Are there any available yet for the ST?
Street Twin Aftermarket Rear Shocks
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Squirrelly
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I do work at Woodstock Triumph/Ktm/ Harley-Davidson. You are most welcome to ride out and see me or call 815-337-3511, ask for Matthew. You are also welcome to call me at my cellular which I will pm to you. Will you be attending Motoblot? I will be there all weekend stop by our booth.
http://motoblot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/woodstocktriumph/
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Yes. I have my bike registered and ticket for Saturday. Look forward to this event every year. See you there. Thanks.
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$200 is the standard price for the Hagon road shocks. The Nitros cost just over $500. Once ordered from a Hagon dealer the shocks are assembled in California and shipped.
I have the Hagon Roads on my 2006 T100. I have Racetec springs and emulators in the forks on my T100.
The t120 has the Hagon Nitros on the rear, and the Andreani cartridge in the forks.
Either option works very well.
Great to finally see a review on these, thanks! So that is a one touch adjustment for both rebound and compression?
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204 Posts
Cant be same wheel or nob for both the rebound and compression. They do different things so surely need to be adjusted independently.
In the early days of the street twin I was trying to prove what was wrong with the back end for riding with a pillion. I have mono shock sports bikes of similar weight which cope fine with the pillion. Same pillion for the last thirty five years so must be the bike.
Stock Street Twin suspension was fine on my own. Half preload used for spirited riding on bumpy back lanes was needed to save bottoming. Whole different story when two up. Whole back end went to pieces. Was it insufficient size of rubber, flexing frame or the stock shocks? After checking frame and experimenting with tyre pressures the bike was just not fit to ride two up. An absolute disgrace Triumph. You taking folk who paid you good money for a ride with that back end. And don't tell me I should have spent more in the first place. Whole fun of bikes is that less is more.
Well there being nothing shock wise about I could trust without some knowledge less sales person trying to sell me all he had to sell and ruining his companies credibility, I picked up a pair of TEC fixed damping rate shocks to experiment with. Their adjustable damping versions shown to snap the damper rod where its made thin at the adjuster ring so I was not going to risk a play with that two up and get stuck miles from home. To be fair to tec I suspect poor assembly or fitting by the owners could be partly to blame. One broken example I saw was where the owner had fitted a scrambler high exhaust. Then bolted his shock on without checking clearance. The shock had been bending round the pipe and broke off. Not intended to take side loads like that.
I stripped both the TEC and Triumph originals to compare spring rates. Very close to being the same. Wire diameters and pitch close so obvious really.
Shock absorbing on the stock unit was weaker compared to the tec. Tec was probably about half as stiff again as the Triumphs in both comp and rebound. Push and pull test in the vice but all I need is to know which way I'm going.
Checked the whole tec build over before fitting. Just one of the eyes at the bottom was badly machined. Put simply the hole in it was 4mm off centre and not square through it either. Rectified that and fitted them. Ride was v firm on my own after the stock units. To be expected with so much more damping. I preffered this marginally over stock.
Different story two up though. So much better and hardly any concerns when spirited riding two up. That for the first hundred miles at least. Soon started bottoming and increasing the preload made no difference. Stripped the tec shocks down to find the springs had shrunk by two inches or more and buckled so much they were cutting into the side of the damper body. Conclusion is springs were junk. Both of them. I got the next heavier springs and these are much better. Holding up well after 700 miles two up with no preload required and the stiffer damping is clearly what the bike needs for two up riding. If you got to spend £700 (10% of the bikes value) to make the back seat use able then that's a poor do Triumph. You making a massive margin selling the cheap made bike and half as much again for shocks to make the back end fit.
All not brilliant about tec either. Duff springs. Holes not in the middle of the eyes. The steel bush in the eye has to be removed so the bushes rotate direct on the frames paint and will wear the frame mounts over time. The dust caps on the pressure valves have too longer thread so the sealing washer in them can't reach to seal the actual valve. Not good when road dirt and salt has got in there. So come on Triumph and the lower cost end of the after market parts suppliers. Let's have a bit of quality and what we paid you our good money for rather than this here today gone tomorrow engineering. Triumphs stock shocks are cheap made but being mass produced are at least consistently poor grade. The tec a little home made but now OK with a bit of care and if we burst them I can rebuild them which surely is what bike tinkering is all about.
By the way. The black shrouds on the stock Triumph shocks are bare steel inside where you can't see without dismantling. Going rusty as hell so great after a year or two. Junk and smacks of being made down to an unbelievably cheap price but Triumph seem happy to sell us another set knowing the originals were not up to the job and cheap. Get some oil sprayed up inside those shrouds before the rusty water starts running out.
