Rear shock

[Tangoman]

I know this is a long running topic, but it always pay to ask I have found.
I am looking to change my rear shock on my Gen 1 1000, 2002 Fazer, on evil bay at the moment there are some Hagon shock to fit straight on to mine, or is the R6 upgrade better and how much work involved in doing this upgrade.
I am not a hard rider, just like to get out and enjoy my time, will carry a pillion at times.

Help please :-)

[esetest]

Had my Hagon shock replaced by LUke with the R6 shock mod , and it transformed the handling and gave me a lot more confidence with cornering .

[NorthWestern]

The R6 or BMW S1000R shock replacements are (or were) just a cheap replacement - less than £80 for a shock with less than 100 miles on it.  They do have an added benefit of coming with firmer springs and damping is in the firmer range which is probably more inline with what those fitting them want than the softer touring setup the bike has out of the crate.  Apart from that they are not really any better quality wise than the std fazer shock.  The immediate improvement is more due to replacing a high mileage std shock with a relatively new one, you would likely see similar improvement fitting a brand new fazer shock.


The Hagon shocks are fully rebuild-able, will be supplied with the best spring for your weight/riding  and will have much better materials/manufacturing qualities than the mass produced ones but are around £300.


K-Tech and probably others can rework the std shock replacing the internals/spring etc - not sure how much that is but that would ultimately give you a better shock than the R6/BMR ones in the standard package.

[PieEater]

I personally would not buy a Hagon shock. They may be rebuildable but most suspension shops will regas and respring an OEM shock from any bike so this isn't a big issue. I don't believe that Hagon's are supplied with any other springing options than that advertised on their site "delivered with the spring pre-load set for an average weight rider (75-100Kg)", and I don't believe the materials they use would be any better than an OEM shock given they are built to a budget. They lack features that the OEM shock has such as a remote reservoir and the ability to adjust compression and rebound damping individually, so to my mind this is a downgrade rather than an upgrade.

A decent aftermarket shock with the same features as the OEM shock and supplied sprung and set up for your weight and riding style is going to set you back around £600 (Nitron Race). If that's too rich for your blood I would look at the R6 mod, esetest has shared his personal experience of both this mod and a Hagon shock and has said he found the R6 shock to be the better option. PM Luke (DevilsYam) and ask about the costs & options for him to supply all the bits you need. 

[bludclot]

i am not entirely in agreement with northwestern but only because my own limited experience tells me differently: my bike had 20k on the clock when i bought it and the standard rear shock had no damping left at all, it was effectively spring only and pogo'd along the road. i immediately sent it to k-tech and they re-built it and it was a huge improvement, it cost around £100. Not so many miles later I lucked upon a zero mile late s1000rr shock on ebay for £40 and fitted that (factor in another £30-40 machine shop costs for top spacers and lower bolt to be made) and there was a massive improvement again. the bmw spring is firmer than the standard item but the ride is more comfortable, much more than that however it corners much much better - i am a good 10 - 15 mph quicker through the same bends. i put this down to slightly increased rear height and much better quality of damping.

[mark g]

The Kit option from Devils yam is not far off the price of a brand new Hagon shock if memory serves (inc new dog bones), I'm still on the fence what to do with my gen1 this winter, the other option is to source your own R6 shock and get some dog bones made up, certainly a cheaper option.
Lets be honest you can have all the knobs and dials you like on your shock but how often do you tweak them?? once set my guess is they never get touched.
I guess both R6 and Hagon are great shocks, just down to personal preference really, good luck and enjoy

[JKay]

Big vote for the luke R6 mod changed theway the bike handles,and accelerates
Completely different bike and soon confidence inspiring, best money you'll spend (after ivanator visit)on the real fazer thou

[Falcon 269]

Lots of options, most a notable improvement on a stock shock that's done 10k miles or more.

Refreshing a stock shock with new oil & gas doesn't address the soft spring rate for riders heavier than around 14 stone in gear.  With a new spring, that option gets closer to £200.

I tried an R6 shock while my Ohlins was away for servicing.  Kept it on the bike for 8 months ... I was in no rush to change because the ride quality and handling were close enough not to make me miss the gold thing.

Luke gets his R6 stock from race teams so he's effectively selling an unused item along with the dogbones.  You can source your own through ebay (like I did) but you're taking a chance on the mileage and condition.  You could be buying your way into a £100 bill for refreshing the R6 shock.

Adjustability - especially of the hi speed damping - is good to have even if you don't use it all that often. 

Accessability to the adjusters and the preload one in particular, is as important and I understand that the Hagon isn't so good in this respect.

If I were to buy another Gen 1 tomorrow, I'd be calling Luke rather than my local Ohlins dealer.

[Tangoman]

Thanks all for your comment. My Fazer is on a 2002 model but only now coming up for 13000 mile.

Reading comment it looks like the shock is nearing its life span. Look like I need to do some over time and look into the R6 upgrade, but also tempted with the BMW upgrade.

Lots to think about