picking shocks?

[woodsracer144]

ok so i wanted some help from you, I am looking to get some new shocks and dont really know what way to go, The only thing i've only ever rod on and was able to adjust for me are custom axis.

I hear alot of good things about the PEP PB1's and the ZPS. for a while the only shocks i would thought about running would been axis pep or elka but now fox and olhins have came out with some stuff and motowoz also

Its for a MX set up... B ish rider... 180lbs

What are your thoughts, what are nice about them and what are the cons about them,

[Nac's22]

I got PEP on all 3 of my quads. Absolutley no complaints here. Call up Seth at SF Racing, he is the man when it comes to shocks. Hes done the work on the last 2 sets I've sent there and they have came back absolutley perfect.

[jcs003]

i have ran, works, derisi, HLS and another i cant think of at the moment and the HLS are the best yet,

[D Bergstrom]

I have been very happy with Motowoz, both with their product and the customer service I received. I have ran Elka's, revlaved/resprung Elka's, and Fox. Prefer the Motowoz's to all of them. Years ago I was going to buy a set of PEP's, but it was over a 6 month wait for them. (I am sure that has changed now.) Figure if you compare prices between brands of shocks with the same features, the Motowoz are some of the least expensive. Liked them so much after I bought my first set, I switched all my quads to their shocks.

Doug

[woodsracer144]

what the hell is HLS?! i've never heard of them..


I have a buddy whos a R&D guy at motowoz. he had them on his 450 and was at a buddys track and blew one of their rezzy lines off right at the fitting for the banjo bolt or where it goes in the rezzy bottle.... but he was a tester so they got that fixxed up...

[D Bergstrom]

Originally posted by woodsracer144
what the hell is HLS?! i've never heard of them.

GT Thunder makes them. Have heard good things about them but have never tried them myself or even seen a set in person.

Doug

[jcs003]

Originally posted by D Bergstrom
GT Thunder makes them. Have heard good things about them but have never tried them myself or even seen a set in person.

Doug

correct. they are great shocks and the price is unbeatable. the elits series are only $900.

[socal]

Have you seen the Elka stage 5s...They look amazing but come on,1,700 for the fronts and 1,300 for the rears?:mad: LMAO...

[bigmatt61]

Axis, PEP, or Fox. I would take any of these three as I have owned and MX'ed them all.
As far as price, when they are done and done right, you won't complain about price!

Matt

[gtilley45]

I've ridden TCS, Elka, Axis and Fox that were set up for me, and the Fox are hands down my favorite shock. The Walsh YZ hybrid I just got has PEPs on it, but I'm hoping to upgrade to Fox shocks soon. The Fox shocks work as good or better (a lot better in my opinion) than any other shock I've rode on, and there are so many adjustments that you can really fine tune them. A lot of people let all the adjustments of the Fox shocks overwhelm them, but they aren't that hard to tune once you understand how they work and get used to them. Norris Quinn at Quinn Motorsports does all my shock work and when I asked him what shocks he would recommend to anybody, he said "Fox, hands down!" He was a Custom Axis guy for YEARS but when Fox started making shocks, he's been recommending them ever since. I'd also recommend him for any shock work on any brand. The dude is magic when it comes to shock work. In fact, I need to get the PEPs off my hybrid and get them to him so he can set them up for my weight.

[JM317]

Originally posted by gtilley45
I've ridden TCS, Elka, Axis and Fox that were set up for me, and the Fox are hands down my favorite shock. The Walsh YZ hybrid I just got has PEPs on it, but I'm hoping to upgrade to Fox shocks soon. The Fox shocks work as good or better (a lot better in my opinion) than any other shock I've rode on, and there are so many adjustments that you can really fine tune them. A lot of people let all the adjustments of the Fox shocks overwhelm them, but they aren't that hard to tune once you understand how they work and get used to them. Norris Quinn at Quinn Motorsports does all my shock work and when I asked him what shocks he would recommend to anybody, he said "Fox, hands down!" He was a Custom Axis guy for YEARS but when Fox started making shocks, he's been recommending them ever since. I'd also recommend him for any shock work on any brand. The dude is magic when it comes to shock work. In fact, I need to get the PEPs off my hybrid and get them to him so he can set them up for my weight.

What happened to the YFZ?

