Do you get suspension work done?

[Jeremy Wilkey]

Hey guys here is another survey. Do you get suspension work done? How do you determine who you will entrust with your suspension?

 

[_JOE_]

I haven't felt a need to mod any of my bikes suspension. Though I'm 165lbs and a slower rider who tries to stay close to the ground so properly set up stock suspension has worked well for me.

I'm interested to see the results of this. It would be really cool if everyone could give a description of themselves and thier bikes/terrain.

 

[Jim Havins]

Hey guys here is another survey. Do you get suspension work done? How do you determine who you will entrust with your suspension?

I no longer trust anyone but myself.

 

[Jeremy Wilkey]

Jim did you have a bad exspereince?

Jer

 

[kawamaha]

I am sure we have some good tuners here though I doubt everyone knows what a "blow-off" is. I always did it myself because I am very interested in that stuff and even my first revalve was better than stock ;)

 

[Jeremy Wilkey]

I am sure we have some good tuners here though I doubt everyone knows what a "blow-off" is. I always did it myself because I am very interested in that stuff and even my first revalve was better than stock ;)

I'm not sure what kind of blow off you are talking about! Haha!

The survey stuff has been really interesting to me. The results have been surprising. I have several more rounds to go but the results keep creating other long range questions.

Thanks for the info guys.

Jer

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

I can not answer, no listing for MXTECH? I have, under protest, experience with other BIG name tuners. What a disgrace to say the least. Nothing on most bikes is neglected, like the suspension. If its used very weekend, it needs to be serviced once a month at least! Oil changes are easy. Modifications are another story. Track/rumor talk does not work here. Without you guys Jeremy, I would be forced to do it myself. Good suspension is a matter of opinion, till you get to a certain level of speed. Then you find out what a quality job is. Having suspension work like its supposed to is addictive to say the least. 7000 dollar 4 stroke stolen, and the suspension missing is the worst! Dealing with, not local shops is very difficult. and customer relations are priceless in today's market. Now I am getting into the old bikes again. Not many work on 30 year old parts. I sure would like a newer set up, just to try the new products! Keep up the GREAT work Mr. Wilkey! Belated congratulations on extending the family by the way, personal and work!

 

[kawraper]

I do the service work myself such as seals and fluid. Im workin on getting good enough to justify having mcr do a revalve and spring change.

Matt crown racing seems pretty reputable. I know a bunch of guys who ride with his suspension work and swear by it.......dunno if I want to spend $1k on suspension on a bike i only paid $800 for. So for now Im just riding stock.

I only weigh 120-125 w/o gear so i think a revalve/respring would really help knowing the bikes stock are setup for a 160-170lb rider. I ride on almost full soft and it seems to get the job done unless im casing huge jumps, but then again i dont think anything is gonna help with casing a jump.....

 

[TWRT]

I live in NC and use a local shop called Total Control Racing. They do good work and I am very happy with what they did to my 06YZ250's suspension. It does not blow through the stroke anymore and is balanced.

Dave

 

[Chili]

Jer, Not sure if I'm the only one that finds the poll options a bit confusing? Yes we get our suspension done, but are you asking how we determined who to use?

I've not made a selection in the survey at this point but here is my feedback.

We never had any suspension modifications when my son was on mini's as he was just learning and I never saw the need. When he got his first big bike I made the decision that I wanted to bike to be the best it possibly could so it was going to get suspension work. At this point I approached a local wrench who happened to be the Canadian depot for a California company and he offered us a decent discount as a form of sponsorship, at this point I wanted to deal locally to avoid shipping. The suspension was modded and right out of the box my son loved it and rode that bike for two seasons with no more changes other than regular oil changes and the odd fork seal. In 05 he bought a new bike and we again had the same tuner do the bike and after having it redone 4 times over two seasons it was never something he felt handled well.

That led us to begin looking at new options for his new 07 and after much research and talking to many friends whose opinion I trust, we decided to send his stuff to you @ MX-Tech. He loved the stuff you did for his 07 RMZ so there was only one logical choice for his 09 KXF and again he is very happy as is the other racer's stuff I brought along with ours last fall.

This fall we will be getting you to do my 09 450 as well as Troy's 2010 450 as soon as it arrives.