Lovely looking character full bike they strike up more conversations than having a dog but I do wish they were made in Japan. Should be for the money they charge.
Honest review from a bloke with no vested interest other than helping fellow bikers make slightly better informed decisions about where to spend their hard earned. All IMHO of course.
In the early days of the street twin I was trying to prove what was wrong with the back end for riding with a pillion. I have mono shock sports bikes of similar weight which cope fine with the pillion. Same pillion for the last thirty five years so must be the bike.
Stock Street Twin suspension was fine on my own. Half preload used for spirited riding on bumpy back lanes was needed to save bottoming. Whole different story when two up. Whole back end went to pieces. Was it insufficient size of rubber, flexing frame or the stock shocks? After checking frame and experimenting with tyre pressures the bike was just not fit to ride two up. An absolute disgrace Triumph. You taking folk who paid you good money for a ride with that back end. And don't tell me I should have spent more in the first place. Whole fun of bikes is that less is more.
Well there being nothing shock wise about I could trust without some knowledge less sales person trying to sell me all he had to sell and ruining his companies credibility, I picked up a pair of TEC fixed damping rate shocks to experiment with. Their adjustable damping versions shown to snap the damper rod where its made thin at the adjuster ring so I was not going to risk a play with that two up and get stuck miles from home. To be fair to tec I suspect poor assembly or fitting by the owners could be partly to blame. One broken example I saw was where the owner had fitted a scrambler high exhaust. Then bolted his shock on without checking clearance. The shock had been bending round the pipe and broke off. Not intended to take side loads like that.
I stripped both the TEC and Triumph originals to compare spring rates. Very close to being the same. Wire diameters and pitch close so obvious really.
Shock absorbing on the stock unit was weaker compared to the tec. Tec was probably about half as stiff again as the Triumphs in both comp and rebound. Push and pull test in the vice but all I need is to know which way I'm going.
Checked the whole tec build over before fitting. Just one of the eyes at the bottom was badly machined. Put simply the hole in it was 4mm off centre and not square through it either. Rectified that and fitted them. Ride was v firm on my own after the stock units. To be expected with so much more damping. I preffered this marginally over stock.
Different story two up though. So much better and hardly any concerns when spirited riding two up. That for the first hundred miles at least. Soon started bottoming and increasing the preload made no difference. Stripped the tec shocks down to find the springs had shrunk by two inches or more and buckled so much they were cutting into the side of the damper body. Conclusion is springs were junk. Both of them. I got the next heavier springs and these are much better. Holding up well after 700 miles two up with no preload required and the stiffer damping is clearly what the bike needs for two up riding. If you got to spend £700 (10% of the bikes value) to make the back seat use able then that's a poor do Triumph. You making a massive margin selling the cheap made bike and half as much again for shocks to make the back end fit.
All not brilliant about tec either. Duff springs. Holes not in the middle of the eyes. The steel bush in the eye has to be removed so the bushes rotate direct on the frames paint and will wear the frame mounts over time. The dust caps on the pressure valves have too longer thread so the sealing washer in them can't reach to seal the actual valve. Not good when road dirt and salt has got in there. So come on Triumph and the lower cost end of the after market parts suppliers. Let's have a bit of quality and what we paid you our good money for rather than this here today gone tomorrow engineering. Triumphs stock shocks are cheap made but being mass produced are at least consistently poor grade. The tec a little home made but now OK with a bit of care and if we burst them I can rebuild them which surely is what bike tinkering is all about.
By the way. The black shrouds on the stock Triumph shocks are bare steel inside where you can't see without dismantling. Going rusty as hell so great after a year or two. Junk and smacks of being made down to an unbelievably cheap price but Triumph seem happy to sell us another set knowing the originals were not up to the job and cheap. Get some oil sprayed up inside those shrouds before the rusty water starts running out.
Lovely looking character full bike they strike up more conversations than having a dog but I do wish they were made in Japan. Should be for the money they charge.
Honest review from a bloke with no vested interest other than helping fellow bikers make slightly better informed decisions about where to spend their hard earned. All IMHO of course.
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51 Posts
Yes there is no separate rebound adjuster, so you have the same rate of compression and rebound, but they work really well.
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204 Posts
I can't see any lock on the preload adjuster? Would be usual to have two rings to lock against each other.
My 2 cents: I replaced the stock shocks on my Street Twin with a pair of Bitubo WME.
They have continuous spring preload adj. and lever-based rebound adj.
http://www.bitubo.com/prodotti-dettaglio.php?ID=126
Bitubo asked my riding weight to fit proper spring etc.
Stock adjustment was a bit loose: I added 2mm preload and raised rebound adj from 1 (stock) to 2.
