You're paying for the development time and superior
build quality/materials when you buy something like an Ohlins shock, or
even an Arcam Hi-Fi amplifier. If Ford were making 350bhp Fiestas with
titanium door hinges and carbon fibre bodywork, they wouldn't cost the
same as a standard 1.4 engined runabout.

I'd say the comparison is fair.

 

Roll-up Roll-up, buy Timo's ultra reliable secondhand components.
Touched by the hand of fate only once whilst packing...

)

 

Same way that dynojet can make better jets and needles - cos it's the only
thing they do and they do it very well.

 

Is this including or excluding the mass produced
Öhlins suspension as made by Yamaha, because they
do own the company after all.

There's a vast gulf of difference between OEM Öhlins,
"proper" Öhlins, Road+Track Öhlins and Race Öhlins.

Then again, all this means jack shit if it's not been
setup properly - a well setup Showa will give better
results than a badly setup Öhlins.

 

Not had any problems with the Showa stuff on mine, and
I've recently had the shock off the 600ss rebuilt without
problem ... not bad for a 7 year old shock!

 

Heh.

Long time no post, how are you?

 

antonye says...

I don't really care. It looks nicer than the standard shock, that'll do
me

 

Expensive materials machined to very close tolerances and
smooth surfaces. In many old or "low performance" bikes the
OEM shocks are of the "emulsion" type, cheap but fades
real quick. WP or Öhlins always separate oil from nitrogen by
a piston, more parts to make and fit.
Then add the cost of small batch manufacturing and the time
it takes to tune the thing to actually work better than the
OEM one.

 

OK now I've got a bit of spare time. Busy on the work front again.
Planning to do a bit of long distance walking/backpacking this year to
improve my fitness and chill the braincell...

 

Your statement was "... whereas a quality suspension item like Ohlins
will last and last, and is usually fully rebuildable when it does
get a bit tired." which implies that most OEM is not fully rebuildable.

Just pointing out that my OEM stuff is fully rebuildable and
was in good working order even after 8 years (not the original
seven quoted).