Ohlin Chinese knock off Shocks

[GRAND ROUGE]

I have a set of RFY Shocks........modified by Chris Livengood...... on my GS 1100E. Said shocks do not have the fake knob on reservoir or the height? adjuster on bottom. I installed the shocks August 3, 2015. Chris machined a perfect set of lower clevis mounts. I think total cost was $240.00 Could not be more pleased. My all up riding weight is as high as 250 when soft saddle bags full and max riding gear worn. Usually closer to 220. Six Thousand and Seventy miles......these shocks are wonderful. 140 or perhaps 123 lb/in springs (have the spec somewhere), 10 wt. Maxima oil. and.....I think.... 50 lbs. Nitrogen (have that spec somewhere too). Pre load set at less than 1/4 inch. After a fair bit of 'playing.'...... Pre load is absolutely something that has to be properly set. Too much (very common) and rebound is really really harsh....on any shock. I have owned my GS since new. Just turned Thirty Nine Thousand miles. Have an NOS set of stockers........for the original look... Have used Hagon, Marzocchi, TEC. These modded RFY shocks are by far the best. Northern California secondary roads are absolute crap. Rough and poorly patched. The damping and rebound are well balanced for my riding style and road conditions. Very very seldom bottom out.....and when they do.....no jarring. My front suspension has Sonic 1.0 springs, Race Tech Gold Emulators, 5/8 spring pre loadWP_20160310_15_43_27_Pro.jpg, 15 wt. Maxima oil level is 5 1/2 inches below fork top. Ride is supple and well controlled at both ends.

[glib]

I have a set of RFY Shocks........modified by Chris Livengood...... on my GS 1100E. Said shocks do not have the fake knob on reservoir or the height? adjuster on bottom. I installed the shocks August 3, 2015. Chris machined a perfect set of lower clevis mounts. I think total cost was $240.00 Could not be more pleased. My all up riding weight is as high as 250 when soft saddle bags full and max riding gear worn. Usually closer to 220. Six Thousand and Seventy miles......these shocks are wonderful. 140 or perhaps 123 lb/in springs (have the spec somewhere), 10 wt. Maxima oil. and.....I think.... 50 lbs. Nitrogen (have that spec somewhere too). Pre load set at less than 1/4 inch. After a fair bit of 'playing.'...... Pre load is absolutely something that has to be properly set. Too much (very common) and rebound is really really harsh....on any shock. I have owned my GS since new. Just turned Thirty Nine Thousand miles. Have an NOS set of stockers........for the original look... Have used Hagon, Marzocchi, TEC. These modded RFY shocks are by far the best. Northern California secondary roads are absolute crap. Rough and poorly patched. The damping and rebound are well balanced for my riding style and road conditions. Very very seldom bottom out.....and when they do.....no jarring. My front suspension has Sonic 1.0 springs, Race Tech Gold Emulators, 5/8 spring pre load[ATTACH=CONFIG]53643[/ATTACH], 15 wt. Maxima oil level is 5 1/2 inches below fork top. Ride is supple and well controlled at both ends.

Looks like your bike was just uncrated! Nice. Where in NorCal are you describing? Are you far from me? My Sonic 1.0s and Race Tech Emulators were just shipped. I have Ohlins in the back. Getting ready for Spring!

[greg78gs750]

that is a fine looking 1100 e, sir.

I have a set of RFY Shocks........modified by Chris Livengood...... on my GS 1100E. Said shocks do not have the fake knob on reservoir or the height? adjuster on bottom. I installed the shocks August 3, 2015. Chris machined a perfect set of lower clevis mounts. I think total cost was $240.00 Could not be more pleased. My all up riding weight is as high as 250 when soft saddle bags full and max riding gear worn. Usually closer to 220. Six Thousand and Seventy miles......these shocks are wonderful. 140 or perhaps 123 lb/in springs (have the spec somewhere), 10 wt. Maxima oil. and.....I think.... 50 lbs. Nitrogen (have that spec somewhere too). Pre load set at less than 1/4 inch. After a fair bit of 'playing.'...... Pre load is absolutely something that has to be properly set. Too much (very common) and rebound is really really harsh....on any shock. I have owned my GS since new. Just turned Thirty Nine Thousand miles. Have an NOS set of stockers........for the original look... Have used Hagon, Marzocchi, TEC. These modded RFY shocks are by far the best. Northern California secondary roads are absolute crap. Rough and poorly patched. The damping and rebound are well balanced for my riding style and road conditions. Very very seldom bottom out.....and when they do.....no jarring. My front suspension has Sonic 1.0 springs, Race Tech Gold Emulators, 5/8 spring pre load[ATTACH=CONFIG]53643[/ATTACH], 15 wt. Maxima oil level is 5 1/2 inches below fork top. Ride is supple and well controlled at both ends.

