Got any more detail on your Hagon's? What length? Any bottoming out? Good response? I started checking out their stuff and it looks more fairly priced. I like the Nitro's too, but like you said, the red, gold or blue end caps kind of kill it for me. The set you got seem decent for $300 or so.

 

They have the Nitros in black end caps as well, but only Stainless springs as far as I can see.

A guy on a sportster powder coated his springs black on his Nitros:

 

Pretty sick, I could rock those. I'm debating on length...it's all millimeters...i think the math is 13.4", 13.7" or 14" something. I wonder if 14 would be too crazy long. I've got 13.5" FXDP shocks on now.

 

.........................................:icon_nut :

 

Its late and im tired, so I missed the fact you have these shocks. Can we have some close up pics? Were these bolt on with no spacer or hardware mods? How do they feel performance wise?

 

I have the 320mm 2810s, which are 12.6" and just a tad higher than stock. With the spring weight they put on for me, I've never bottomed out...not even on that 5 South/805 split sweeper.

That's looks awesome. I wonder how hard it was getting that spring back on. Christina said they can't change the springs on the Nitros because the compression is too much for their bench machine (they do all the other shocks by hand, the nitros come from the factory with different spring weights).

I needed 1/2" spacers, provided by Hagon, for the lower bolts. The top bolt didn't need any. I can only compare the performance to stock, and it's much, much better. I don't get launched out the saddle anymore. The dampening is adjustable. There a 7 levels to choose from. After upgrading my front end this week, I had to stiffen my rear a little and went from position 4 to position 6. The ride is noticeably firmer now.

I'll get you some close ups tonight.

 

Sounds good

 

Here ya go parts eeter, Hagon 2810 320mm. I painted to 1/2" spacer black, but you can see it on the lower bolt.

The preload adjuster has a silver and blue HAGON SHOCKS decal that I covered with 3M 1080 black vinyl.




I'm sure they aren't as nice as Ohlins for performance, but for $300 I'm very happy with them.

 

Hi Zimm, just to clear up a few facts you stated:
>>> I learned from talking with Howard at Motorcylemetal is that the fully adjustable shock with the "sweep valve" has 1" less stroke
<<< No they do not. That was a graphic example only. I tried to show you that to put extra features usually it takes up room. I stated that you can not put 13" of stuff into a 12" tube. I did not mean that the sweep valve adjuster on your shocks are taking up 1" of stroke. I told you that the separator piston takes 1"(actually 25mm) of space that directly affects how much stroke we can put into the rest of the shock. The sweep valve on your 13" shock has a maximum stroke of 92mm whereas the non-adjustable is 101mm. That is 9mm for just the sweep valve, double check my work by going to the page you purchased your shocks on my site. All great shock manufactures roughly take up that same amount of room. Your shock is an externally adjustable compression/rebound sweep valve. The shim stacks are much stiffer than that of a non-adjustable shock. You have to start at some range, a 400# guy must start his shim stack differently than a 150 pound person. If you meant that you do not have a separator in place of a sweep valve than you would be correct and that would be a typo under confusion. I know you know that you have a sweep valve & do not have a separator piston. I am also writing to other members here.

The much less than good quality shocks use a small thin aluminum piston with a rubber O-Ring and not a thick, real piston with rings (look on my Ohlins pages for the disassembled shock and look at what a real shock looks like). This O-Ring piston, naturally, takes up much less room than a real piston with rings made from Teflon and seals correctly. The stroke could be a bit longer but the performance would not match a real shock.


>>> Don't put too much stock into a shock "custom made for your weight and riding style". That's a bunch of marketing crap. Yes the spring rate is chosen for your ride. But the valving is pretty much what you get if it's non-adjustable,
<<< Zimm, of course your shock was built exactly for you by Chad, however, a non-adjustable shock (you do not have this type) does not have the ability to fine tune it for your exact taste in the beginning or along the roadside for the different road conditions you encounter. Those non-adjustable shocks must be tuned more carefully as there is no real room to miscalculate because they can not be externally corrected as easily as your externally adjustable shocks. The shims were chosen for your application by me using a graph, made by a shock dyno called a setting bank. With experience, a tuner gets to know what will work and what will not. A standard setting bank will not work for different weights, motorcycles, and riding styles, a different setting bank composed of different array of shim stacks assembled onto the piston may have to be used unless you are the exact person that the factory designed the shock for. JRI does not have shocks in boxes. A shock bench at JRI, like the one I have (below) is where I do my work at my shop and it is not there just to look at. It is too costly of an investment to have just to set a beer on it. Your shocks will not have worked as well for you had they been made for a different rider & bike. They can not come out of the box and work for everyone around the world. You stated: what you got out of the box is what you get. True except you forgot, you got your shock out of the box from someplace and someone that actually builds them for you. Chad built them for you at JRI by a sheet I gave him. That is why you had to fill out the build sheet. Someone had to do that service for you.

When a good tuner gets brand new shocks, he must test the components to make sure they were manufactured so they function correctly. Chad has to test each and every one for internal leaks when being built. If your shocks are not functioning correctly than using a machine we have called a lapping machine must be used to make surfaces exactly flat so they do not leak (internally). If your brand new shock is not taken apart and inspected (shocks bought from another manufacturer and not JRI), how would you know if it will work correctly? Every tuner at the track does this for their client, it is a must.


I am in the process of building a full shop trailer to bring to events such as next week's Biketoberfest in Daytona. I always go and have access to a shop because our major concern and purpose is to support our past customers. With an on-site shop we can do this service right then and there. We have and will have a relatively inexpensive $26,000 Shock Dyno along with a full service shop to do just that. The trailer I am building will have an aluminum shock work bench, tool pit cart, motorcycle lift, nitrogen, A/C for dirt control, lighting, and all of the spare parts necessary to fix problems. This is my 24' Featherlite (below) a few months ago. It presently has the insulation & aluminum skin on the ceiling & front, and I will not have the wall skin and 3 rows of e-Track on each wall up in time for Daytona. Marketing hype $50,000+ just for hype? I think not.



>>> ... Not so. The preload just changes at what point the shock starts to compress. One the suspension is in motion, the spring rate is what it is, it's not adjustable without changing springs.
<<< That is definitely not so. When you compress a spring such as the 23Nm (Newton per Millimeter) springs you have, the English version is for every inch you compress that 23Nm spring is 131.61 pounds per inch of compression. This means that if you compress your spring 3 inches than that spring is exerting 394.83 pounds of force. There is a table & application on my web site if you wish to learn about it.

Force Conversion Spring Rate Conversion Nn to Lbs
Click on the Printer Icon with a Red Arrow to Download or Read your own "Take It Home" P.D.F. file/copy.

Zimm, if you are in Daytona, please look for the map on my welcome page on my web site & stop on by, love to meet you and all of our past customers. Thanks for all!

 

Thanks for all the info everyone. I've been researching shocks all weekend and have decided to start with the Ohlins to see if they're right for me. I'm just wondering now if I can afford them or if they are overkill for my style of riding. I know, call Howard and I will once I feel I have enough knowledge not to waste his time.