Aftermarket rear shock

Hi,

Im doing a little supermoto racing and some trail riding/enduro riding with my bike here in Quebec and start looking for a more serious after market rear shock. It seem that no big compagnie offer anything for us so I sent an email to a big suspension manufacturer that is base here in Quebec to see if they would be interested in producing something for us. Im waiting for their replie.

I wonder if there would be any interest for something a bit more highend then an hybrid rebuilt OEM shock. I have one, it performed nice, but it pissed me off when it started leaking after only one summer of moderate use. I dont blame the shop that built it, I think its simply due to the piss poor nature of the OEM shock.

Let me know if you like the idea of having an aftermarket shock and what would you be looking for in term of features for such a shock.



PS. Sorry for the broken english, it isnt my first language.

Sebastien

LaResistance wrote:

Hi,

Im doing a little supermoto racing and some trail riding/enduro riding with my bike here in Quebec and start looking for a more serious after market rear shock. It seem that no big compagnie offer anything for us so I sent an email to a big suspension manufacturer that is base here in Quebec to see if they would be interested in producing something for us. Im waiting for their replie.

I wonder if there would be any interest for something a bit more highend then an hybrid rebuilt OEM shock. I have one, it performed nice, but it pissed me off when it started leaking after only one summer of moderate use. I dont blame the shop that built it, I think its simply due to the piss poor nature of the OEM shock.

Let me know if you like the idea of having an aftermarket shock and what would you be looking for in term of features for such a shock.

PS. Sorry for the broken english, it isnt my first language.

Sebastien

Your English is quite good!

If you convince Elka (I'm sure you know they are located in QC) to build a shock for the WR250 I might buy one!
A friend has one on his Vstrom, a beautiful shock that performs extremely well!

deerHater wrote:

LaResistance wrote:

Hi,

Im doing a little supermoto racing and some trail riding/enduro riding with my bike here in Quebec and start looking for a more serious after market rear shock. It seem that no big compagnie offer anything for us so I sent an email to a big suspension manufacturer that is base here in Quebec to see if they would be interested in producing something for us. Im waiting for their replie.

I wonder if there would be any interest for something a bit more highend then an hybrid rebuilt OEM shock. I have one, it performed nice, but it pissed me off when it started leaking after only one summer of moderate use. I dont blame the shop that built it, I think its simply due to the piss poor nature of the OEM shock.

Let me know if you like the idea of having an aftermarket shock and what would you be looking for in term of features for such a shock.

PS. Sorry for the broken english, it isnt my first language.

Sebastien

Your English is quite good!

If you convince Elka (I'm sure you know they are located in QC) to build a shock for the WR250 I might buy one!
A friend has one on his Vstrom, a beautiful shock that performs extremely well!

Yes, its the compagnie I contacted.
They really are up there with Ohlin's and Pensky.

We will see if they are interested.

Merci ,Sebastien, une autre dépense.

I've run elkas before they're sweet shocks!
It might be very hard to sell shocks tho...
You can revalve and respring (if your heavy or really light) the stocker to get it working nicely, for a lot less money.
I just put a race tech gold valve kit and stiffer spring on my stocker, it was about 400 bucks after I paid a racing buddy that does revalves as a hobby to install it.
Go race does them even cheaper than that, but shipping and down time were issues for me.
A elka with a resiour is close to a thousand, I paid 925 for the remote res elka on my KLR a few years ago.
Try to get them to make a kit for the stock skock instead with new valving and a new seal head, thats all it needs. They've done that before I had one in a showa shock on a 400ex atv.

FBI (Fast Bike Industries) rebuilt my stock shock and did an awesome job. David, the owner, owned a WR250X at the time and was really obsessed with extracting every ounce of performance possible from the bike. When I have the forks redone, I'll go back to him. Class act.

I visited his shop last year at his invitation while I was in NC on my KLR. All I can say is that this is a very down to earth guy who is deep into motorcycle performance, has ties throughout the motorcycle industry and does quality work for a reasonable price. So, before you chunk that stocker, give David a call. He'll fix you up.

Link: http://www.fastbikeindustries.com/

Yeah i know Fast bike, I got their rear shock.
Like I said, it work real nice but it fail after a summer of riding trails and a few supermoto races.

Upgraded stockers are nice but they are as good as the oem base shock can be. Im looking for something that will perform better and that is bullet proof in harsh condition. The adjustability can also be a nice asset when you are using your bike as a commuter/trail rider/extreme enduro/supermoto racer/...Separate external high/low speed damping can come in handy.




Got the response from Elka.

They say that they are interested in building us a shock with whatever features that we want if there is sufficient demand. They say that our bike is pretty low volume so they are willing to engineer a proper shock if we are 10 people to commit and buy one.

Looking at their website application list http://www.elkasuspension.com/download/applications/ELKA-APP-Motorcycle.pdf the pricing seem to be around 1000$ for their high performance shock. They didnt mention any pricing in their mail but i cant see why it would more than the other application. Maybe an introduction/group buy price can be add if we meet the asked 10 units?




So, who's interested?


1-LaResistance
2-deerHater (If high speed comp)
3-pbnut
4-Monkeynuts

I would be interested.

I'm going to have to pass.

Trop riche pour moi maintenant.

LaResistance wrote:

Got the response from Elka.

They say that they are interested in building us a shock with whatever features that we want if there is sufficient demand. They say that our bike is pretty low volume so they are willing to engineer a proper shock if we are 10 people to commit and buy one.

Looking at their website application list http://www.elkasuspension.com/download/applications/ELKA-APP-Motorcycle.pdf the pricing seem to be around 1000$ for their high performance shock. They didnt mention any pricing in their mail but i cant see why it would more than the other application. Maybe an introduction/group buy price can be add if we meet the asked 10 units?

So, who's interested?

1-LaResistance
2-deerHater ???
3-Chrispy1200 ???

I'm interested if the high speed compression adjustability option is offered!

Yes please something else to spend my money on and wind the girlfriend up

Cool, we already are 4 out of 10!

It would be really nice if this really happen.



1-LaResistance
2-deerHater (If high speed comp)
3-pbnut
4-Monkeynuts