[jabcb]

One consideration against the RFY shocks is that they don’t have a lot of travel. That might play into the harshness that salty_monk mentioned.


With a bit of luck this summer I’ll have the GT550 on the road with the YSS shocks. Will be interesting to see how it compares to the GT380 with the CLMoto / modified RFY shocks.

[Chuck78]

You get what you pay for. With the Chinese quality o-rings that come in the RFY's, I bet that they will not outlast a $200 pair of Hagons. But you will get more condistention damping due to the reservoir design via Dr. DeCarbon...
The Clevis is the other thing. It was one mentioned above that a set of clevis's were needed to be machine Up by Chris Livengood of CLMototech. Are the RFY clevis mounts only wide enough for the 19mm Honda clevis?

I'm a firm believer of only putting real money into rebuildable shocks, unless you really just don't care or are flipping a bike and don't care what the new owner will think. So these would one-up a cheap $209 Hagon or Progressive from that perspective, but I guarantee the O-rings and wiper seals will wear out faster than a Hagon or Progressive!

YSS E-302 is the shock that I always recommend, because it is rebuildable and just a step up in price from the cheapest Hagon or Progressive, and much better quality.
The YSS C-302 is a step up from that, and is a piggyback, but that is in the mid $400 range.

Now that Works Performance is out of business ( the owner / motorcycle legend Gil
Vallaincourt passed away recently, and the company was run into the ground over the next year ir so without Gil at the helm), I will really have to start looking into the RaceTech stuff. I never liked the look of them, they looked too modern and futuristic for my tastes. Racetech is an incredible company and offers a very wide range of tuning expertise and products, and I feel it is very important to support a company like that. Matt Wiley, one of their head techs there, is a total suspension wizard... as well as the owner/founder and numerous other employees...
the price point of $380 on the RaceTech G3-S IFP really is a good deal, internal floating piston is in reality the equivalent of a piggy back, it just can't handle as much travel unless the shock is really long.







I have a YSS G-362 adjustable rebound piggyback set, and they are absolutely amazing for the price, I believe they sell for $569?





I like the old school eaely 1980's Fox Street Shox for budget builds, also called Fox Gas Shox to those who are more familiar with their Motocross versions. The valving is pretty basic, but they are rebuildable with parts that you can get it any o-ring or seal supplier, and Rusk County Manufacturing reproduces the pistons and shafts. The big perks to those is that they are rebuildable, and they have a schrader valve at the top so you can charge them with nitrogen, which is a significant added bonus for an emulsion shock, keeping them under pressure reduces the shock fade as they heat up and go through bumpy sections, and also the nitrogen does not expand like atmospheric air does, so when the shock gets hot, the damping does not change due to the air cushion expanding.



I have a really nice set of Works Pro Racer piggybacks which are killer...
but primarily I have been collecting '79-'84-ish Fox Factory Shox when I can get them for a reasonable price (they often sell used for $550-900). They have the most advanced valving and piston and jet design of any shock of the era of our bikes, and are what Wes Cooley, Eddie Lawson and a lot of other Pro Racers were running in the early 80s before mono shocks. They are basically on par with $800 ohlins piggybacks of modern days, no external adjustment is the only drawback. But a modern shock like that with external adjustment costs $1,100! Unless you are looking at the $800 YSS or Gazi piggybacks.

Ikon are anot her decent shock, but they are not much more advanced than the vintage Koni's which they are reproductions of, or rather a continuation of. The alloy body versions have threaded preload adjustment, but cost a fortune for a twin tube emulsion shock at nearly $600. The steel body versions are around $400, and worth considering

[jabcb]

Interesting.


The YSS E-302 shocks I have for the GT550 are 320mm long. The shocks I will get for the T500 will also be 320 mm long.
I didn’t find anything about shock travel on the YSS or RaceTech websites.