The bike is much more enjoyable now. Nice controlled back end, no more waving on longitudinal stripes, good stability, no jumping around.
No sport bike of course, but quite better than before!
They have continuous spring preload adj. and lever-based rebound adj.
http://www.bitubo.com/prodotti-dettaglio.php?ID=126
Bitubo asked my riding weight to fit proper spring etc.
Stock adjustment was a bit loose: I added 2mm preload and raised rebound adj from 1 (stock) to 2.
The bike is much more enjoyable now. Nice controlled back end, no more waving on longitudinal stripes, good stability, no jumping around.
No sport bike of course, but quite better than before!
Attachments
Love my Hagon shocks on my 2016 ST
I put Hagon shocks on my 2016 Street Twin - TBH mostly to get LOWER bc I am a 5'0 female rider. I looked at responses to this thread on the forum and ended up chatting with 3 different distributors. I went with the Michigan dealer of Hagon shocks. That guy is awesome! He spent a lot of time on the phone with me asking me about my riding style, types of trips/luggage/passengers I might carry, my size/weight - he informed me without that "here little honey tone" that makes my skin crawl. He set the shocks exactly where there were best for me. I have my full foot on the ground so I can muscle my bike where I need to, yet I'm not bottoming out over bumps. My ST is taking the curves like the graceful lady she is. I've put on about 1K miles with them and they handle beautifully. I can't say enough good about my experience with the dealer and the shocks. They were less expensive than I expected - a lot less expensive - and super easy to install.
http://bellacorse.com/shop/parts-fo...triumph-water-cooled-motorcycles/hagon-2810-adjustable-shocks-street-twin-t120/
I put Hagon shocks on my 2016 Street Twin - TBH mostly to get LOWER bc I am a 5'0 female rider. I looked at responses to this thread on the forum and ended up chatting with 3 different distributors. I went with the Michigan dealer of Hagon shocks. That guy is awesome! He spent a lot of time on the phone with me asking me about my riding style, types of trips/luggage/passengers I might carry, my size/weight - he informed me without that "here little honey tone" that makes my skin crawl. He set the shocks exactly where there were best for me. I have my full foot on the ground so I can muscle my bike where I need to, yet I'm not bottoming out over bumps. My ST is taking the curves like the graceful lady she is. I've put on about 1K miles with them and they handle beautifully. I can't say enough good about my experience with the dealer and the shocks. They were less expensive than I expected - a lot less expensive - and super easy to install.
http://bellacorse.com/shop/parts-fo...triumph-water-cooled-motorcycles/hagon-2810-adjustable-shocks-street-twin-t120/
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That's probably the most common lock, but these have a pinch bolt to tighten the preload ring (it has a slit cut in it)
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Installed these a week ago and have been enjoying them. So far, I'm impressed.
![Image]()
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I've also lowered my 2017 Street Twin with 1" lower Ikon shocks that I love. They put on lighter springs for my 102lbs! Also slid the forks in the triple tree to match the 1". But now I have a kickstand problem and always have to park on the downhill since they don't make a shorter or adjustable stand for it. What are you doing about that?
Remove the kickstand, clamp it in a vice, and then use a breaker bar to bend the lever slightly. A couple degrees should be plenty. If you use a torch on the bend beforehand, you can anneal (soften) the metal somewhat and avoid a stress fracture.
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Thanks Delta. Will have hubby try that
Triumph service manager told me he wouldn't recommend that but I'm sure he's not allowed to say anything much!
Triumph service manager told me he wouldn't recommend that but I'm sure he's not allowed to say anything much!Bending the metal is risky, that much is certain. If it made of aluminum, don't bend it. Bending is generally fine for steel though.Thanks Delta. Will have hubby try that
I'm not sure what it is made out of underneath the black powder coated finish. Two ways to find out yourself - scratch through the finish and see if it rusts like steel should once exposed. Or weigh it - you should be able to tell as aluminum is substantially lighter than steel.
If it is aluminum, you could cut it and fabricate a new foot instead of bending. Or just cut an inch off the shaft and weld on the original foot. Depends how handy you are or what tool access you have in your shop. Let us know how it goes.
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413 Posts
I went with the same Hagon 2810 shocks on my T120 and have been very happy with them. I ended up buying from Dave Quinn in CT but didn't know about Belacorse. The distributor here in CA, which is not too far from me, was crazy expensive.
I ended up requesting the next lighter spring (18kg) from what was "suggested" (20kg) based on some feedback from a riding buddy who bought a pair ahead of me. I was glad I did as they are perfect and the "suggested" springs would have been too stiff, just as my buddy thought they were.
I think these are a very good option for the Bonnie and Street Twin bikes. Here's a shot of them on my T120.
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