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DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Seriously though, this should be a really cool test, looking forward to reading about it.
Plus a comparison to a revalved stock suspension set up.
I sold them to another Vital member last winter and think about getting a set of kit forks for my 450, even though it's hard to justify the expense when you're racing twice a year.
I have SHOWA kit suspension on my RMZ450, along with my RM250. Even put Cone Valve/ Trax on my '17 KTM EXC500 to replace that explor stuff they cheated us out on with the new bikes.
I bought a set of Cone Valve forks/ Trax shock for my RMZ, but ended up selling it to my buddy and I bought some barely used forks/ shock that came off of Milsaps RMZ. They were revalved/ sprung for me. Well, I went riding to Zaca yesterday with my buddy and half way through the day, we switched bikes to compare A-Kits.... We are within 10 lbs of each other, so they are set up pretty close for weight. He is a very fast Vet Pro, I'm more of a 50+ Int rider on the tracks.
Immediately, I noticed how much higher in the stroke these WP forks seemed to sit. The shock was SUPER PLUSH and really tracked well over the square edged bumps and the Trax mechanism was very noticeable when accelerating thru the corners and felt a lot better than my Showa did. I've had a few sets of Cone Valve/ Trax units on my KTM's in the past and was always very happy with them. I was hesitant about the WP stuff on my RMZ, but I now wish I would of kept it.
The WP stuff I had bought from the Dirt Candy/ Yoshimura team and was originally on Bisceglia's bike which didn't get much use. It was resprung and Ola from WP Factory Services did the revalve for my buddies weight/ability. He did a great job and my buddy is EXTREMELY happy with his purchase.
The Showa kit on my RMZ was resprung and valved from Showa for my weight and ability. It works REALLY good and I'm very happy with it. BUT.... the WP stuff on my buddies bike worked better, IMO. To be fair, I haven't touched a single clicker on my bike, but neither has my freind with the WP Kit. I have some tinkering to do on my bike now and I'm hoping I can improve on what I have.
I still have a "like new" Trax shock and an Ohlins TTX shock that is also like brand new for my RMZ. I was on a buying friendly when I bought the bike... I'd like to find a another set of RMZ Cone Valve forks for it and send them both to Ola to have them set up for me. I really liked my buddies bike and I might be heading that direction, if I can't get my Showa stuff working like I'd like it to. I paid more for my Showa forks than the ConeValves/ Trax and a brand new set of Xtrig ROCS clamps. Selling the Showa stuff won't be a problem, so this could be an option for me.
1. I requested all the suspension and gave my feedback, so technically they're all for me roughly. My weight was given, speed, and a few comments. The other riders in the test are faster and slower than me, and within five pounds of my weight. My idea here was to replicate how most people end up buying this stuff...calling the provider, giving them some info, and receiving a base spec that's been tweaked for their needs. By having the other riders involved I'm seeing how quickly each guy can get a set working for them as one of the bonuses of A-kit stuff is their tune-ability. Some guys that buy this stuff don't have the ability to keep sending it back out, so being able to dial it in with some basic knowledge is pretty important.
2. I'll keep playing with these sets after the initial test and probably have them gone back through at a later day to see how dialed in I can get each set, if I have any complaints that is.
Does this answer your question?
Slightly better performance but not an immediate, eye opening difference from stock.
I mention this, because I would have no problem with a non matching setup if that was the way to go.
Pit Row
Have you had production shocks that were made to work as well as kit?
How are you going to test them? My thought would be rather than pounding out laps, pick specific sections such as a rough straight, nasty braking bumps, kickers on acceleration, and ride only that section a few times and then switch and repeat for each.
Looking forward to your review!
On our way home now from our day of suspension setup with Mats from RG3 Scandinavia. One of my buddy's got his blue pig setup as best possible also
I'm really happy with the result. It's interesting to learn the process Mats uses to setup the bike.
We started with race sag, then went back and forth with preload, then onto the clickers, got the shock set up first then the forks.
The track was perfect for testing, with a lot of acceleration and braking bumps, and a few decent jumps.
I was a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to feel the difference in adjustments, or maybe I couldn't communicate my feeling on the bike, but Mats made it easy, and really has a good process, he doesn't put any ideas in your head, just gets you to do one or two laps at a time, then next click. It was fairly exhausting, I spent 1 hour of ride time to do my set up, over about 2.5hrs.
Only thing that would make this test even better is 2 strokes and east coast tracks but I understand why that's not a possibility.
I got no use for any of the kits but I'm sure some guys on here do so will these kits be sold as used units after you guys are done testing?
All of these will eventually be returned and I'm pretty sure they have homes.
Vital needs to step up their game lol.
The guys that don't have the "A" kit stuff and are wondering if buying the suspension will make them much better riders^^^^^^^^^^^thats for you.
I'm like the working man's hero for my comments
Post a reply to: Starting up a kit suspension test with Showa, WP, KYB, and Ohlins...what's your take on kit suspension?