Nitron shock, best £360 I ever spent on a bike

[wayno]

Just fitted my new nitron shock last night, and I have to say it's the best £360 I ever spent. I only went for their basic model as I'm not that great at setting up suspension but it's fantastic.

It's supposed to come set to the optimum settings for your weight, but when I first sat on it the thing went up and down like a pogo stick, however, a few clicks of damping, and a smidge more preload and it's lovely, no more kidney shots over small road imperfections.

I was really surprised when I went up to collect it. From the reputation they have built up I thiught the place would be huge, but it's a really small 2 storey unit on an industrial estate with only 14 staff (and that's for both their car and bike business).

I'm thinking now of sending my forks up to brooks to get them serviced (£100 bargain) but an wondering whether I should spend another £100 and get progressive springs put in. Has anyone done this or have anything to say? I'm 16 stone by the way and according to the race tech calculator the front springs are slightly too hard even for me (I pity the rest of you normal folk). I can dial the front forks down a bit to get more weight over the front end, but is it worth going for progressive springs, or sticking with refurbing my stock ones?

[Crispy]

I've got the same Nitron shock on mine and I agree it's a great improvement over the standard one. I'm still fiddling about trying to get the best settings - suspension tuning seems a bit of a black art to me so I end up with trial and error and lots of runs up and down a carefully selected bumpy A-road. As I bought the shock off e-bay I didn't get any standard settings so I've had to start completely from scratch. What damping settings did you go for? I'm a big lad as well so should probably need similar settings - I'm on 16 clicks from minimum?

[davebms]

I'm thinking now of sending my forks up to brooks to get them serviced (£100 bargain) but an wondering whether I should spend another £100 and get progressive springs put in. Has anyone done this or have anything to say? I'm 16 stone by the way and according to the race tech calculator the front springs are slightly too hard even for me (I pity the rest of you normal folk). I can dial the front forks down a bit to get more weight over the front end, but is it worth going for progressive springs, or sticking with refurbing my stock ones?[/quote]

i had my front done at revs racing,.. ssk cartridge kit ,new springs, seals etc very very impressive !! i am also 16 stone (must be the heavy riding gear)

[mangocrazy]

I'm a big fan of progressive fork springs, and I have a set of Hyperpro progressive springs fitted to my Falco. They're great and I can wholeheartedly recommend them. The standard fork springs were way too stiff for me; the forks felt like a road drill with the OE springs.

In fairness, I did also get a set of Race-Tech gold valves, with modified shim valving fitted at the same time. The result is a front end that I have total trust in. It's as close to perfect as I've encountered.

I weigh about 11-12 stone, and it's perfect for me, and still feels excellent with an 8 stone pillion.

[paddyz1]

Get you pre load set. Then aim to have the front and rear of the bike to compress evenly when you press down on the back of the tank. Also you want it to come back up evenly (not more than 1 second to uncompress). That is an excellent set up (well it is for me) and great starting point.

[wayno]

How much did you lot pay for the revalve, respring etc?

[mickt1964]

Take your forks to Reactive suspension in York.
Serviced, re-oiled and revalved for not much more than that.
Gareth at Reactive, told me that the standard springs are good quality, its the valving in the forks that needs sorting, to make the Showa forks really good.
Had mine done a few weeks ago.

[wayno]

I spoke to them, he wanted a lot more than that to service and revalve. He quoted me £270 that was using the standard springs, I'd read posts on here from a year or so ago saying how good he was and that he did them for about £130-150 (including the revalve) so I was a bit shocked when he quoted so much more.

[paddyz1]

I paid £920 for a Maxton piggyback shock and completely new fork internals. You cannot re-valve mazzocci forks.

[randomsquid]

I paid £920 for a Maxton piggyback shock and completely new fork internals. You cannot re-valve mazzocci forks.

Revs rebuilt and resprung my marzoccis. Same internals except the springs, just new seals and oil. I think it came to about 200 quid but that was with him taking them out and shoving them back in.

[paddyz1]

I paid £920 for a Maxton piggyback shock and completely new fork internals. You cannot re-valve mazzocci forks.

Revs rebuilt and resprung my marzoccis. Same internals except the springs, just new seals and oil. I think it came to about 200 quid but that was with him taking them out and shoving them back in.

But he did not revalve them?


The mazzoccis are a rolled press fit. You would have to destroy the valve body (so to speak) to get at the valve internals. Maxton gave back the cartridge inners including the springs I could put them back to normal if i wanted but that will never happen.
The showa forks can be revalved though.

[paddyz1]

A quote about progressive springs

One of the problems with stock springs is, in most cases, it is of a progressive rate. This is to say, a spring at sag may be .85 kg per mm, and at 2.5 inches of travel, it may be 1.05 kg per mm, getting progressively stiffer. The ideal solution is to install a sprig with a straight rate, specific for your weight, and the weight of your motorcycle. In some cases, the factory installs a straight rate spring, but often the incorrect rate for your weight.

[davebms]

How much did you lot pay for the revalve, respring etc?

mine was about £360. the SSK cartridge kit ,i think was £190, springs £70
plus seals and service ... but money well spent !! (i did have progressive springs in a different bike did not get on with that set up)

dave

[mangocrazy]

There are as many opinions regarding progressive vs. single rate springs as there are suspension-fondlers. My view (and it's only my view, I hasten to add) is that progressive springs are better for road use, single-rate springs for track use. Most of the suspension people who recommend single-rate springs are from a racing background and this colours their views.

I'd also make a few other points...

1. OE Falco springs are rated at 1.05 kg/mm. Unless you weigh in around 16-18 stone this rate is excessive. Most people settle for a rate between 0.85 and 0.95 kg/mm depending on rider weight.

2. You can twiddle the adjusters and bugger about with static sag from now until a week next Sunday, but if your fork spring rate is too high/hard you are wasting your time. If the adjustment you want is off the scale (which it is for most people with OE fork springs), then the only solution is correctly rated springs.

3. How much is it worth to you to be riding around on a motorcycle which handles as you want it to? Decide that, then everything else falls into place.

The Race-Tech gold valves (which also made a big difference) cost around £150 from memory, and the Hyperpro springs cost around £100. ISTR that John at Revs charged about £100 for doing the work (may have been a bit more). John can also supply Wilbers progressive springs (which are very good) or single-rate springs of your choice.

[randomsquid]

I paid £920 for a Maxton piggyback shock and completely new fork internals. You cannot re-valve mazzocci forks.

Revs rebuilt and resprung my marzoccis. Same internals except the springs, just new seals and oil. I think it came to about 200 quid but that was with him taking them out and shoving them back in.

But he did not revalve them?

No, the internals are as they were except for the springs. I was having the back sorted and the seals in the front were starting to weep. After chatting to him he thought I'd benefit from different springs so I let him do them. Never considered going further than that and the bike is better than I'll ever be now.