Ohlins or Wilbers???

[john_aero]

i had one

every 25km service or 2 years which ever comes 1st. so buy time your 1st wilbers service is due your ohlins is already out fo warranty

i had one on dakar and loved it. had oil weep due to my own fault and they fixed it all for free is revs suspension, advertised on this site

great setup and custom built, not just custom spring like onlins

 

[cookie]

my wilburs are over 4 years old, never been serviced, work fine

 

[MattW]

Just to add another option to this thread, I've just had a quote from Maxton Suspension who just down the road from me and have a good reputation as far as I'm aware.

They want £415 + VAT for both the front and rear units but the killer is the hydraulic pre-load adjuster for the rear which is another £250 + VAT.

So this works out at:

Rear: £798
Front: £498

or a cool £1300 for the pair

However they are made to order and sprung and valved to suit your requirements and have adjustable compression and rebound damping.

If I had a spare £1300 kicking around I'd probably go for Maxton over the alternatives as they're properly bespoke and a local British company. As it is, I'll be saving up and will probably just get one of their rear units to be going on with.

 

[Timolgra]

Just to add another option to this thread, I've just had a quote from Maxton Suspension who just down the road from me and have a good reputation as far as I'm aware.

They want £415 + VAT for both the front and rear units but the killer is the hydraulic pre-load adjuster for the rear which is another £250 + VAT.

So this works out at:

Rear: £798
Front: £498

or a cool £1300 for the pair

However they are made to order and sprung and valved to suit your requirements and have adjustable compression and rebound damping.

If I had a spare £1300 kicking around I'd probably go for Maxton over the alternatives as they're properly bespoke and a local British company. As it is, I'll be saving up and will probably just get one of their rear units to be going on with.

Although I'd love to support Maxton, I used them twice to rebuild a rear GS Ohlins and both times there were faults which caused poor handling and short life, but to be fair I'm sure their own shocks are excellent even though Maxton specialise in ON road/race units rather than offroad and are expensive.

 

[MattW]

Although I'd love to support Maxton, I used them twice to rebuild a rear GS Ohlins and both times there were faults which caused poor handling and short life, but to be fair I'm sure their own shocks are excellent even though Maxton specialise in ON road/race units rather than offroad and are expensive.

Interesting
Seems there are no easy answers as far as replacement suspension goes...

 

[Timolgra]

Interesting
Seems there are no easy answers as far as replacement suspension goes...

There's only one answer and that's not easy as it's also expensive

 

[MattW]

There's only one answer and that's not easy as it's also expensive

Well I think it's reached the point where I need to do something about the aged shocks on my 1100. Two up and loaded, the uneven, cratered little single track roads on Mull last week showed up just how tired they're getting.

I've just mailed Kais suspension for an Ohlins quote

 

[MattW]

I've just mailed Kais suspension for an Ohlins quote

Which comes out at:
Front: £573.52 + vat
Rear: £633.62 + vat

Which seems to be within a few £ of all the other Ohlins dealers and as near as makes no difference to the other quality manufacturers (i.e bloody expensive). Might see if I can scrape enough together for a rear unit....

 

[Timolgra]

Which comes out at:
Front: £573.52 + vat
Rear: £633.62 + vat

Which seems to be within a few £ of all the other Ohlins dealers and as near as makes no difference to the other quality manufacturers (i.e bloody expensive). Might see if I can scrape enough together for a rear unit....

PLUS VaT!! jeez they're expensive now

Putting it into perspective, that's more than I paid for an excellent condition 1100GS!!!!

 

[MattW]

PLUS VaT!! jeez they're expensive now

Putting it into perspective, that's more than I paid for an excellent condition 1100GS!!!!

Tell me about it

Hard to get my head round spending more than half what I paid for my (also jolly nice) 1100 on new shocks...

 

[Stewart H]

I found a low mileage 1150 shock for the front of mine, much better, Though I think the rear one makes the biggest difference.

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Which comes out at:
Front: £573.52 + vat
Rear: £633.62 + vat

Which seems to be within a few £ of all the other Ohlins dealers and as near as makes no difference to the other quality manufacturers (i.e bloody expensive). Might see if I can scrape enough together for a rear unit....

£1450

 

[MattW]

£1450

Yup - bloody frightening.
I've been looking for decent second hand replacements for over a year now with no success.
But my shocks are 16 years and 42,000 miles old now and definitely tired - it's nearly a case of change the bike or change the shocks.
Trouble is I really like the bike ...