[gtilley45]

Originally posted by JM317
What happened to the YFZ?

Traded it for the hybrid. Do I know you?

[JM317]

Originally posted by gtilley45
Traded it for the hybrid. Do I know you?

Yup, Jared from Boaz. I wanna see that thing BTW!

[hartwill]

tell you what, i just tried mx for the first time today on my peps and they are amazazazing, lol after my works shocks. i have never ridden mx before but they performed outsanding and they are valved for 210 lbs mx with +3s. I am 160lbs on +2s. I feel lilke a little school girl bragging lol i love them.

[woodsracer144]

So say some one put shocks built for+ 2 arms on a+ 4 arm they would softer than what there exacted on+ 2

[gtilley45]

Originally posted by JM317
Yup, Jared from Boaz. I wanna see that thing BTW! Oh, OK!! Well, it's in Oxford right now. I had to carry it to Mike's Bikes. Look in the hybrid forum....I've got a topic in there called "Walsh YZ questions" from when I first got it. There's a bunch of pics in there.

[gtilley45]

Originally posted by woodsracer144
So say some one put shocks built for+ 2 arms on a+ 4 arm they would softer than what there exacted on+ 2

Yes. The leverage ratio would be WAY different so they probably wouldn't work worth a chit.

[hartwill]

Originally posted by woodsracer144
So say some one put shocks built for+ 2 arms on a+ 4 arm they would softer than what there exacted on+ 2 Im no shock expert but I would say that is correct. More leverage..

[D Bergstrom]

Originally posted by socal
Have you seen the Elka stage 5s...They look amazing but come on,1,700 for the fronts and 1,300 for the rears?:mad: LMAO...

Yeah, then from my experience with Elka, you have to send them out and get them revalved and resprung to work really good. I have owned three sets of Elka's, every set I saw big improvements having them redone. They are a good quality shock, just lacking in the setup department.

I owned a set of Fox Shox also and was never truely happy with them. They are also a good shock, just I thought the valving was off for me. Fox only uses three different valving specs for the shock depending on rider weight. In my opinion, valving should vary for more then just rider weight, should be setup for type of riding, a-arms, etc. They worked great on the big hits, but would beat me to death on the little stuff. Set them up to work better on the little stuff and they were to soft for the big hits. Seems like most of the guys that love them ride MX, so I am guessing the valving is more of a MX setup. I ride desert and probably put more testing time on them then any other shock I have ever owned, still was never able to make them perfect. I feel they needed a revalve, but decided to just sell them and buy something I know I would be happy with.

The one thnig you have to remember about suspension is it is very rider specific. The one thing I learned from setting up a quad for three riders, is what one person loves, another one will hate!

Doug

[woodsracer144]

I think i'm gonna just rebuild my custom axis shocks.

[spintly]

I just had axis rebuild my fronts and the difference was night and day. I told them all the specifics on my R and they sent them back to me and I didn't have to adjust them at all. They feel fantastic. Now I just need to find a rear axis to match the fronts. It was a little on the pricey side, but they switched some components to the newer style. My shocks were never rebuilt and axis told me they were 13 years old! Steve Horn @ axis was very knowlegeable and helpful.

[dustin_j]

Originally posted by woodsracer144
I think i'm gonna just rebuild my custom axis shocks.

It sounds like your choices are between some other shocks used, or rebuilding your Axis? If that's the case, correctly setup your Axis for your application and they'll work better than some other brand shock setup for something different. Start with measuring extended and compressed lengths and spring rates. M@ul Tech ATV isn't far from you and does great work on Axis shocks!

[woodsracer144]

cant really say what im doing just yet..

ok so i have another dumb question... if the narrow frame chassis was built for +4's on mx, what do guys run with XC cause around me the XC is not letting a 50 inch qaud through... you gotta say as narrow as possable

[C41Xracer]

run a +2 on your narrow, it would be like running a +1 on a standard width chassis

[woodsracer144]

so what do you gain with a narrow frame? if you can use the same a-arms on a std chassis as a narrow it much just adjust the spindle for camber right?

[C41Xracer]

The narrow chassis has an advantage on the mx track, theres a post somewhere on here explaining the actual advantage. As long as the narrow chassis has the shock mounts that are narrow also then you can use any a arm you choose. If the top mount isnt narrow then you need a custom shock