Thanks all,

Good to know.

Sounds like the old sales technique of "rubbish the opposition". Dissapointing.

VFRkieran wrote:i cannot stand the boss

. "Your hate will burn you up young Jedi". :-), but good to get the inside scoop. Thanks.

As a small aside yesterday I also phoned the Aussie Ohlins importer and spoke to who must have been the "sales prevention officer". He says they have never imported a shock for the VFR400 (or RVF) and doesn't even have a "build sheet" for one - even after looking in their "old system" . Says other importers around the world may have done their own thing but they'd not do one. He even said to try to the net but to beware as I might not get delivered what "I think I am asking for". Nice.

No wonder retail sales in Australia are down ...

Greg.

Well there are plenty of reasons not to like him the main one for me is the fact he made me and the machinist redundant claiming he couldnt afford to pay us and yet he could go out 2 weeks later buy a big flashy BMW and then went and bought a plane of all things, Also didnt give anybody a cost of living allowance payrise in 6 odd years even though the profits had gone up and up. That's enough ranting and raving anyway i am suprised at Ohlins not doing a shock for the VFR in Aus seems silly imo i dont think it would cost a fortune to get any aftermarket shock imported from the UK though.

StrayAlien wrote:I also phoned the Aussie Ohlins importer and spoke to who must have been the "sales prevention officer". He says they have never imported a shock for the VFR400 (or RVF) and doesn't even have a "build sheet" for one - even after looking in their "old system" . Says other importers around the world may have done their own thing but they'd not do one.

Not surprising really. Most suppliers are in the dark when it comes to parts for grey imports (not always their fault - the Oz parts lists won't always list grey imports). Because the nc30 was an official import in the uk and some European countries ohlins probably offered a shock there.

No wonder retail sales in Australia are down ...

Yeah I agree. I'm more than happy to pay less from overseas retailers when you come up against this sort of sh!t service.

Ohlins dont do a shock for thr VFR/RVF, the shock people use is off a early fireblade modified with a fork type lower mount, differnt spring and most likely different valving.

Ahhh, so with the ohlins, it is basically get one of the right type / length and then have it modified (?)

Is that what Rick O does? I emailed him about it last week, specifically regarding his price (it seems to be about 200 GBP more than other places - but I don't know what he is offering for that apart from the very lose 'spec' that defines ohlins models). Rick's responses take about as long as mine and that takes some doing. :-)

I'm vaguely tempted by an Ohlins shock, but I'm probably being a more driven by the name than anything else. The confusing bit is that they seem to have two pat numbers for everything, one says what it is, and the other says what bike it's for. For example, I thought I'd cracked it when I found the suggestion that for the NC35 it was a 46HRCL shock, however I was rather confused when lots of other, different bikes had it. Turns out it means 46mm diameter body, with a Hose mounted reservoir, Rebound adjuster, Compression adjuster, and adjustable Length. In addition, there are several numbered options for compression and rebound, so you could end up with 46HR4C4S1L shock if you wanted the compression, rebound and ride height to be electronically adjustable. Still doesn't tell you what it fits though. The actual part number for Honda applications starts HO and has three numbers after it, and there's not an off the shelf option for the NC30 or NC35. As suggested above, I guess these part numbers distinguish the changes to the spring rate, valving and shock length. As also suggested above, to get a suitable result for a bike not covered would be to pick something with the features that you want and get a shock specialist to rebuild it to the right spec. That sounds doubly expensive to me!

Ohlins is never going to be a cheap option, ive seen good NC ones go for £400-500 2nd hand! Mine was cheap ish, i paid about £230 but it needs a good £150 spent on it to make it good. If im really honest tho i prefer the Maxton, to me its looks better built and looks a lot nicer too. Can be had for around £300-350 2nd hand.

Ohlins are decent shocks but there is a lot of good stuff about for the NC30, especially if you shop around, some stuff was purpose built for the bike, some is universal and you fit it with fitting kits.

Quantum, Maxton, White Power and Nitron are a few names that spring to mind.

The TT-F3 race shocks of the era (showa) are all fantastic too if you can get one cheap as the odds are it will need a rebuild (most if not all of the f3 showas wont have bump stops so maybe not idea for the road)

Anyhow.

The most important thing with whatever shock you get is to get it setup properly.

If your not sure how spend some time at a suspension place and get them to set it up. The right spring / compression / preload and rebound will do wonders.

A great shock is only as good as the settings.

Thanks all,

<ramble>

Funny .. looking about at some specs, some manufacturers list the aluminium body as a *feature*. How about that.

The thing about many brands of shocks is their limited support in Australia. Certainly, every suspension house knows Ohlins inside out. Nitron? I have found a couple (including 'Mr diss-aluminium-bodies') that will service them.

RO sells the Ohlins but at 250 GBP more than the Nitron. But, honestly, really, truly, are they that much better? Dunno. I agree with the "The most important thing with whatever shock you get is to get it setup properly" for sure. I am fortunate enough to have bought two bikes in recent years from guys who were serious about setting their suspension up and who happen to be about my weight. Very cool. The NC30 shock was rebuilt in the late '90s I think with different internals and it, to be honest, feel alright.

But .... as someone once said, you never know a good suspension setup until you have actually experienced one. And My Ducati 999s is simply a freaking marvel on wheels. I want to be buried with it. Ohlins front and rear and well dialed in for the track.

If I could get somewhere near that feeling with the NC30 I would be a very happy man. Yes, it is true, I am as slow on the track as (to quote early Mr Bean) "an asthmatic ant carry heaving bags of shopping" but the more I ride the NC30, the more I realise it is all about suspension and my throttle control.

So, anybody here race on Nitron then?

</ramble>

Unless your riding is atleast at supersport level you aint gunna tell the difference between a ohlins and a nitron, but if your money bags then why not go for the ohlins.