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7/20/2024
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Syracuse , NY
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Just got an estimate from factory connection for having my suspension done on my 22 crf450- $1800. I know you get what you pay for but man I wasn’t expecting that. In the estimate they had a “performance kit”, a “performance fork piston kit”, and a performance shock piston kit. The tots price of these three “performance kits” was an addition $610. Is this something that it’s worth it? Is it really that much better than a regular revalve with stock stuff??
Maybe find a tuner close to you that hits the tracks you ride. A tuner usually does not get it right in the 1st try. Someone close can watch you ride and you don't have the shipping costs. JMO
I got the performance kit on my 24 kx450. It does seem to help with bottoming but only you know if it’s worth it.
FC is extremely aggressive with there pricing in my experience. Shop around some more!
I’ve had the best luck with FC when I had the a 2018 Honda 450. Had race tech do it and had them send more shim stack settings and had a local guy revavle it 3 times. Could not get it right. This is also coming off a kaw 450 race tech did that was better than my a kit. FC hit it out of the park first time. Suspension is the number one mod I’d ever do on a bike. Not sure how much the suspension differs from 18 but that’s that.
The Shop
Free shipping: VITALMX
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
I have the performance kit on my 23 crf 450 and I’ve been happy with it. Check out mx locker guys are always selling pretty nice used suspension on there for a killer deal.
FC has a lot of experience at tuning up your wallet.
Call Enzo, REP, or JBI.
As far as your experience with Race Tech, the product and setting is only as good as the install. I'm guessing that bike is long gone down the road, but if that happens to anyone; please let us (me) know.
As far as the FC quote; everything has gone up in price and that includes the cost of materials and production of the parts that go into your suspension.
While you may pay more for a company like FC to do your suspension, you aren't just paying for the time to build the suspension . You are paying for the amount of experience and data and R&D they have invested into coming up with the setting that goes in to your suspension.
They did this to my 2023. Had to send it back one time. They made a small adjustment and now it is amazing. Also, I applied for rider support, and was awarded a small sponsorship. Took that huge bill down to $900. I love their stuff and they have very good telephone/email support. My rep, a guy who goes by the name "Rookie", AKA Darrin Sorenson, really knows his shit.
Can’t argue with you there. Like I said I ran the “same setting” in my kaw 450 and it was the best stuff I’ve touched. Had the same guy do both installs for both bikes also. You guys did honor and take back the parts and refund me as I was chasing my tail and barely had time to ride let alone keep changing things up.
Not a dig. Just my experience on the Honda.
I would never, ever put that much money into stock suspension. If you are thinking about spending that much, you might aswell just go out and get kit suspension setup for you. The day you sell the kit suspension you will in best case scenario lose less money that what the suspension work would have cost for the stock suspension.
REP quoted more than FC when I had my Gasgas revalved. I think the top guys are all close in price. I am surprised the Honda is that expensive though. I was out $1600 with shipping on a Gasgas and that included springs and a bladder kit for the shock. They changed the base valve holders in the 6500 forks too so it was a little more than just a revalve/respring. That said it is the best fork setting I have had on any bike for XC riding. I liked that FC takes care of the shipping by sending you a box and a label so all you have to do is drop it off at any UPS shipper. Their turnaround was really fast too. I think it was in their hands less than a week. This was the Vermont location. Shipping from NY will be even faster I would think.
Will FC do a Honda revalve without the performance upgrade?
There are a lot of ways to make your bike work better for less. Just simply making sure forks are aligned, set to the right height, sag is set, etc. is free even. Quality fluids and the right springs are cheap. You might even get lucky with a small setting change for cheap. Better doesn't mean good sometimes. As Paul Thede says, "The best you've ridden is the best you know."
Kit suspension alone is far more than a revalve and I can say with certainty every set (I hear about) that leaves without being setup for the rider comes back once the "awe" of 'kit suspension' wears off if it wasn't also setup for the rider. And whether you're setting up A Kit or stock, it still comes with a cost. So it's not just A Kit vs a revalve, it's A kit and a revalve vs just a revalve. Many times on most components, you're within 10% of a kit revalve with a proper set using the stock base.There are exceptions but there are also times that the stock components will out-perform or be just as good and more reliable than "A Kit" components.
I agree with all of that. 90% of the people would be just fine by getting the spring rates for them and keeping the suspension fresh.
And like you mention, kit suspension is worthless if not setup for the rider using it. That is why i mentioned kit suspension setup for you in my comment. I just think it is financially "smarter" to just fork out for kit suspension setup (so from FC, Race Tech, AEO, Technical Touch, ONECLICK suspension or whoever you trust) rather than spending 1800 bucks or euro on stock suspension.
And, kit suspension is cool which is very important when you unload your bike in the paddock😅
100%
There is no magic in kit suspension.
PC doesnt charge for a revalve on any kit stuff. You just pay for a service.
Example - 4k on used showa kit stuff that was originally from PC (kawi, niche yamaha ect), you pay for a service to have it setup for you. You sell it 2 years later for 2500$. You're out 1500$. Less than all the other prices being tossed around for revalves.
