Trail Buddy Level 3 shocks

[HymieP]

I have the Kitaco shocks and they are indeed a little too long and stiff (even though they are adjustable also).

[ghunt]

Hey HymieP, By the way thats a sweet bike. What length are those shocks.

[makotosun]

Do you have a source for those shocks? Those are exactly what I am looking for for my CT project.

Originally Posted by HymieP

These are some shocks that were recently purchased for my latest project. They are SSI adjustable shocks with the resevoir.

[ghunt]

I think he said Motor City Mini

[HymieP]

Thanks. I believe the shocks are 330mm in length. You might want to give Racerx (Bob) a shout, he found them for me and he's running the same shock on his bike. The manufacturer's name is SSI.

[STS]

Originally Posted by racerx

FYI...stock CT70 shock length is nominally 330mm. That's a bit misleading, since the originals lose a lot of ride height once the rider hits the saddle. A 320mm shock might actually have a taller ride height, going down the road.

Is that eye to eye? End to end mine came out to 365mm.

[CT70nut]

Those SSI shocks do look great. How much?

[HymieP]

The SSI shocks that I have on the Purple frame are:

13" or 330.2mm eye to eye and
14.75" or 374.65mm top to bottom

Stock/OEM shocks are:
13.25" or 336.55mm eye to eye and
14.75" or 374.65mm top to bottom

[mikev]

Originally Posted by HymieP

These are some shocks that were recently purchased for my latest project. They are SSI adjustable shocks with the resevoir. Absolutely, gorgeous and as Racerx stated, can be adjusted as stiff as a board or soft and smooth as a Lexus. They fit perfectly on the stock swingarm. These shocks came with the adjustable wrench and four (4) sets of bushings.
http://i353.photobucket.com/albums/r...cture005-3.jpg

http://i353.photobucket.com/albums/r...cture006-1.jpg

You should totally send that front end to me

[racerx]

Originally Posted by TrailRyd3r

So what are good shocks then? If you cant get a good shock for $80/pair, then what can you get? What shocks do you have on your bike racerx?

That's become the "$64K question" lately. I run Daytona (Showa) on one bike, the chrome SSIs on the other. The Showas are a little faster on the rebound, the SSIs have a bit more travel and finer adjustability. Neither is really cheap and the Showas were discontinued. That leaves a big gap, squarely in the $290 -$375/pair range. The biggest bang for the buck, IMO, has been in the $190-$375 range. There are higher line Daytonas still avaliable, along with KYB and Ohlins, but at $400-900/pr are for those who are deadly serious about getting the best.

Suspension might not seem like a worthwhile place to invest in a bike project. However, once your experience includes riding a bike with well-optimized suspension, there's no going back. You've already seen how just upgrading to stronger springs out back is better than constantly bottoming-out. It's a long learning process, part of accumulated saddle time and miles ridden. If you're happy with what you have, then you're basically done with that part of the project. On the other hand, if they suddenly spew oil all over you one day, your opinion of them might make a sharp turn for the worse.

It's the unseen parts of shocks that cost money. That's why cheap shocks all seem to have rock-hard springs. Without real valving, the springs have a lot more work to do. It's not just the PRC stuff I'm talking about either. I gave a $125 pair of Kitaco adjustables to a guy who weighs 405lbs, and they worked out just about right for him. What the hey...there are guys who enjoy their modded Z50 hardtails, talk about a rough & uncontrolled ride The one cost break in all of this is the disproportionate amount of ride improvement per dollar first-rate shocks can return. There's a lot of bang-for-your-buck to be had.