Penske 8900-8100, Yeah Baby!

[Guest waterkc]

So I put the order in with Traxxion Dynamic's for the new Penske 8900-8100 Shock:goofy:(aadjustable Comp/Rebound with ride height. No pre-load as I don't do much 2 up riding; so i didn't see the need). So now I am wondering what to do with the front end? Any feed back would be great, here are my options.

Option 1:

Send the Stockers to Traxxion Dynamics - They put in new springs, axxion Valves, rebuild the Comp stack, service etc.

Cost is $700.00

• Up's
  
  
• Cost effective
  
  
  Downs
  
  
• No adjust ability
  
  

Option 2:

Order the AK20 Kit, Springs, etc. Build myself with correct oil levels etc.

Cost is $1100.00 and change

• Up's
  
  
• Add's Rebound adjustment with fork caps
  
  
  Downs
  
  
• Cost is way more
  
  
• Only get rebound
  
  

Also any feed back on the Penske vs the Ohlins? I hear both good and bad about the Ohlins plus I have never owned one. I have owned 3 Penske's, a few Fox Shocks and some other stuff over the years. I also find it hard to find anything negative on the Penske setups. So any thoughts or comments are welcomed. I have 3 weeks to wait for the Penske. If some one can tell me why I should get the Ohlins over the Penske please enlighten me. While I still have time to get the order changed.

[jeremy556]

I would go with the $700 fork option because it is cheaper. I have been thinking about having mine done with this as well.

I don't think there is much difference between the Penske and the high end Ohlins. I have the 46DRLS with remote reservoir and preload and love it, but I am sure the Penske is just as good.

[FotoMoto]

I've had penske and ohlins on my superhawk but both were used. Both were good. I also had a new ohlins (rebound only) on my first vtec. I now have a triple adjuster wilbers on my second vtec. It's been the best of all and cheaper too (except the used ones of course).

Forks: I'd go with option one.

[Motor_Ref]

So I put the order in with Traxxion Dynamic's for the new Penske 8900-8100 Shock:goofy:(aadjustable Comp/Rebound with ride height. No pre-load as I don't do much 2 up riding; so i didn't see the need). So now I am wondering what to do with the front end? Any feed back would be great, here are my options.

Option 1:

Send the Stockers to Traxxion Dynamics - They put in new springs, axxion Valves, rebuild the Comp stack, service etc.

Cost is $700.00

• Up's
  
  
• Cost effective
  
  
  Downs
  
  
• No adjust ability
  
  

Option 2:

Order the AK20 Kit, Springs, etc. Build myself with correct oil levels etc.

Cost is $1100.00 and change

• Up's
  
  
• Add's Rebound adjustment with fork caps
  
  
  Downs
  
  
• Cost is way more
  
  
• Only get rebound
  
  

Also any feed back on the Penske vs the Ohlins? I hear both good and bad about the Ohlins plus I have never owned one. I have owned 3 Penske's, a few Fox Shocks and some other stuff over the years. I also find it hard to find anything negative on the Penske setups. So any thoughts or comments are welcomed. I have 3 weeks to wait for the Penske. If some one can tell me why I should get the Ohlins over the Penske please enlighten me. While I still have time to get the order changed.

Buy racetech stuff and do the forks yourself if you want to save money. Put in the internals from a CBR if you want more adjustability.

[Dutchy]

Curious......

What made you decide to change the suspension on a brand new bike?

[thx1139]

Option 1:

Send the Stockers to Traxxion Dynamics - They put in new springs, axxion Valves, rebuild the Comp stack, service

Option 2:

Order the AK20 Kit, Springs, etc. Build myself with correct oil levels etc.

I don't think the added cost of AK20s would be rewarded with matching benefits on any less than a race bike.

Factoid of the day:

Penske also manufactures a re-valve kit for fork cartridges.

AFAIK, it isn't available to the general public though; customers must have have it installed by some Penske-approved outlet, like GMD Computrack.

Anyone else looked into this?

I have seen pictures of the Penske valves, and they're made remarkably like (but not identical to) Axxion valves.

PS: I just want someone to get a Penske re-worked VFR fork so they can tell me all about it later and maybe sometime let me ride it a bit or perhaps even take it home for a short while so that maybe I can check it out some more or possibly pull it completely apart so as to have a li'l ol' look around inside...

[jeremy556]

PS: I just want someone to get a Penske re-worked VFR fork so they can tell me all about it later and maybe sometime let me ride it a bit or perhaps even take it home for a short while so that maybe I can check it out some more or possibly pull it completely apart so as to have a li'l ol' look around inside...