Agree 100% on no matter what you have (stock or works stuff), it needs to be setup for you. Just my 2 cents from my experience with full kit stuff on some bikes, mix match on others, stock on others.
So you're going to suffer with shit settings until youre due for a service? In which you'll pay for the service but you're actually also paying for a revalv since the only way to get a realve is to do a service?
Marketing 101.
FC is a joke for pricing and always has been. They will bill you for new seals/bushings etc even if you send them zero hour forks. Find someone local and save yourself the time, money, and headache.
Pit Row
Take a deep breath...
If you sent your suspension somewhere for a revalve, and werent happy, and then you send it back for an updated setting, are they not forced to spend the time to open the stuff up , change settings, and replace the oil?
I had a showa shock for a yz250, no idea what the original setup was for. I started with some settings of my own, which were a pretty wild guess, wasnt happy. Tried a few other changes, still wasnt happy. Didnt have time to tinker any more. I sent hte shock to PC. Being its a kit shock that originated with them, for the standard 130$ or whatever "service" fee, I received back a shock with fresh oil and a new good baseline shim setting. If i sent them a stock KYB shock, I would of paid the service fee of 130$ still, and then another 300$ or whatever for their piston, other internals, plus their knowledge of the shim stack setting to set it up. 430$ now. See the difference? This delta grows greater when you have people talking about 1800$ revalves with "internal components" from somewhere like FC.
LMAO 1800 is insane. I did gold valves and new spring perches for 600 and a fun saturday.
When I had my first CRF 450 done by FC in 2002 and had the extras done it was $1300. 22 years ago. For it to go up only $500 or so over 20 years is not bad. Bikes have almost doubled in cost since then.
FC will re valve for the price of rebuild ANY suspension that they already re valvled . Springs and parts unrelated to the valving would still be charged for. If You buy a bike with FC valved stuff or have one You had them do that You got faster , or changed the type of riding you do, etc. They will re valve it for the cost of a rebuild. Sometimes its just seals, oil/nitrogen and labor ,sometimes other stuff needs replacing. They always do seals even if the suspension has never been used. Anytime they open it up they change the seals.
I've always been happy with my FC stuff on Hondas. I know people that work there but I have always paid close to full price. And felt like it was well worth the money . For anybody that is a lot bigger or smaller than average. Anybody that is way faster or slower than average. Anybody that rides the bike outside its intended use like an MX bike in the woods, or MX bike doing SX or FMX, etc. Those are all times when getting suspension setup for you will be the best money You can spend on Your bike.
I'm a fan of Factory Connection. They get the suspension back to me quickly and it's always very close out of the box. They just did the suspension on my 2024 YZ450F and it's exactly how i wanted it to be. It's important to ride the bike and be able to articulate what you'd like changed. I think suspension set up for me is safer than stock. For comparison...i've used Pro Circuit, MXtech, Racetech, and FC. All of the suspension i got back from these places was better than stock. FC has my business and i'm happy.
I've had the situation happen where it took the shop 1-2 months to get my shit back. I want to avoid that and FC is quick
1300 was a ripoff then and still is today.
The moto community needs to stop sticking up for these dudes milking you to death and calling it core.
They did my 23 and used that "performance kit" and I still don't know what that was. They sent back the pressure springs off the base valves and some other stuff in a small zip lock bag. I can't find my receipt now, but I think that was just in the forks, and the shock was just a standard revalve. IMO it was a rip off. It's not that good, and every time you send it back for them to fix it shipping is on your dime, (which isn't cheap) and the new seals and oil they will charge you for every time isn't cheap either. So for a company to have such an "extensive database" and to get it wrong kind of seems like a money grab to me. I would never send anything to them again, because for $1200 there wasn't much of an improvement in the bike at all. Also another thing I forgot about was the shock spring, the guy kept telling me I needed a stiffer spring for my weight (195#) when my sag numbers (static and race) where good with the stock spring. He talked me into it, and when I put it on the bike, in order for the race sag to be right the lock ring was at the top of the threads and almost loose, and of course the static sag was no where near right. When I questioned him about it he said, oh we don't worry about the static sag anymore??? wtf, OK what about the loose ass spring? I all but gave up on them. I will go else where from now on.
The Factory Connection setup FOR ME....on this bike.....is the best i've had. I love the shit......
I called them and was able to get them to give me a little bit of a discount for being a repeat customer… they did the suspension on my other bike last year (that was also $1600). My experience on that wasn’t great, first ride the forks were bottoming out hard…I sent them back and they said the cartridge seals were blown out… they asked me to pay for the part which I thought was insane after just spending that much money and they only made it one ride. I then had to sent them back again because the forks were still bottoming out because they put in softer softer springs, which I had to pay for shipping of course.
I’m hoping this experience will be better. I really only went with them again because I wanted to try their linkage and they have to make adjustments to the shock for it. But I’m actually having the same problem as tmauto769… they want the sag at 113 and to achieve that the lock ring is at the very top and the spring is loose when the bike is on the stand. I called them and they said as long as there’s no up and down movement its ok. Seems odd to me but I don’t know much about suspension.
Same here. I've been doing business with FC since the mid 90's. Out of 6 major suspension companies I've used they've been my favorite with results & service.
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