suspension upgrade question

[mitchell1227]

Seriously considering a suspension upgrade for my 06 Sprint with 20K miles.
Stopped at local Triumph dealer and asked about front spring/valve upgrade and rear shock upgrade. They told me they would look into options and call me.
About 2 weeks later they called (yesterday) and said the following.
There is no need to upgrade the front forks at all. Ohlins makes a rear shock that they said will "transform your entire ride" and that is the only upgrade the bike needs.
Price for the shock is $1250.00 (US) and 1 hour of labor additional.
Anyway does this make sense?? I am not knowledgeable enough about suspension to know if they are right so before I spend $1300.00 of my hard earned bucks I would appreciate your input.
Thanks all.

[champ87]

Take a look at this post for some of the options available for your Sprint. Details of what I did are in that thread but what works for me or another forum member may not be the best option for you so in that post I laid out the popular options based on research I did before upgrading the suspension on my Sprint.

I would not give that dealer a single $ of your money for suspension work. He's wrong about the front forks and it seems he's simply recommended the most expensive choice for the rear without looking at options.

[JohnD]

That was a nice summary of possible suspension upgrades Champ87.

I am OK with my GT suspension, but I did upgrade my Triumph Daytona 1200SE front with Race Tech and their Gold Valves - really a substantial improvement. On the rear I put a Hagon unit for cost reasons. If I were to do it again I would go with a multi-adjustable Penske. Overall the D12 handling improved markedly.

[mitchell1227]

Thank you very much champ87 I appreciate your feedback and advice.
My problem now is to find an honest suspension guy who is willing to folloow your general guidelines and also do the work for me as I am not a qualified mechanic.
Thanks again.
Mitchell

[champ87]

Originally Posted by mitchell1227

My problem now is to find an honest suspension guy who is willing to folloow your general guidelines and also do the work for me as I am not a qualified mechanic.

Send a PM to our very own Tmod and see what he suggests. I bought a spare rear shock on eBay and had it sent directly to him. I did the forks myself but if you're willing to pull those off the bike they could easily be mailed to him.

[steves]

I'm not sure if Tmod will be online as much as he used to be, he's now actually working at a company who shall remain namless, but is known for suspension and located in southern california.

What I can say, is that you can do mail service for much less than the dealer quoted cost.

Also, from what I understand of the Ohlins stuff... you are buying "stock levels" of suspension. After purchasing that 1250 ohlins they still expect you to have it respring and re-valved for your needs.

I'm running RaceTech gold valves, and 1.0 kg/mm springs, and a revalved rear shock also with gold valves and the 1.0kg spring in my 2008 ST. The difference was night and day.

The biggest bang for your buck will be to get some correct spring rate springs for the front forks, and properly set the preload on them. The preload adjustment on the bike gives you the equivelent of less than 5% change which for most folks isn't enough.

[Lucky13]

I'll just chip in my own experience to add to the good advice that's already been offered by previous posters...

For my '08 Sprint, a few months back I had the springs replaced with new ones from RaceTech better-suited to my weight & riding style. Also went with linear rather than the stock progressive springs. This made a big improvement -- The stock springs were way too stiff for me as a 145lb rider. So the idea put forth by your dealer that nothing can/should be done about the forks is dumb. I may add Gold Valves as well in the future.

Just a couple weeks ago, I replaced the Sprint's rear shock with RaceTech's base model G3-S, which is only adjustable for preload and rebound damping (same as the stocker). But, they built it to order with the valves & spring chosen for my weight & riding style. They set the preload and rebound for me. All I did was pull the old shock, bolt in the new one, and after some test riding I ended up adding one click of rebound damping. It's fantastic. Wish I'd done it 30k miles ago!

You can spend twice as much on a shock that has hi-lo compression adjustments, piggyback reservoir, remote preload adjuster, etc, etc, etc. But IMO, for street riding & sport-touring on a bike like the Sprint, a basic aftermarket shock that's *built to your specs* costs half as much, and is $$$ well spent.

Now I'm considering pulling the shock off my Street Triple R and sending it to RaceTech for new spring & valves. I'm convinced stuff that's built / modified to order for you is the way to go.

Finally, I recommend pinging Tmod through the forum. He knows his stuff and was happy to exchange emails with me with advice & info.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

[mitchell1227]

Thanks everyone, I guessed this would not be simple but I have learned alot.
Mitchell

[IN10SS]

I didn't see your weight mentioned, but if you're under 160 lbs or over 210-220 lbs you would likely benefit from a front spring change. Tmod put together a shim package for me that made my front smooth as butter with almost no dive on braking. I installed myself but he will also do the install for you if you send in your forks. Racetech or traxxion would be options as well at a somewhat higher price point. Consider having your rear shock revalved specifically for you at about $275 vs. an aftermarket one. The single biggest benefit to the A/M is adjustability if moving from street to track if comparing to a reworked stock one.

[mitchell1227]

Called Race Tech yesterday and spoke to a really nice young lady. Gave her my bike model, weight, and type of driving (60% highway and 40% New England secondary roads) after holding on for a while she gave me the following suspension advice.
New front springs (forgot exact KG) and new gold valves. For the rear she suggested a new race tech shock. She said I did not need the top of the line shock but that their standard model built to my weight (155) along with the new front setup would totally transform my ride.
Price for everything $1200.
All I need now is a competent mechanic to do the install. I do not trust the local dealer.
Any and all comments are welcome.
Mitchell