I'll gladly volunteer my forks if you'll pay for the experiment :thumbsup:

[thx1139]

I'll gladly volunteer my forks if you'll pay for the experiment :thumbsup:

Heh,

no wait; -that's backwards...

:goofy:

YOU pay ME to have my VFR fork Penskefied. I'll go ride the poop out of it, then totally reverse engineer the mods, and post a HowTo.

Then we can ALL partake of the Penske fork goodness. [cue sounds of singing birds, angels]

Yeah! that's the ticket! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

PM me for my PayPal adress...

[Guest]

Curious......

What made you decide to change the suspension on a brand new bike?

Looking for some more tunability, its not that the stock stuff is bad. Just want the adjust-ability really, The Front is soft no matter how hard I crank it and for my weight I need a 1300 rear spring and a 1.05 front springs. So I know the stock valving will not support those rates springs. So If I am going to do it, I do it right. Well right for me that is.

[Guest]

So I put the order in with Traxxion Dynamic's for the new Penske 8900-8100 Shock:goofy:(aadjustable Comp/Rebound with ride height. No pre-load as I don't do much 2 up riding; so i didn't see the need). So now I am wondering what to do with the front end? Any feed back would be great, here are my options.

Option 1:

Send the Stockers to Traxxion Dynamics - They put in new springs, axxion Valves, rebuild the Comp stack, service etc.

Cost is $700.00

• Up's
  
  
• Cost effective
  
  
  Downs
  
  
• No adjust ability
  
  

Option 2:

Order the AK20 Kit, Springs, etc. Build myself with correct oil levels etc.

Cost is $1100.00 and change

• Up's
  
  
• Add's Rebound adjustment with fork caps
  
  
  Downs
  
  
• Cost is way more
  
  
• Only get rebound
  
  

Also any feed back on the Penske vs the Ohlins? I hear both good and bad about the Ohlins plus I have never owned one. I have owned 3 Penske's, a few Fox Shocks and some other stuff over the years. I also find it hard to find anything negative on the Penske setups. So any thoughts or comments are welcomed. I have 3 weeks to wait for the Penske. If some one can tell me why I should get the Ohlins over the Penske please enlighten me. While I still have time to get the order changed.

Buy racetech stuff and do the forks yourself if you want to save money. Put in the internals from a CBR if you want more adjustability.

So what type CBR internals? F4I? Also I have not looked at the racetech stuff, that is a good idea. More to come on that. But I am interested in the F4i parts, which ones etc

[tinyminds]

So what type CBR internals? F4I? Also I have not looked at the racetech stuff, that is a good idea. More to come on that. But I am interested in the F4i parts, which ones etc

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.p...mp;hl=f4i+forks

That link should have all the F4i fork conversion info you should need.

[Guest]

You're in CA and should talk to Phil Douglas at Aftershocks. He reworked my front forks (modified springs, revalve, etc for around $400) and it worked out very well. I too have a Penske and the front forks work well with the aftermarket shock. If you wish to go with the Axion kit, Phil is also a dealer of Traxxion products as well. Check him out here, I highly recommend his work. Can't get the link to work, so here is the address. www.aftershocks-suspension.com

[Guest]

You're in CA and should talk to Phil Douglas at Aftershocks. He reworked my front forks (modified springs, revalve, etc for around $400) and it worked out very well. I too have a Penske and the front forks work well with the aftermarket shock. If you wish to go with the Axion kit, Phil is also a dealer of Traxxion products as well. Check him out here, I highly recommend his work. Can't get the link to work, so here is the address. www.aftershocks-suspension.com

Thanks for the info, I will look him up. I am thinking of doing them myself. Should be a blast, Maybe the Gold Valves in a set of Ebay F4i Forks maybe that way I get the rebound control.

More to come as I work it out in my head, keeping my eye out for some forks on Ebay.

any one here have a set they are willing to part with?

[house]

So I put the order in with Traxxion Dynamic's for the new Penske 8900-8100 Shock:goofy:(aadjustable Comp/Rebound with ride height. No pre-load as I don't do much 2 up riding; so i didn't see the need). So now I am wondering what to do with the front end? Any feed back would be great, here are my options.

Option 1:

Send the Stockers to Traxxion Dynamics - They put in new springs, axxion Valves, rebuild the Comp stack, service etc.

Cost is $700.00

• Up's
  
  
• Cost effective
  
  
  Downs
  
  
• No adjust ability
  
  

Option 2:

Order the AK20 Kit, Springs, etc. Build myself with correct oil levels etc.

