Fox Shock -- Opinions?

cfreger said:

I'm guessing Traxxion is quoting me approx $100 per each of the three services, including parts. Best price I've found so far.

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http://www.computrackboston.com/

send the shock to Peter Kates. He's highly recommended. A lot of the guys that race at Louden use him and he's a regular on NE forums. I found him great to work with.

He just rebuilt my Twin Clicker. $100 for the rebuild, $50 for the revalve. The shock is great! Peter can tell you what the spring rate is on the shock. he has a dyno, or you can try and get a part number with it. Rebuild kits are available from Linderman Engineering, but often they don't need them. Peter replaced a few seals on mine from his parts drawer. No charge.

I would take the Penske/Race Tech rates with a grain of salt. The recommended 650# for me and I am 180+. The bike is plenty stiff with the 600# springs I have. I am just not subjecting it to racing level forces. It's a hell of a lot better than stock. If you are not racing that shock could be really good as a street shock for you.

The Fox is not as long as the Penske, and a lot of people will freak out about that, but with the ride height adjustment it's longer than stock and about as long as the Ohlins. Again, maybe not optimal for racing, but for tooling around and a mix of fast riding, light touring and what not I want a bike that's also stable, so the Fox is fine for me. I have mine set at max height and I wouldn't want it any higher. Make sure it has the ride height adjustment.

You may want to get the shock and just install it, maybe it's fine as is. My shock is valved for a 600# spring, but Peter said that the valving would accommodate a 650# spring easily.

It's a very nice shock, and for my money the equal of anything out there especially with the custom valving.

I'd offer $150 pointing out that getting it revalved and resprung could cost you up to $250, and then you'd be getting into new shock territory. But really, try the shock as is. Take the Penske/RT rates with a grain of salt and if need be send it to Peter. He really is great and knows the Fox well.

Offer $150 but be prepared to go higher if that's what you want. It's a great shock.

Syscrush said:

Have you ever ridden a bike with a good shock? If you've just ridden the SV or others with similar budget suspension, then you might ride quite a few miles on a clapped-out aftermarket shock believing that it's fine because it's so much better than your old stocker.

Just something to consider.

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This is true, and to some extent it's why I spent the $150 to have Peter rebuild my shock. It's also the middle of winter and I thought I would do it now rather than potentially loosing the riding time next summer.

You should be able, however, to tell if the clickers are doing anything. Even just bouncing the bike up and down in the garage should tell you if the damping is there at all. Go ride the bike over some square edge bumps with the compression damping turned all the way up and you'll see, both, if the oil has viscosity and if the washer stack is OK.

For me, at the moment I got the shock I was happy to send it out for the $150 and know that it's right, it's not a huge sum of money and it sure it a lot cheaper than a new Penske or Ohlins and, for my use, every bit as good.

FYI, you will need to take a small notch out of the battery box to clear the attachment point for the hose. It's not much, you could notch it with a file in 2 minutes. The battery and everything stays where it is, however.

Wanted to update everyone on what happened last night, but first, thanks again to all who helped me out with this.

Went to the seller's house. Nice guy. He runs an air-cooled Ducati Superbike in CCS. (Used to run an SV, from which the shock was taken off for an upgrade to a 3-click Penske, but sold that to get the Duc. All of which he regrets, but that's another story.) He invited me to visit him in the pits and see him race this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The shock turned out to be in good shape, at least from what I could see. Only visible issue: the steel braiding around the hose to the remote reservior was frayed in one spot, but I'm talking about a few metal strands broken; the braiding still covers the the hose, and the hose is intact. Wasn't really an issue for me.

The issue was that the shock was sprung at 550 lb/in. Aaahhh... nuts! Well, the "try it and see" mantra that I headed over there with won out, and I bought it. The deal-closer was that he knocked the price down from $250 to $150, since I was there with cash-in-hand.

I rationalized the decision a few ways. It's still much better and stiffer than the stock unit. It's also better and stiffer, and not much more money, than any ZX shock, which several people have said I shouldn't bother with.

I don't push my bike too hard, so the shock might work for me, as is (or I might lose some weight... yeah, right), but even if I send it to be reworked, at $450 total investment, it's still a pretty good deal. Plus, the seller has a contact for me (a local guy, ex-GMD employee who's now freelance), that he said would do the work for me really cheap, as a favor to him.

My fallback position is that for what I paid, I should be able to resell it without taking a hit, if I just want to bail.

I hope to get it mounted tomorrow. I'll let you know how it turns out. In the meantime, any and all opinions are welcome.