[rubbish]

Seems like at the end of the season everyone is selling shit at good prices...which is not a good thing for my wallet. I tend to have a weakness for quality bike parts at low cost...much like drug addicts with whatever the hell they do

Anyway...I'm still on my stock showa suspensions on my 1198. Just bought an Ohlins TTX shock today from a guy I met at the track, and now a guy that I know is looking to upgrade his track bike so he's parting out his 1098S, and I was interested in getting the stock Ohlins forks.

My question is, what would be the better upgrade between the S model stock Ohlins forks vs putting Ohlins cartridges in my Showa forks? Not counting money into the equation, which would make the biggest difference? This is for a track/race bike, no street riding.

 

[rubbish]

Care to elaborate on why you suggest that?

I realize this might be tough for most people to answer because most people who upgrade do one or the other, not both, so they probably don't really know the difference.

 

[rubbish]

Well as far as cost goes I'm better off with the Ohlins. The guy I know is selling Ducshop 30 mm triples AND the 1098S stock Ohlins forks for $1100. I'm thinking that's a pretty good deal. If I was to go with Ohlins cartridges for my Showas, it'd be about $1200 just for that. Those are hard to find used because not many people sell them.

 

[rubbish]

To be honest I'm not sure, I'll have to ask him. He just said they're the stock 1098S forks with UES valving...I'll be honest, I'm no expert in suspensions and Ohlins, so not sure what that means.

 

[rubbish]

So apparently he has a different valve kit in but he's not sure which one. It was done at least 3 years ago.

 

[rubbish]

I would definitely need to have them setup anyway, due to the springs. The guy weighs like 130 lb, which is WAY less than I weigh

The local master tech is also a certified Ohlins tech and has all the proper tools. I'm sure once he opens them up, he would know which kit it is.

However, I've told myself since last year that I'd like to learn how to do suspension work on my own. Do you guys think it's worth it? My understanding is that you need some special tools to be able to open up and close the Ohlins forks, and also a tool to compress the springs. Is that true? Do you guys think it'd be worth getting the tools and learning how to do it, vs having a pro do it? This is something that would be done only once every 2 years, maybe once a year at worst, so my gut feeling tells me it's not worth it, however, so far I've had bad experiences with people working on my suspensions.