One thing that would sway me in our suspension decisions was if we had a reputable shop that also did trackside testing locally, as for us the weakest link in our setup is my ability to diagnose and tune the suspension after it has been modified.

And as a disclaimer MX-Tech earned and kept my business prior to me becoming a moderator on DRN.

 

[Jeremy Wilkey]

Chili,

I'm really just conducting the surveys to understand what and how the "riders" think about suspension and the options for making improvments and set-up changes. We spend a lot time understanding what our customers want, and yet I can still be baffeled by the decsion they process. I say that not as a critsim, but as an exspression of my own need to understand and meet the need of the consumer. So this survey is not about who you choose but why you choose. I am fumbling around at the questions but I can allready see some huge implactions based on the results allready shown. I have many more rounds of questions in mind and I will get there.

Jer

 

[rpm12505]

We used C-Cycle and Factory Connection mainly because they had support trucks that were at our local track. They could do your suspension while you waited. Also if they had time, help you dial it in after watching you ride :cool:

 

[Rich Rohrich]

Jer - After going the DIY route in my road racing days, it became clear to me that this is truly specialist work. Picking MX up again after hanging my leathers up just reinforced that line of thinking.

As much as I love a good technical challenge, when it comes to tuning suspension properly it was clear I was out of my depth.

As long as you have a shop I'll keep spending my money with you. The value is obvious even to a backmarker like me.

 

[FruDaddy]

There is no answer that I can honestly choose, axcept maybe the "I don't do it" part. It I were to have my suspension done, I would first consider the shops that my acquaintences have recommended to me. I would lean toward local shops that could easily provide support after the fact, preferably somebody that spend time at the track. If you don't stand behind your work, I don't wont you to touch my bikes. I also would like to see a trackside presence outside of work, somebody that I can talk to without getting a sales pitch. It's OK to give me a card and/or let me know that you do suspensions, but don't stand there "begging" me to let you do mine. If I like you, and decide that I need it done, I will definetely consider you as an option. I might also entrust a prospect tech with a lesser project to see how happy I am with the work before committing a larger, much more expensive, task to the shop. I hope this perspective helps you out.

 

[Sage]

I think from what I have seen, other than reputation (which you have to have)

-local
-good trackside support
-good product

Once people know your there all the time & offer support the rest just falls into place

 

[ws6transam]

After being out of dirt riding for nineteen years, and buying myself a well-used machine with leaky rear shock, I wanted to have a solid suspension that I could trust. So, I went with a local shop (Tech Care) which not only was within driving distance, but also had a decent website with some published technical information. The website had a decent questionnaire for me to fill out on my intended riding style. Between the questionnaire and the tech information, it was confience inspiring enough for me to trust them with my 17-year old shock. Tech Care fixed the rear shock, and when it was installed, the sag , compression & rebound was about perfect, requiring no adjustments, and it's been confidence inspiring, to say the least, in that the bike isn't scary or unpredictable. When it was time to match the stock front suspension to the rear, they even had recommendations, at no cost, as to where my starting point should be. That starting point was close, only a few clicks from my ending point, and it's been a pleasure to ride this machine. Very plush, but never a bottom-out (yet).

 

[380EXCman]

I have only had MX-Tech do my suspension. So far it has been about 5 bikes of my own. Not to mention the countless MX-Tech equipped suspensions we modified and serviced in my former business. Originally I went with them from recommendations of other on this site. Have had complete faith in Jeremy and MX-Tech ever since. Since my wife decided she needed to change careers and become a full time college student I am currently bikeless. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter though. Back to the question at hand, I chose friends instead of internet boards.

 

[Backslayer]

I have always subbed mine out to factory connection, Haven't had any probs with them they were always fast and really nice customer service,(had a bad tube and give me a used one for nothing). The only thing I don't like is the shipping to them, Although I may use mx-tech this time with there rep. And I weigh what the sticker looks like also. Im 26 so I like the bling as well as the good forks. I don't live to far from a pro action shop but there end product might perform well but that square sticker kills them for me. Now that I have a leaky seal, on the new bike, I have to send some more off. So who knows where I will go next, And I would love to do them myself but I can't justify buying the tools when I can send them off and getem done by a pro, for roughly the same price

 

[jeffmort]