Cost is $1100.00 and change

• Up's
  
  
• Add's Rebound adjustment with fork caps
  
  
  Downs
  
  
• Cost is way more
  
  
• Only get rebound
  
  

Also any feed back on the Penske vs the Ohlins? I hear both good and bad about the Ohlins plus I have never owned one. I have owned 3 Penske's, a few Fox Shocks and some other stuff over the years. I also find it hard to find anything negative on the Penske setups. So any thoughts or comments are welcomed. I have 3 weeks to wait for the Penske. If some one can tell me why I should get the Ohlins over the Penske please enlighten me. While I still have time to get the order changed.

Whatever you do... let me know if you are going to work with Traxxion Dynamics. They are just around the corner from me an my neighbor works there... so maybe I can look into your work or ask my buddy if there are discounts to be had

[wera803]

I've got the AK-20's and they are good, but I'm not sure I would have been happy paying full retail for them ($1150). Something less expensive would probably have been just as good for me and my riding style on the street. I bought them from VFRMonkey when he upgraded to an RC-51 front end. This week I was actually thinking they need to come back off and get freshened up. Not sure how long he had them on his bike, but they have been on mine almost a year now. The front seems a little bouncy. Ended up putting a Wilber's on the back during the group buy a few months ago. That still needs some tweaking as well to get perfect. Just haven't had the time lately to play with it and all of the settings. :unsure:

[Guest]

Curious......

What made you decide to change the suspension on a brand new bike?

Looking for some more tunability, its not that the stock stuff is bad. Just want the adjust-ability really, The Front is soft no matter how hard I crank it and for my weight I need a 1300 rear spring and a 1.05 front springs. So I know the stock valving will not support those rates springs. So If I am going to do it, I do it right. Well right for me that is.

If you don't mind me asking, how much do you weigh. I am 208, and the bike seems fine to me, but I haven't ridden many other sportbikes and I haven't taken anything else to the track.

[Guest]

Curious......

What made you decide to change the suspension on a brand new bike?

Looking for some more tunability, its not that the stock stuff is bad. Just want the adjust-ability really, The Front is soft no matter how hard I crank it and for my weight I need a 1300 rear spring and a 1.05 front springs. So I know the stock valving will not support those rates springs. So If I am going to do it, I do it right. Well right for me that is.

If you don't mind me asking, how much do you weigh. I am 208, and the bike seems fine to me, but I haven't ridden many other sportbikes and I haven't taken anything else to the track.

Well I weigh in at a feather 240 and 6'2. Stocky build. I believe I heard the words Country-Boy once or twice, hehe.

Can you believe that I just got the shock yesterday and I ordered it around the middle of May. Urgh! Dan took care of me, I only need to know dig in and figure out to get it shoe-horned in there.

Weill start the search, any advice is welcomed.

[Dutchy]

Can't help you on detials since I swapped the rear shock on my 4th Gen.

Look up the relavant pages in the workshop manual

Do a search on "wilbers" on VFRD to find posts with pictures/descriptions

put the small parts/nuts&bolts you take off in a separate bag and label them.

take the rear wheel off to have less weight on the swing arm.

use torque wrench(es) to ensure eveything is tight according to speq.

wrap the shock in some paper towel to prevent scratching it when you slot it in

try both ways of fitting the shock and see if the banjo bolt/hose interferes in any way

[MikeG]

I just ordered a Penske Sport shock(not adjustable) and was told that the leadtime was 3 weeks--I hope it doesn't take 2 months like yours did! I also ordered a Racetech Gold Valve kit for the forks. All ordered from GMD Computrack who seemed to know what they are talking about and are local to me. I called Traxxion and he told me I need a 1300lb spring for 160 lb rider--that's what his web site says too--wasn't impressed. 1300lb spring would probably give me about 1mm sag!

[Guest Speed3Boy]

I just ordered a Penske Sport shock(not adjustable) and was told that the leadtime was 3 weeks--I hope it doesn't take 2 months like yours did! I also ordered a Racetech Gold Valve kit for the forks. All ordered from GMD Computrack who seemed to know what they are talking about and are local to me. I called Traxxion and he told me I need a 1300lb spring for 160 lb rider--that's what his web site says too--wasn't impressed. 1300lb spring would probably give me about 1mm sag!

I really do not understand why you, "wasn't impressed." You have never actually tried a shock with a 1300lb spring but just assume it will be too stiff? It is absolutely impossible to only have 1mm of sag on a VFR with a 1300lb spring. We have done a ton of hands on R&D with the VFR to come up with that spring rate so it’s not like we just pulled a number out of the air.

