Rob,
It is my post that is less than clear
. I felt lazy and wanted to make it as succinct as possible. I completely agree about the importance of tailoring the setup to conditions/riding double/etc. In my previous post I did not want to name brands that in my mind are only good for rolling the bike in the driveway, well maybe some sedate riding too
but instead, wanted to say that in my experience, now that I know a bit more about riding, good suspension that is set up/ modified/re-valved for the riding style/conditions/etc. is very valuable to anyone riding. Anyone will benefit from such efforts, even though they may not realize it. I have seen some terrible riding/driving, only made possible by excellent equipment. The people usually had no idea that they had done something wrong, but were "saved" buy the quality of their machine. I have had many pairs of Koni shocks and I was never happy with how the bike worked. I attributed that to my inability to "dial them in" correctly...after 30 years of riding, I still can't dial <choose your brand of bad shocks> in, but I have no trouble dialing in (close enough) the shocks modified buy a very reputable suspension shop.....(the credit is all their
they do the re-spring/re-valve/internal modifications)
Maybe the cheaper brands in question are better now, I am not sure since I stopped buying them, and the ones I come across are the older versions that come on the bikes I buy/ride. Though I still do hear from the people around here that the common cheap replacement brand, is still not a very good choice if you want a shock to do more than just to hold the back of your bike up
I am guilty of buying the real cheap stuff myself, as I bought a pair of piggy-back shocks in China for $22 could not pass that up
Bottom line, I try to advocate to people who seek my advise (not many) to buy the best suspension/tires they can afford as this may save them in the future. My riding may not be very typical, hence my experience not very applicable to others
--Nick