I do basic service myself - fork oil change, seal change, etc.
For detail work (re-valving, etc) I rely on a local suspension company/guy in north San Diego county (Rudy Casteneda at Pro Prept in Escondido).
I chose this guy based on a referral from a friend and because of his track-side service. Before he did my bike, he met me at the track, adjusted my sag and watched how my bike reacted as I rode it as well as got a feel for my riding level. He then rode my bike as well to get a personal feel for it. Next, he adjusted my clickers and had me ride again. Finally he asked me a bunch of questions about how the bike felt to me. It was only after that when he gave me his recommendations.
I guess the short story is the reason I chose him was because I trust him and he gives me personal service (because he is local). Price was not a real factor for me even though he was very fair.
If I did not have a local guy, I would be OK mailing my parts to a company if I felt that they gave me personal attention over the phone and really tried to understand my situation.
I did call some of the larger suspension companies before I found Pro Prept and I was most comfortable with MXTech because the guy I spoke with (Richard I believe) took time to answer my questions as well as ask me a lot of questions. I also got the sense that they personally do a lot of hands on testing with various bikes.
That's my two cents.

 

[robwbright]

Had a bad experience with one company who shall remain nameless.

Then had a good experience with a local ProAction rep who did a fine job for me. . . But since it's my first "real" suspension work, you can take that with a grain of salt. Probably anything would have been better than riding on suspension that hadn't been serviced in 3+ years.

I do mostly MX and trails. Prefer track stuff.

Had the suspension lowered 1.5" and rebuilt, forks revalved.

The lowering is crucial for me at 5'4".

 

[dirtracker]

I only send out my suspension to a company who can do a real revalve using or modifiying the stock components to make it work.
Sorry no gold valves,red valves,A kits & aftermarket pistons.

That is the reason I used factory connection period.

 

[hot125mod]

just sent the suspension from the kx 125 well now its a 144 to Factory Connection for a revalve/ rebuild it was in bad shape, cant wait to get it back.

 

[hot125mod]

great customer service from those guys at FC.

 

[Solid State]

Hi Jeremy. You may find this interesting. Like most dirt bike consumers I imagine, I have never had my suspension done. On my previous bikes, I was never 'good' enough to think I could tell the difference. However, on my Yamaha I felt comfortable with the KYB stuff since it very plush until I got better at jumping and then it began to be too soft for me.

Selecting a suspension shop was very intimidating. I always do my own work on everything I own, but for some reason I never considered DIY on the suspension. Don't know why - maybe all the specialized tools but I think mostly the specialized knowledge involved. I just didn't want to learn a new disicpline and am too old for lessons learned. Rather send it out. But to who? Who do you believe? It's expensive and risky so I never did it - until I bought the 2009 CRF450R.

Headshake?? holy mackerel. First 4-stroke and can't control it. I don't want to die. Did a lot of research on suspension companies and made my decision based on this order:
1. 4-stroke website boards (one in particular)
2. Seing improvements in the pro teams results that have had issues with the same bike.
3. Calling the suspension companies and asking questions.
4. Reading magazine reviews (pretty worthless as they are always satisfied because the vendor gets to revalve it untill they like it - something I would hate due to the hassle and added cost)

In the end, I read a thread on suspension companies and someone said to go with one that works with the pros alot as they are constantly refining in real time and know what they are doing. I saw major improvements with the Factory Connection team bikes in SX, downloaded their catalogs/information, called and discussed pricing/technology and went large on both ends. Very similar solution to your new offering. However, I supplied new outer tubes and shock body from Japan if you know what I mean. Agreed to be the first retail customer of some technology straight out of KW's shock.

To tell you the truth, I have no idea what to expect. They are finally arriving in a couple days.

I hope this has been helpful to you as I think you are interested in the process of selection. Not sure if I'm typical, but that's how it went down. Bottom line was I thought I saw direct improvement on the same bike and believed they knew enough to get mine right.

 

[YZ165]

I never felt I was fast enough to need my suspension done until I bought a bike that already had it done..within weeks I was a much faster, more confident rider. I sold that bike about a year ago....and about a month ago I bought another bike that does not have suspension mods....I hate it...I don't plan on riding it again until the suspension is done....all the bling/pipes/graffix/bs you can throw at a bike (like I did for years) are pretty pointless if the suspension is not right! Just my .02