I would be very interested in knowing what spring rate you went with and what you free sag and rider sag numbers are.

Mike

Traxxion Dynamics

[vanion2]

I just ordered a Penske Sport shock(not adjustable) and was told that the leadtime was 3 weeks--I hope it doesn't take 2 months like yours did! I also ordered a Racetech Gold Valve kit for the forks. All ordered from GMD Computrack who seemed to know what they are talking about and are local to me. I called Traxxion and he told me I need a 1300lb spring for 160 lb rider--that's what his web site says too--wasn't impressed. 1300lb spring would probably give me about 1mm sag!

I really do not understand why you, "wasn't impressed." You have never actually tried a shock with a 1300lb spring but just assume it will be too stiff? It is absolutely impossible to only have 1mm of sag on a VFR with a 1300lb spring. We have done a ton of hands on R&D with the VFR to come up with that spring rate so it’s not like we just pulled a number out of the air.

I would be very interested in knowing what spring rate you went with and what you free sag and rider sag numbers are.

Mike

Traxxion Dynamics

Hey...welcome to the forum! Always good to have a person working on the inside to ask questions too. :thumbsup:

[FotoMoto]

Hey...welcome to the forum!

Umm, he joined in 2006. :squid:

[MikeG]

Mike@Traxxion,

I do not want to get in a fire fight with Traxxion because I'm sure you know far more than I do about suspension. I know Traxxion has a good name so I called you first. I did a fair amount of research on shocks and found that the stock shock is 15.3kg/mm or about 850lbs/in. I used to have a CBR1100XX and that supposedly has a ~16kg/mm or about 900lbs/in. Your website lists a 1000lb spring for the 1100XX, which makes sense, and a 1300 lb spring for the VFR. Given that I weigh about 160, I could not believe that you recommend a spring almost 50% heavier. The bike already rides very firm and is on the 2nd or 3rd preload. It is hard to believe that a 1300 lb spring would not ride like a truck. Am I missing something? By the way, I am an engineer so I do understand how springs work. If you really have installed 1300 lb springs on VFR's for people my weight, and they were satisfied, then I stand corrected.

MikeG

[Guest Speed3Boy]

Mike@Traxxion,

I do not want to get in a fire fight with Traxxion because I'm sure you know far more than I do about suspension. I know Traxxion has a good name so I called you first. I did a fair amount of research on shocks and found that the stock shock is 15.3kg/mm or about 850lbs/in. I used to have a CBR1100XX and that supposedly has a ~16kg/mm or about 900lbs/in. Your website lists a 1000lb spring for the 1100XX, which makes sense, and a 1300 lb spring for the VFR. Given that I weigh about 160, I could not believe that you recommend a spring almost 50% heavier. The bike already rides very firm and is on the 2nd or 3rd preload. It is hard to believe that a 1300 lb spring would not ride like a truck. Am I missing something? By the way, I am an engineer so I do understand how springs work. If you really have installed 1300 lb springs on VFR's for people my weight, and they were satisfied, then I stand corrected.

MikeG

Mike,

I'm not trying to start anything myself. I just came across this tread and saw a lot of miss-information so I stuck my fat head in. Sorry if I came across the wrong way to anyone.

As a matter of fact we have installed countless 1300lb springs on VFRs. The harshness you feel stock is two fold. One the stock spring is too soft and over preloaded. There is typically way too much initial preload on a stock spring. The initial preload is something you can not change. When you preload is backed all the way off there is still some preload on the spring. By cranking in more preload you are not affecting the spring rate you are only squashing the spring more initially. If the spring is too soft it will still travel through the stroke of the spring and even bottom out.

Secondly, the compression valving is too heavy. To make up for the soft spring the stock compression valving is typically heavier then needed which can lead to harshness over bumps.

My point is we R&D a bike in house with Max who weights about 150lbs and we settled on a 1300lbs spring. The linkage is very progressive and puts a ton of leverage on the shock. I went through the same process on my Speed Triple. I went from a 700lb spring to a 1300lb spring. Now it rocks!

Who would believe the correct spring for the average weight guy on a NT650 Hawk is 1300lbs? It's not all the weight of the bike and rider but the leverage the swing arm is putting on the shock had a lot to do with the spring rate as well.

Any way, thanks for listening. I will go back in my hole now.

:thumbsup:

[MikeG]

Thanks for the good info. Your explanation that the stock spring is preloaded too much even when dialed down to minimum makes a lot of sense. It sounds like you have done the testing with good results, so I cannot argue with that. I'll see how my shock works out when I get it and I'll report into the forum.

MikeG